MSS 1345 AV Blakely Family Collection

              MSS 1345 AV
Blakely Family Collection
Page 1
OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Manuscripts/Audiovisual Collections
MSS 1345 AV
Blakely Family Collection
c. 1840-2003
OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION
Number: MSS 1345 AV
Title: Blakely Family Collection
Creator: Margaret V. and Stephen B. Woodrough
Dates: c. 1840-2003
Media: Paper materials, letters, newspaper
clippings, antique photographs
Quantity: 1.30 cubic feet
Location: The Ohio Historical Center
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE COLLECTION
The Blakely family came from Lancashire County, England near the towns of Haughton, Blackley
(pronounced “Blakely”) and Ashton-Under-Lyne. Sarah Haughton (1779-07/08/1854), the sister of
John Haughton, married a Mr. Blakely (name unknown) around 1800 and left England alone with
four children in 1819. They arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and there she raised James B.,
William, Alice and John Simpson.
Sons, James B. and John Simpson were real estate investors and had activities in businesses in Ohio,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas and Nebraska. Shortly after the birth of John Simpson’s first child,
Mary Imogene, he and his wife Jemima moved to East Liverpool around 1835. John bought large
amounts of property and founded the John S. Blakely and Company, a large merchandising
company. He would later invest in the pottery business of Woodward, Blakely and Company; Vodrey
& Company; William Burnt Pottery and the East Liverpool Pottery and amassed a fortune. During
the 1857 panic John Simpson, postmaster at the time under President Buchanan, lost everything and
the family left Ohio in 1863 to start over in St. Louis, Missouri. John Simpson and his brother
continued to dapple in politics and remained active in the Catholic church and community. John died
in 1877 in St. Louis and his brother James remained in Pittsburgh until his death in 1882.
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