1822 – 1889•Mount Auburn Cemetery

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Freeman Norton Blake, was educated at Farmington Acedemy, closing his academical studies at Middleboro, Mass., and adopted law as a profession. He entered the law office of Zeno Scudder, M.C., at Middleboro, Mass., and after pursuing the usual course of study, entered Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1855{Bachelor of Law}, and the same year was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts. He commenced the practice of law in Chicago, as one of the firm of Rice, Blake and Eddy, but subsequently removed to Kansas[[[1856]]], then a territory. He was a member of the first territorial legislature, where he was prominent in promoting a free State government, and was afterwards a member of the first State constitutional convention. [[[September 10, 1857, he laid out a town called Kansas Falls, six or seven miles west of Junction City. [[FNB built the first frame house in what is now Junction City.]] Kansas Falls as a town did not materialize. October, 1857, he joined the party that incorporated the town of Junction City. March 9, 1858, he was elected a member of the Leavenworth constitutional convention. In April 1859, he started the first Sunday-school in Junction City. December 6, 1859 he was elected a member of the first state legislature[House] of 1861.]]] Mr. Blake was afterwards called to a position in the Naval Department at Washington, where he discharged his duties with marked ability and fidelity. In 1865, he was appointed by President Lincoln, American Consul to Fort Erie, Canada; in 1869 he received a new commission from President Grant, and removed the Consul to Hamilton, Canada, where he remained until 1873. He discharged the duties of the consulate with entire satisfaction to the government he represented, while his legal and commercial knowledge combined with his courteous and gentlemanly bearing, favorably impressed the people of Canada, and won him many friends. When about to depart, the citizens of Hamilton tendered him a banquet at the Royal Hotel, on the first day of August, 1873, in recognition of the esteem of which he was held by the people of that city.

In 1870 wrote the book; "History of the Indians in British North America, (see source below **).

(Source #1: A History of Farmington, Franklin County, Maine, from the earliest...By Francis Gould Butler, page 391. Can be seen on line by searching the above title.)

(Source [[#2]]: Increase Blake of Boston, his ancestors and descendants: pages 69-70. Can be seen on line by searching the above title.)

(Source [[[#3]]]: Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society, Volume 10, page 244. Can be seen on line by searching the above title.)

Marriage: One

December 21, 1862, in Philadelphia, PA, to:

Helen Sarah Baker (b. April 27, 1838 in Monson, ME, d. April 16, 1924, in Paris, Ontario, Canada)

Children:Three

1. Helen Maud Blake, born: 9/6/1866, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. (She was residing in Boston in 1897), died: February 19, 1925 @ age 58.

2. Albert Freeman Blake, born: 9/2/1869, Hamilton, Wentworth County, Ontario, Canada, died in infancy.

3. Jessie May Blake, born: Sept. 1, 1871, died: June 15, 1872 at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, in infancy.

Death: age 66

Nuclear Family:His wife lived another 35 years after FNB's death. He was buried in Cambridge, MA because that is where he attended Law School and where he (and the family??) live at the time of his death.

*To read an article written by FNB, while consul in Canada, and published by the New York Time on January 28, 1870, search the title.

**To read a book written by FNB, History of the Indians in British North America, copyright 1870, search the the title.

Freeman Norton Blake, was educated at Farmington Acedemy, closing his academical studies at Middleboro, Mass., and adopted law as a profession. He entered the law office of Zeno Scudder, M.C., at Middleboro, Mass., and after pursuing the usual course of study, entered Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1855{Bachelor of Law}, and the same year was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts. He commenced the practice of law in Chicago, as one of the firm of Rice, Blake and Eddy, but subsequently removed to Kansas[[[1856]]], then a territory. He was a member of the first territorial legislature, where he was prominent in promoting a free State government, and was afterwards a member of the first State constitutional convention. [[[September 10, 1857, he laid out a town called Kansas Falls, six or seven miles west of Junction City. [[FNB built the first frame house in what is now Junction City.]] Kansas Falls as a town did not materialize. October, 1857, he joined the party that incorporated the town of Junction City. March 9, 1858, he was elected a member of the Leavenworth constitutional convention. In April 1859, he started the first Sunday-school in Junction City. December 6, 1859 he was elected a member of the first state legislature[House] of 1861.]]] Mr. Blake was afterwards called to a position in the Naval Department at Washington, where he discharged his duties with marked ability and fidelity. In 1865, he was appointed by President Lincoln, American Consul to Fort Erie, Canada; in 1869 he received a new commission from President Grant, and removed the Consul to Hamilton, Canada, where he remained until 1873. He discharged the duties of the consulate with entire satisfaction to the government he represented, while his legal and commercial knowledge combined with his courteous and gentlemanly bearing, favorably impressed the people of Canada, and won him many friends. When about to depart, the citizens of Hamilton tendered him a banquet at the Royal Hotel, on the first day of August, 1873, in recognition of the esteem of which he was held by the people of that city.

In 1870 wrote the book; "History of the Indians in British North America, (see source below **).

(Source #1: A History of Farmington, Franklin County, Maine, from the earliest...By Francis Gould Butler, page 391. Can be seen on line by searching the above title.)

(Source [[#2]]: Increase Blake of Boston, his ancestors and descendants: pages 69-70. Can be seen on line by searching the above title.)

(Source [[[#3]]]: Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society, Volume 10, page 244. Can be seen on line by searching the above title.)

Marriage: One

December 21, 1862, in Philadelphia, PA, to:

Helen Sarah Baker (b. April 27, 1838 in Monson, ME, d. April 16, 1924, in Paris, Ontario, Canada)

Children:Three

1. Helen Maud Blake, born: 9/6/1866, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. (She was residing in Boston in 1897), died: February 19, 1925 @ age 58.

2. Albert Freeman Blake, born: 9/2/1869, Hamilton, Wentworth County, Ontario, Canada, died in infancy.

3. Jessie May Blake, born: Sept. 1, 1871, died: June 15, 1872 at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, in infancy.

Death: age 66

Nuclear Family:His wife lived another 35 years after FNB's death. He was buried in Cambridge, MA because that is where he attended Law School and where he (and the family??) live at the time of his death.

*To read an article written by FNB, while consul in Canada, and published by the New York Time on January 28, 1870, search the title.

**To read a book written by FNB, History of the Indians in British North America, copyright 1870, search the the title.

FREEMAN NORTON BLAKE
Inscription: (weather worn) on upper 1/3 of stone marker.

Family Members