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This week in Christian history: Gideon Blackburn born, Isaac Backus converts, St. Augustine dies

By Michael Gryboski, Editor Twitter

Gideon Blackburn born — Aug. 27, 1772

Gideon Blackburn (1772-1838), a Presbyterian minister, educator, and missionary to the Cherokee people.
Gideon Blackburn (1772-1838), a Presbyterian minister, educator, and missionary to the Cherokee people. | Wikimedia Commons

This week marks the anniversary of when Gideon Blackburn, a Presbyterian minister and college president known for being a missionary to the Cherokees, was born in Augusta County, Virginia.

At age 15, Blackburn became an Evangelical Presbyterian and eventually earned his license to preach when he was 20 and became an ordained minister through the Abington Presbytery at 22.

Blackburn founded several churches in Tennessee, served as an itinerant preacher, and, for several years, did mission work among the Cherokee, including founding two schools.

“Intended to instill Christian religious precepts and ‘civilized’ standards of behavior, the curriculum emphasized lessons in dress and comportment as well as instruction in reading, math, music, and the catechism,” explained Tennessee Encyclopedia.

“In 1804 and 1805 most of the one hundred or more students were bicultural Cherokee boys seeking to improve their English and gain knowledge of the ‘three Rs’ before entering careers as traders or shopkeepers.”

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