Gideon Blackburn (1772-1838) missionary to Cherokee and Creek nations

Gideon was an American Presbyterian clergyman, evangelist, educator and missionary to the Cherokee and Creek nations

He was born of Scots-Irish descent in Augusta County, Virginia. He was orphaned at the age of 11 and moved to live with relatives in Tennessee in 1787. As a youth he studied at Martin Academy in Washington County, Tennessee.

He worked at a sawmill and as a surveyor to obtain an education . In 1792 he received his preacher’s license and 2 years later he was ordained by the Abingdon Presbytery of Virginia.

In the 1790s he began his ministerial career as a pastor by founding the New Providence Church in Maryville.For the next 20 years he worked there and was known as a powerful and evangelizing public speaker.came

In the early 19th century he raised funds to establish schools for Cherokee children. He became a cultural missionary to the Cherokees (1803-9). and founded 2 schools.Together the schools had an enrollment of about 100 students- mostly bicultural Cherokee-American boys. All his lessons were in English with material on culture and practices of Anglo-American society.
(Unfortunately both schools were closed when his reputation was severely damaged due to a scandal related to alcohol.)

He moved to Middle Tennessee where he served as an itinerant preacher and headed Harpeth Academy (1811-13). He founded 5 congregations in the area.

Over the next 15 years he established new congregations and churches in Tennessee and Kentucky and was very successful as a fund raiser. Blackburn Seminary, in Carlinville, was named after him, in recognition of his life’s labours, in 1859.

He was also active with the Kentucky Temperance Society,

Gideon died just 4 days short of his 66th birthday.

Source
Wikipedia