Isle of Wight-Nansemond County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Blackwell, Julianna L. Riddick, 1945 

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ANNIE JULIA RIDDICK BLACKWELL 

MRS. R.G. BLACKWELL BURIED JANUARY 27 AT OLD ST. LUKE'S 

  Mrs. Annie Julia Blackwell, 93, died at 4 p.m. Friday, January 25, 1957 at 
the home of her daughter, Mrs. Russell J. Bergen in Martinsburg, West 
Virginia, after a long illness.

  Mrs. Julianna Lassell Blackwell, known widely as Annie Blackwell, was the 
widow of Robert G. Blackwell, of Carrollton, Va., who was a Confederate 
veteran, serving in the 2nd Co. "I", 3rd Virginia Infantry.

  Born January 13, 1864, in Suffolk, Va., she was a daughter of the late John 
Riddick, of Suffolk, and Julia Drew Roberts, of Norfolk, Va.  She was educated 
there in the exclusive Finney Girls School.  She had two sisters and brother 
and is the last of her generation, as well as one of the oldest residents of 
Isle of Wight County.

  When she married January 13, 1887, on her 23rd birthday, she went to the 
"Blackwell" Farm at Carrollton where she was to spend her life.

  She and her husband were devout Christians with their bounty always available 
for those in need about them.  Her husband keenly enjoyed handwork in addition 
to looking after his extensive holdings, and this avocation frequently was 
channel to the benefits of those who came to him seeking aid.

  Of distinguished Virginia lineage, of which she was ever aware and sensibly 
proud, Mrs. Blackwell came of a family of Methodist, prominent churchmen, but 
joined St. Luke's Episcopal Church at Benn's Church, a few miles out of 
Smithfield, near Carrollton, with her husband and continued to hold membership 
there.

  Mrs. Blackwell is remembered for her many deeds of kindness.  In one 
instance, she held a strawberry festival at her home to raise funds to erect a 
tombstone over the unmarked grave of the world-renowned surgeon, Dr. Alexander 
(Sandy) Galt, a Confederate veteran, who died in the Confederate Home in 
Richmond, but who had been brought back to his beloved church, St. Luke's, for 
burial.

  Mrs. Blackwell was mentally alert until her death although she had been 
confined to her bed for over ten years.  She had perfect sense of hearing and 
vision.  She furnished information concerning Old St. Luke's Church before its 
previous restoration.

  Her husband was born June 10, 1842, and the Blackwell family had a very 
active and vital part in the history of Isle of Wight County and especially 
St. Luke's Church.  He contributed generously to the restoration in 1887-94. 
He re-interred the bodies under the altar in the church and laid the concrete.

  He cut virgin pine timber from his farm near St. Luke's made by hand and 
gave the stair banister, wainscoting and pews for St. Luke's during and after 
the 1887-94 restoration.

  Mr. Blackwell frequently made coffins for families too poor to purchase them.

  I was during 1887 that the roof was blown off of Old St. Luke's, Mrs. 
Blackwell had told her children.

  She was the mother of seven children, the two eldest of whom, when 15 and 
17, drowned together one July afternoon while bathing at their farm.

  She had been at the home of her daughter Mrs. Russell J. Bergen, 800 
Winchester Avenue, Martinsburg, West Virginia since December 1946, when she 
went there for a visit of several months.  She was stricken there a couple of 
months afterward and had been bedfast since.

  The five surviving, with a keen interest in family history and background, 
are Willie Smith Blackwell, of Carrollton, Mrs. Nancy Latimer and Mrs. 
Juliette Brown, of Norfolk; Mrs. Russell Bergen, of Martinsburg, West 
Virginia, and Robert Gary Blackwell 2nd of Hampton, Virginia

  There are also six grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren, and one great-
great-grandchild; 8 nieces and nephews; 15 great nieces and nephews and 21 
great-great-great nieces and nephews; one grandson by adoption, Thomas Hayward.

  Funeral services were held at 3 p.m. Sunday, January 27th in the chapel of 
the Jones Funeral Home at Smithfield.  The Rev. William B. Brayshaw, retired 
pastor of Christ Episcopal Church, officiated.  Burial was in the Old St. 
Luke's Cemetery.

  Pallbearers were grandsons: Linwood Latimer, Jr., Russell Latimer, William 
Smith Blackwell, Jr., and Bruce Porterfield and great-grandsons Rea Johnston 
and Russell Johnston.

  Funeral services were also held from Kogelschatz and Coffman Funeral Home in 
Martinsburg, West Virginia at 1:30 Saturday, January 26, 1957 with the Rev. 
S.R. Biehl of the First Presbyterian Church and the Rev. Mr. Lemoine of 
Trinity Episcopal Church, Martinsburg officiating.


"Annie" Julianna Lassell (RIDDICK; Mrs. Robert G.) BLACKWELL, of Carrollton, 
d. 25 Jan 1957, at daughter's home, Martinsburg, WV, age 83, 
interred in Old St. Luke's Church Cemetery*, Benns Church, 27 Jan 1957, 
"The Smithfield (VA) Times," Jan. 31, 1957 

*Isle of Wight County Historical Society {IWCHS} 
   Grave Site Survey Task Force {GSSTF} #18: 
   http://www.iwchs.com/Cemetery-Reports.html 

Her parents are buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Suffolk. 


Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by 
Carolyn Keen (VAHistoricHouses@aol.com) & 
Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), 
and re-formatted by File Manager. 

file at: 
http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/isleofwight/obits/b424a1ob.txt