Isaac Blackford was born in 1786 in New Jersey and was admitted to the bar in 1810. Residing in Vincennes in Indiana Territory in 1815, he was later elected Speaker of the first state House of Representatives. In September 1817, Governor Jennings appointed Blackford to the Indiana Supreme Court, where he served from 1817 to 1852 and published the court’s decisions in his eight-volume, nationally acclaimed Reports of Cases. Blackford invested in Indiana land, including properties in the new state capital, Indianapolis, and purchased land here in 1832. He helped establish the Indiana Colonization Society and promoted education. In 1855, U.S. President Franklin Pierce appointed Blackford to the U.S. Court of Claims in Washington, D.C., where he served until his death; he was buried in Indianapolis in January 1860.
