Nehemiah Blakiston

Nehemiah Blakiston (* in England ; † 1693 in Maryland) was an English colonial governor of the Province of Maryland .

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Nehemiah Blakiston was the fourth son of John Blakiston (1603-1650), who was a member of the House of Commons in London. In 1668, Nehemiah came to the Province of Maryland with his uncle George Blakiston. A year later he married Elizabeth Gerrard. In Maryland he worked as a planter and as a lawyer. Until 1688 he also held a number of local offices. In Maryland at that time there was, among other things, a religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants. The colony was once founded by the Calvert family (Lords Baltimore) as a purely Catholic settlement. Over the decades, more and more Protestants immigrated to the colony. This increased tension between these groups. As a member of the Church of England , Blakiston was on the Protestant side. As a result of the Glorious Revolution in England, there was also a revolution in Maryland under the leadership of John Coode . The until then dominant family Calvert (Lords Baltimore) was expropriated and disempowered. The Catholic Church, which had been influential until then, was also robbed of its strong position. Now the Protestants dominated. This continued to lead to religious tensions between the denominations. Alongside John Coode, Blakiston was one of the driving forces behind the coup. After the revolution of 1688 he also took on higher political offices in the colony. Among other things, he was temporarily chief judge, member of the upper house of the colonial parliament and captain of the militia. In 1691 and 1692 he was acting governor as the successor of Coode for a short time. He then handed this office over to Lionel Copley . After his death, he tried unsuccessfully for the governorship again. At the same time he came into conflict with the administrator of the customs authority, Edward Randolph (1632-1703). This accused him of massive corruption and embezzlement. He had collected tax money and kept it for himself instead of paying it to the treasury. For this reason, Nehemiah Blakiston was dismissed on October 2, 1693 from all offices that he still held at that time. A little later he died.

Nehemiah was an uncle of the future colonial governor of Maryland Nathaniel Blakiston .

Web links

• Nehemiah Blakiston in the Archives of Maryland