sentences:  He attended the county schools, and Elliott Academy at Kirksville, Kentucky.He worked as a traveling salesman for an oil company from 1891 to 1900 and during the Spanish–American War he served as a second lieutenant in Company C, Fourth Infantry, United States Volunteers.Blackburn engaged in general merchandising at Stanton, Kentucky, and in agricultural pursuits 1900-1907, served as member of the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1904 and 1905, and served as clerk of the court of Powell County, Kentucky from 1906 to 1910.