Biographical Details
Date of Birth: August 24, 1825
Birth Location: Vincennes, IN, USA
Major Study: Law
Graduation Year(s): 1849, 1851
Degree(s) Earned: Bachelors, Bachelor of Laws
Date of Death: May 21, 1864
Death Location: Terre Haute, IN, USA
Blackford Boudinot Moffatt
Life Experience
Blackford Boudinot Moffatt was born in Vincennes, Indiana. When he was four or five years old, his family relocated to Terre Haute, where he was educated. His three younger sisters were born there. He graduated from IU with a bachelor’s degree and continued his studies there to obtain his Bachelor of Laws in 1851, along with being awarded a master’s degree “in course” (an honorary distinction of good standing in society not requiring additional university study) in 1852. He assisted his father, who was postmaster, for a time before being admitted to the bar. He then practiced law in Terre Haute. In 1853, upon Judge Kinney’s retirement for ill health, Moffatt filled in for him in the court of common pleas. Moffatt served on the Indiana Supreme Court and became one of the most respected Indiana lawyers. Although his oratory power prompted his peers to encourage him to go into politics, he steadfastly refused.
Moffatt died on May 21, 1864, of a sudden illness, “in the prime of early manhood, and in the midst of the season of his greatest usefulness,” as Judge Thomas Long wrote, and a surprise to his colleagues. Concerning his status as an IU alumnus, his colleague Thomas Long wrote (in a eulogy that was published in the local newspaper), “His kindness of heart, amiability of character, and the quiet beauty of his ways resulted in friendships with his fellow students and classmates that lasted throughout all his life; and as it less frequently happens, similar friendships were formed with the professions of the institution, who fully reciprocated the high respect he always entertained for them.”
Marriage and Family
Moffatt’s father died in November 1862. His mother died in January 1864, a few months before Moffatt himself passed.
References
- Wylie
- Findagrave.com
- INGenWeb
- The Wabash Courier 09/01/1849
- Davisson & Hensley (1850) Twentieth Annual Circular of the University of Indiana Comprising the Catalogue, the Course of Studies, Etc. 1850 (Bloomington, IN)
- Terre Haute Journal 10/07/1853
- Wabash Express 06/14/1854
- Weekly Wabash Express 08/17/1864
- Indiana University (1875)
- Tribune-Star (Terre Haute, IN) 11/27/2016