BLACKMAN, Learner, missionary, born in New Jersey about 1781 ; died in Ohio in 1815. He entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1800; and it is said that the people among whom he was at first sent, interpreting his surname literally, thought they were to have a Negro for their preacher. His appearance dispelled their fears, and he soon became popular. After preaching two years in Delaware, he removed to the west, and in 1805 was sent as a missionary to Natchez, Mississippi, then in a wild country, inhabited by Indians and pioneers. To reach his destination he traveled 800 miles on horseback. His labors did much to establish Methodism in that section of the country. In 1808 he went to Tennessee, where he labored with zeal and success. In 1815, while he was crossing the Ohio River at Cincinnati in a flatboat, his horses became frightened and plunged into the water. In the effort to hold them, Mr. Blackman was dragged overboard and drowned.