Isaiah Blood

Isaiah Blood was born in the Town of Ballston, Saratoga County, New York State on February 13, 1810. His father Sylvester was a farmer and scythe maker with a business located two miles south of the village. After fire destroyed his original workshop, the senior Blood decided to enlarge his business by purchasing land next to the Kayaderosseras Creek in an area known as the “Hollow.” In 1831, Isaiah married Miss Jane E. Gates of Ballston Spa and relocated to join his father. Six years later he took over the business and began increasing production.

In 1851, Blood joined up with two other businessmen and built an axe factory a short distance downstream, and within a year became the sole owner. A fire burned down the enterprise, but Blood persevered and built a new factory even larger than the one that was lost. His organizational skills and ambition were applied in greatly expanding the production of both scythes and axes through the careful development of quality control processes. His tools became well-known throughout the Western Hemisphere, and lumbermen were proud to have the name “I. Blood” stamped on their axes. In the Civil War, Blood manufactured an order of battle-axes for a Massachusetts artillery company in the Union Army measuring two feet long (resembling a short, slightly curved sword).

His political inclinations were Democratic. He was elected to the Assembly in 1852 and to the Senate in 1860 and 1869. At the time of his death, he was Supervisor of the Town of Milton, a position he had held twice before, in 1847 and 1859. Governor Morgan appointed him a member of the war committee of Saratoga County to enlist recruits for the army during the Civil War.

Isaiah Blood died of typhoid fever in 1870 at the age of 60. The hamlet of Bloodville still bears his name today. [Lost Industries of the Kaydeross Valley]

Sources

1. Lost Industries of the Kaydeross Valley: A History of Manufacturing in Ballston Spa, New York, 2007.

External Links

[http://www.ballstonhistory.com Ballston Spa and Saratoga County History]

[http://www.ballstonspany.org/ The Village of Ballston Spa]