Personal Details

Born	September 8th, 1860
Birthplace	Seymour, IN, USA
Baptized	No Entry
Baptized at...	No Entry
Baptized by...	No Entry
Baptized in...	No Entry
Occupation(s)	No Entry
Died	December 22nd, 1921, aged about 61 years
Died at...	No Entry
Cause of Death	No Entry
Burial Place	Arlington cemetery, Washington, DC, USA
Disposition	No Entry

Parents

Father	[641]	John Hedding Blish 7
Mother	[641_sa]	Sarah (Shields) Blish 7

Spouses, Mates & Children none known

Immediate Family Tree

Gen. 8	Gen. 7	Gen. 6	Gen. 5	Gen. 4
Commander John Bell Blish	John Hedding Blish	John Blish	Deacon David Blish	David Blish, (***)
				Zeruiah (Skinner) Blish
			Lucy (Wilcox) Blish	Obadiah Wilcox
				Sarah (Talcott) Wilcox
		Merab Ann (Wales) Blish	Stephen Wales	No Entry
				No Entry
			Mary (?) Wales	No Entry
				No Entry
	Sarah (Shields) Blish	Meedy White Shields	No Entry	No Entry
				No Entry
			No Entry	No Entry
				No Entry
		Eliza P. (Ewing) Shields	? Ewing	No Entry
				No Entry
			? (?) Ewing	No Entry
				No Entry

Personalized History Timeline, 1860 to 1921

1830-1860: Underground railroad leads 100,000+ slaves to freedom in US from before birth until age 0 1837-1901: Reign of Queen Victoria (Hanover) from before birth until age 41 1857-1860: James Buchanan president of US from before birth until age 0 1857-1866: Transatlantic cable laid from before birth until age 6 1860: Rifled barrel invented at age 0 1860: South Carolina Secedes from the Union at age 0 1861: Kansas enters the union - 34th at age 1 1861: Gold rush in New Zealand at age 1 1861-1865: Abraham Lincoln president of US from age 1 to age 5 1861-1865: Civil War from age 1 to age 5 1861: Transcontinental Telegraph completed at age 1 1861: The Apache Declare War on the US at age 1 1861-1865: Confederate States of America Exist from age 1 to age 5 1861: North Dakota organized as a territory at age 1 1861: South Dakota organized as a territory at age 1 1861: Colorado organized as a territory at age 1 1861: Nevada organized as a territory at age 1 1862: US Homestead act at age 2 1863: Arizona organized as a territory at age 3 1863: Idaho organized as a territory at age 3 1863: West Virginia enters the union - 35th at age 3 1863-1879: 4th Cholera pandemic from age 3 to age 19 1863: Battle of Gettysburg at age 3 1863: Emancipation Proclamation frees southern slaves at age 3 1864: Louisiana organized as a territory at age 4 1864: Nevada enters the union - 36th at age 4 1865: President Lincoln assassinated at age 5 1865: Ku Klux Klan founded at age 5 1865: Lister invents Disinfection at age 5 1866: Walker, Mitchell 1st elected US black officials (Massachusetts) at age 6 1866-1868: Andrew Johnson president of US from age 6 to age 8 1867: Alaska purchased from Russia at age 7 1867: Diamonds discovered in South Africa at age 7 1867: Dynamite at age 7 1867: Confederation of Canada at age 7 1867: Nebraska enters the union - 37th at age 7 1868-1878: War between Cuba and Spain from age 8 to age 18 1869: Cutty Sark built at age 9 1869-1876: Ulysses S Grant president of US from age 9 to age 16 1869: Financial black friday caused by attempt to corner gold at age 9 1869: Suez canal opened at age 9 1869: Trans-continental railroad completed at age 9 1870: 1st black US senator (Hiram Revels) at age 10 1870: US black men can vote at age 10 1870-1871: Franco-Prussian war from age 10 to age 11 1871: Great Fire destroys Chicago at age 11 1873-1878: Depression, banks fail from age 13 to age 18 1873: Color Photographs at age 13 1875: Graduated Naval Academy at age 15 1876: American Centennial at age 16 1876: Telephone (Bell, Latimer) at age 16 1876: Colorado enters the union - 38th at age 16 1876: Little Big Horn - Battle at age 16 1877-1880: Ruthorford B Hayes president of US from age 17 to age 20 1877: Wax Cylinder Musical Recordings at age 17 1878: 1st commercial telephone exchange in US at age 18 1879: Electric Light Bulb (Edison) at age 19 1879: Zulu war at age 19 1881: James A Garfield president of US at age 21 1881-1885: Chester Arthur president of US from age 21 to age 25 1881-1896: 5th Cholera pandemic from age 21 to age 36 1881: President Garfield assassinated (dies of med. care) at age 21 1884: 1st subway at age 24 1884: Motorcycle at age 24 1885-1888: Grover Cleveland president of US from age 25 to age 28 1885: Automobile at age 25 1886: Induction Telegraph (Grandville T. Woods) at age 26 1887: X-Rays (Tesla, not Rontgen!) at age 27 1888: 70...77 rpm musical records at age 28 1888: Great Blizzard of 1888 - 400+ deaths at age 28 1889-1892: Benjamin Harrison president of US from age 29 to age 32 1889: Holerith invents the punch card at age 29 1889: Washington enters the union - 42nd at age 29 1889: South Dakota enters the union - 40th at age 29 1889: Montana enters the union - 41st at age 29 1889: North Dakota enters the union - 39th at age 29 1890: Idaho enters the union - 43rd at age 30 1890: Battle of Wounded Knee at age 30 1890: Wyoming enters the union - 44th at age 30 1890: Oklahoma organized as a territory at age 30 1891: Mormon prophesy of 'coming of lord' by 1891 unfulfilled at age 31 1893-1896: Grover Cleveland president of US from age 33 to age 36 1893: Movies at age 33 1893: New Zealand is 1st to grant women right to vote at age 33 1893: Nikola Tesla invents Radio (not Marconi!) at age 33 1893-1897: US Financial panic, depression from age 33 to age 37 1894: Plague in Hong Kong and China - 1 million die at age 34 1894-1895: Chinese-Japanese war (1) from age 34 to age 35 1896: Supreme court approves separate but equal segregation at age 36 1896: Utah enters the union - 45th at age 36 1897-1901: William McKinley president of US from age 37 to age 41 1898: Spanish American 1-year war at age 38 1899: John Blish Sends 1st Naval Radio Message at age 39 1899-1902: Boer war from age 39 to age 42 1899-1923: 6th Cholera pandemic from age 39 until after line end 1900: Boxer rebellion in China at age 40 1900: Galveston Hurricane - 8,000 killed at age 40 1900: Hawaii organized as a territory at age 40 1901: Third law of thermodynamics postulated (W. H. Nernst) at age 41 1901: Max Planck formulates the Laws of Radiation at age 41 1901: First British submarine launched at age 41 1901: US President William McKinley assassinated at age 41 1901: Commonwealth of Australia founded at age 41 1901-1908: Theodore Roosevelt president of US from age 41 to age 48 1901: Commissioned Lieutenant Commander at age 41 1901: Oil discovered in Texas in significant amounts at age 41 1901-1910: Reign of King Edward VII (Saxe-Coburg) from age 41 to age 50 1903: Nikola Tesla patents logic gates at age 43 1903: Airplane at age 43 1904-1905: Russian-Japanese war from age 44 to age 45 1904: Radar at age 44 1907: Plastic at age 47 1907: Oklahoma enters the union - 46th at age 47 1908: Tunguska atmospheric object explosion at age 48 1909: Union of South Africa formed at age 49 1909: North pole reached by Matthew Henson of Robert Peary's exp. at age 49 1909-1912: William Howard Taft president of US from age 49 to age 52 1910: Japan annexes Korea at age 50 1910-1936: Reign of King George V (Windsor) from age 50 until after line end 1910: Halley's Comet at age 50 1911: Commissioned Commander at age 51 1911: South pole reached by Roald Amundsen at age 51 1912: Titanic sinks at age 52 1912: New Mexico enters the union - 47th at age 52 1912: Arizona enters the union - 48th at age 52 1912: Alaska organized as a territory at age 52 1913-1920: Woodrow Wilson president of US from age 53 to age 60 1914: The Bra at age 54 1914-1919: World War I from age 54 to age 59 1915: Einstein's Theory of Relativity at age 55 1916: Irish Easter Rebellion at age 56 1916: Sonar at age 56 1917: Russian revolution at age 57 1917: US enters WWI at age 57 1918-1920: Flu epidemic - 25 million plus die from age 58 to age 60 1918-1933: Prohibition from age 58 until after line end 1919: League of Nations instantiated at age 59 1919: Shortwave Radio at age 59 1920-1929: Roaring 20's from age 60 until after line end 1920: Women receive right to vote in USA at age 60 1920: Palestine established at age 60 1921-1924: Warren G Harding president of US from age 61 until after line end

Additional Information

John Blish was appointed Cadet Midshipman on September 18th, 1875. From 1879 to 1901 he served the Navy both on the high seas and on various shore duty. On October 5th, 1901 he was commissioned Lieutenant Commander; he served at this rank until he retired on July 6th, 1905. He served as executive officer on the U.S. warships Niagara and Vicksburg during the Spanish-American war. He was commissioned Commander (on the "retired list") April 13th, 1911. During World War I he served in the first Naval District as assistant to the Commandant, and commanded the Naval Air Station at Squantum, Massachusetts. Commander Blish was detached October 29th, 1919. John Blish is mentioned in the USS Constitution's log three times, as "J. B. Blish". He would have been out of academy about five years at this point. The mentions are as follows. First on July 13th, 1881: "Midshipman J. B. Blish joined" second on August 31st, 1881: "Midshipman J. B. Blish sent to naval hospital, Brooklyn" and finally on October 28th, 1881: "Midshipman J. B. Blish returned from hospital" The USS Constitution served as a cadet training ship from 1879 through 1881. In 1882 it was laid up at the US Navy yard at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This marked the end of the ship's active service. Inventions The Blish Sounding Tube This is a pipe, or tube, used for measuring the depth of water. That's all I know about it at this point. More to come, hopefully. CBB/March/2001 The Blish Lock In 1915 he patented a delayed blowback breech system in which a sloping metal wedge interlocked the breech block with the gun body. Under high pressure, as when the cartridge fired, the angle of the slope was such that the mating faces jammed solid. As the pressure dropped, the faces were able to slip across each other, the wedge moved up due to the slope, and the breech unlocked. Brigadier General John Taliaferro Thompson (ret.), after investigating John Blish's invention, offered him shares in a company he was forming in exchange for the patent. John Blish accepted and with the financial backing of Thomas Ryan, the Auto-Ordnance Company was founded in 1916. This company then produced the Thompson submachine gun. The Blish Prism From "A History of Nautical Astronomy" by Charles H Cotter (Hollis & Carter, 1967): "To eliminate the uncertainty of the effect of refraction on the dip of the sea horizon, Commander Blish of the United States Navy invented, in the early part of the 20th century, an attachment for a sextant known as the Blish prism. This device has the top and bottom faces bevelled at 45 degrees. It is fitted to the sextant so that the longer of the front and back surfaces faces the observer. This face is provided with two polished surfaces, the lower of which is directly opposite the top of the index mirror, and the higher of which faces over the observer's head towards that part of the horizon 180 degrees away from the part the observer is facing. With the index of the sextant set to zero on the arc the observer looks directly at the sea horizon in front of him and sees, at the same time, the back horizon reflecting from the prism. When the fore and back horizons are brought into line, the sextant reading is twice the angle of dip, assuming that the sextant is free from index error." John Blish makes Radio History On September 28th, 1899, Lieutenant John Blish sent the following from the S. S. Ponce to the Navesink, New Jersey shore station (a lighthouse): Bureau Equipment, Washington D.C. Steamship Ponce under way in naval parade, via Navesink Light Station. Mr. Marconi succeeded in opening Wireless Telegraphic communication with the shore at 12:34 PM Experiments were a complete success. Blish, Lieutenant, U.S.N. The above message is considered to be the first paid ship-to-shore radiogram, as well as the first official U.S. Naval radio message. Lieutenant John Blish was an official US Naval observer assigned to report on the Marconi demonstrations. John Blish died in 1921. The US Navy posthumously named a small warship in his honor, the USS John Blish.

Ship's Records

Ship's Name: Constitution Ship's Type: Related Service: Midshipman Ship's Name: Niagara Ship's Type: Related Service: Executive Officer Ship's Name: Vicksburg Ship's Type: Related Service: Executive Officer Ship's Name: USS John Blish Ship's Type: Oceanographic Survey Vessel Related Service: Namesake

Citations

Jim Bloodworth, USS John Blish crewmember, letter of Nov. 9th, 1998 Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (Vol. III, p 523) USS Constitution log, 5 February 1881 - 21 August 1881 in national archives USS Constitution log, 22 August 1881 - 14 December 1881 in national archives