Posted on: BLAKESLEY Biographies Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/gc/surnames/b/l/BLAKESLEY/biographies/10005 Surname: Blakesley, Crouch ------------------------- Frank Blakesley was born May 13, 1859 in Crystal Lake, Illinois, son of John B. and Aseneth R. Crouch Blakesley. At twenty he ventured north also with his two brothers Barney and Willard and his new sister-in-law Maude. The 1880 census of Lake Mary Township lists him as being a well-driller. He did not remain in Minnesota. He returned to Illinois where he became a violin maker. Some of the most respected and oldest violins makers in Chicago used to handle his fiddles. He later moved to Michigan where he died.