Rev. Alexander Latimer Blackford was born on 9th of January of 1829 in Martins Ferry, OH.

The son of devout Christian parents, Joseph Blackford & Isabel Gordon Latimer. 

He graduated in theology from Western Theological Seminary in 1859 and was ordained a Presbyterian minister on April 20th of the same year.

Alexander decided to serve as a missionary in Brazil , working as an assistant to another young pastor, the Rev. Ashbel Green Simonton . He arrived in Brazil with his wife ( Elizabeth Blackford-Simonton (1822-1879), sister of Simonton) on July 25th 1860, she would die there in 1879.

In the early years, he assisted Simonton in the direction of the Presbyterian Church in Rio de Janeiro, as well as traveling through São Paulo and Minas Gerais preaching the gospel according to the Reformed tradition . On 5th of March of 1865 , he organized the Presbyterian Church of St. Paul, and its first pastor.

1872 Washington and Jefferson College

US Passport Application 27 Nov 1876

Also in this period of Presbyterian implantation in Brazilian territory, Blackford organized the Presbyterian Church of Brotas, on November 13th 1865, becoming the third Presbyterian Church in Brazil. Now with three churches he joined Simonton and Rev. George Chamberlain to organize the Presbytery of Rio de Janeiro on December 16th of that year and was elected its first moderator.

Blackford's history is confused with that of Brazilian Presbyterianism. He organized several other churches in the following years, was the editor of the Evangelical Press (first Protestant periodical in Latin America ) and professor of the " Primitive Seminary " (first Protestant seminary in Latin America) between 1867 and 1870 . In 1875, he was threatened on the basis of the Brazilian Constitution (which claimed to be Catholicism the official religion); one of his crimes was to deliver "Saints" for the children to play doll.

From 1880 , Blackford settled in Salvador , Bahia , working on the implantation of Presbyterianism in that region. This did not prevent him from remaining active in the conciliar life of the Church, being elected the first moderator of the Synod of Brazil, organized in September 1888 (thus making the Brazilian Church autonomous from the American).

On the 24th of March 1881 in Bahia, Brazil, Blackford married Miss Nancy "Nannie" Thornwell Gaston; daughter of medical missionary, Dr. James McFadden Gaston. This union had two known children. Harriett Gaston Blackford (1881-1944) & Alexander Latimer Blackford II (1183-1960).

On May 10th 1890, while vacationing with his family in Atlanta , he suffered a serious illness, and died only four days later, on May 14th. "The minutes of the mission say that, shortly before his death, Rev. Blackford sang 'hymns in the language of Brazilians, the people he loved in earnest, praising his King and Father, whom he had served steadfastly and consistently.' " (Matos, AS, p.37).

The Atlanta Constitution

Atlanta, Georgia

Sat, Jul 5, 1890 · Page 6

Rev. Alexander Blackford's Will from Ancestry, Administrators Bonds, Vol B, 1871-1895 Fulton, Georgia 23 Aug 1890.

In the 1800s, missionaries primarily went to Brazil to convert indigenous populations to Christianity, particularly Catholicism, as part of the ongoing colonization efforts by the Portuguese, aiming to spread their religion and culture throughout the vast territory while also attempting to pacify native communities and establish control over the land.  Brazil's territorial and political integrity suffered from a series of internal struggles collectively known as the Regency Rebellions, several wars and It was introduced among the Native Brazilians by Jesuits missionaries during colonial times, there was no freedom of religion. All Portuguese settlers and Brazilians were compulsorily bound to the Catholic faith and were bound to pay tithes to the church. The history of this time and place is really interesting. I found a couple videos that sum it up pretty well.