William Blackstone (Blaxton) was born in Gibside, Whickham, Durham County, England, on March 5, 1595. In 1617, at the age of 22, he took the degree of B.A. followed in 1621 by an M.A. and Orders in the Church of England and graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

In 1623, the Council for New England under the leadership of Sir Ferdinando Gorges sent Sir Ferdinando’s second son Captain Robert Gorges and his company to New England as Governor. A special prominence had been given to the propagation of the Gospel within an Anglican community specifically in the Massachusetts Bay area, in contrast to the Separatists settlement already established in New Plimouth.

Gorgestook with him at least two ordained Clergyman. One, the Reverend William Morell, bore an ecclesiastical commission, conferring on him general powers of visitation and superintendency over the churches of New England. The other Clergyman was the Reverend William Blackstone, who had originally been designed to take charge, under the power of superintendency, of the New Plimouth pulpit, while Morell was to minister to the settlements in Massachusetts Bay. The Gorges expedition left England in early August, 1623, and reached New England about the middle of September.