ELIJAH H. BLAND was born December 15, 1814, in Nelson County, seven miles north of Bardstown. He is the eleventh of five sons and nine daughters, all of whom lived to be grown, born to William and Sarah (Peak) Bland. William Bland was born in Prince William County, Va., in 1777. In 1784, with his parents, he landed in Louisville, and settled near Bloomfield, Nelson County, where he became a substantial farmer and slave owner. He was a soldier under Gen. Wayne through the Indiana and Ohio campaign. A brother, Osborn Bland, and wife, were taken prisoners by the Indians at the burned station on Simpson Creek, Nelson County; also their son. He was bound, but his wife succeeded in slipping away, and was in the woods for seventeen days before she was found by some hunters; her husband returned after an absence of three years, and they reared a large and influential family. William Bland moved to Hardin County in 1831, and settled on Nolin Creek, where he remained until his death, at the age of about eighty-five. He was the son of John Bland, who married a Miss Osburn, natives of England and Ireland respectively, who immigrated to Virginia in colonial days. From Virginia they came down the Ohio River on flatboats, and landed at Louisville; thence proceeded inland to Nelson County, where he became an active and influential farmer.
Mrs. Sarah (Peak) Bland was born near Frankfort, Ky.; she was a daughter of Daniel Peak, who married a Miss Holderman. He lived to be over ninety years old, and participated in several Indian wars in colonial times. Elijah H. Bland was reared on a farm, and received a plain English education. At the age of twenty-three he left home, went to Louisville and engaged in teaming, which proved to be a very lucrative business. Having accumulated considerable money, in 1837-38 he embarked in the hog trade, in which he lost half his capital. He then returned to the farm in Hardin County, and also rode sheriff for several years. In 1846 he entered the grocery and dry goods business in Louisville, which he followed for twenty-eight years, in which time he had accumulated a snug fortune; after which he became a contractor in Louisville on public wells and cisterns, speculated in bonds and stocks of various kinds, and lost considerable during the panic of 1873. At present he owns eight houses and lots in Louisville, 1,200 acres of land in Nelson County, and 300 acres in Richland County, Ill. He was married October 29, 1841, to Corrilla Willett, a daughter of Griffith and Rhoda (Stiles) Willett, natives of Nelson County and New Jersey and born in 1798 and 1800 respectively. Rhoda (Stiles) Willett is still living. Griffith was a moderate farmer, and died in 1875. He was a son of George Willett, who married and settled on Pottinger's Creek, near New Haven, in a very early day. Mr. and Mrs. Bland had born to them seven children: Stiles P., William M., George G. (all of whom are dead), Bell (now Rush), Annie C. (now Stiles), Dr. Joseph E. and Mattie M. (now Farnsworth). Mr. and Mrs. Bland are devoted members of the Christian Church, as also are all their children.