Josiah Blackwater

Josiah Blackwater is a mentioned and deceased character in Red Dead Redemption II.

History
Born in 1782 in a cabin west of Annesburg, Josiah's story seems to be mostly of legend. This is apparent when it is claimed that at only the age of 3 he was given a rifle was able to kill almost any animal as well as being able to fight a bear into submission. It is said that after these "feats" he achieved that he went to traditional schooling only to leave after three days.

According to the story shown in the Valentine movie tent, he ran away from home and headed west to the unsettled west. There, he apparently killed all the bison and Native Americans in the area and met a 12 year old Native girl he pitied on and decided to marry her and had two children before passing due to typhus.

At some point it is said that he killed a mountain lion to protect an opossum that he would befriend and eventfully wear as a hat. At a later point in his life he founded the town of Blackwater on Flat Iron Lake. Not to long after he met Ruthenia Hellsby at a barn dance, got re-married and had a total 14 kids. During this time he is said to have had a cattle empire before eventually moving back east to Saint Denis where it is shown he mostly indulged in prostitutes and gluttony after claiming the people of his own town can "go to hell, and [he] will go to Saint Denis".

After his pleasurable time in the slums of Saint Denis, he got the idea to run for Congress. He, miraculously, becomes a congressman, wearing his opossum hat everyday (supposedly) as well as carry his gun while exclaiming "I may live in barbaric splendor, but I always remember... keep your friends close and your gun closer... 'cause you don't know when you might have to shoot 'em". While almost entirely fabricated, this is all of Josiah's story that we have.