Description |
: |
The biography of John Harvey Blanton is below, and following that is a biography of his father Isaac Blanton.
John Harvey Blanton, the son of Isaac Blanton and Hannah Munkers, grew up on the frontier in western Missouri in the region of Clay, Platte and Andrew counties. Several of his relatives from the area, particularly Red Munkers along with George and Oliver Shepherd, later became involved in the Civil War as southern guerrillas and then rode in the James Gang. John was not present to see these events since his father Isaac took the family west in the...
Read More
|
The biography of John Harvey Blanton is below, and following that is a biography of his father Isaac Blanton.
John Harvey Blanton, the son of Isaac Blanton and Hannah Munkers, grew up on the frontier in western Missouri in the region of Clay, Platte and Andrew counties. Several of his relatives from the area, particularly Red Munkers along with George and Oliver Shepherd, later became involved in the Civil War as southern guerrillas and then rode in the James Gang. John was not present to see these events since his father Isaac took the family west in the summer of 1847 to cross the continent on the Oregon Trail.
The route had its many dangers including disease from bad water, and thus John's uncle Joseph/Joel Blanton (Isaac's younger brother) died on the trail in his attempt to take his family west in 1846. The family turned back, and only Joesph's son John W. Blanton (1835 to 1917) made it in 1853. He joined his uncle's family in Eugene, Oregon where they helped him make a place for himself in this new land.
John married Elizabeth Shepherd ca. 1853 in Oregon soon after her family arrived on 11 Nov. 1852. Born 30 Aug. 1836 in Washington Co. (now Crawford Co.), Arkansas, Elizabeth was the daughter of Hannah Peters and James Shepherd, but her father never saw the Pacific coast since he was another who succumbed to cholera on the trail west along with three of Eilzabeth's siblings. The Blantons and Shepherds had been related back in Virginia; George Blanton (John's granduncle?) had married Martha Shepherd (Elizabeth's grandaunt), and thus when the Shepherds arrived in Oregon, their Blanton kin were there to help their distant relatives settle in. So John met and soon married his Elizabeth, and in 1855 cousin John W. Blanton, married her sister Catherine Shepherd (1844 to 1935). This has led to some confusion for researchers since cousins with the same name married sisters.
John and Elizabeth's Children: - Mary Jane (b. 8 May 1854, Oregon, d. 28 March 1907, Eureka, Humboldt, Ca.); - James Buchanan (b. 19 December 1856, Oregon, d. 11 March 1858, Oregon); - Francis Marion (b. 2 Sep. 1859, Oregon, d. 3 March 1929); - Hannah Louise (b. 13 Feb. 1862, Oregon, d. 2 July 1908); - Isaac Lee (b. 15 July 1864, Oregon, d. 30 March 1937); - John Harvey, Jr. (b. 2 April 1866, Oregon, d. 13 August 1897); - Laura Ellen "Laury" (b. 4 May 1868, Rohnerville, Humboldt, Ca., d. 12 Oct. 1933, married Jacob Oscar Showers, Jr. on 31 Jan. 1886 in Rohnerville); - Martha Blanche b. 5 May 1872, Humboldt, d. 8 March 1960, Humboldt); - William A. (b. 21 Feb. 1875, Humboldt, d. 12 Dec. 1937); - Elizabeth Ann (b. 12 Sept. 1876, Blanton Prairie, Humboldt, Ca., d. 23 Oct. 1964).
John is first named in the 1850 Oregon census for Marion County where he is listed as a 20 year old farmer from Missouri, the head of household with a property value of $1,000.00. His brother William, age 17 and also born in Missouri, is the only other member of the household, so it appears that Isaac's two sons had struck out on their own to establish a farm. The date of his entry is 28 Jan. 1851, so evidently Oregon was not well organized for the census and it stretched into the following year. John is also listed in the 1853 census for Marion County and the territory tax lists for the county from 1854 through 1859.
The Blantons arrived in Oregon early enough to welcome many of the pioneers who followed, particularly after the gold rush began in California, and they were later able to provide information to help those who were claiming land by providing affidavits for the date of their arrival. For example, our John provided such a document for John R. Satterfield who came from Jackson Co., Arkansas and arrived in Oregon 6 Dec. 1854. John made his deposition on 13 May 1885, and it was also attested by Richard Rush, who was the brother-in-law of John's brother William Blanton (who had married Elizabeth Rush, and she was a cousin of the Satterfields). The Satterfields were also related to the Shepherds since John Lafayette Peters, the brother of Hannah Peters Shepherd and Sarah Jane Peters Shepherd, married Mary Catherine Polly Satterfield, and Landers Satterfield married Mary Peters, who was a young sister to all the above. And another family connection is made through William Blanton who provided a land affidavit for John Hutchens, who had married Susanna Shepherd, sister-in-law to both his brother John H. and his cousin John W. Obviously, the familes stayed connected to each other through their many travels.
John and wife Elizabeth came south to California about 1866, perhaps still looking for greener pastures, and according to "California Place Names" by Erwin G. Gudde and William Bright, in 1871 they evidently found their ideal place in the heavily wooded hills NE of Rohnerville in Humboldt County. This was virgin forest interspersed with meadows, and John discovered what he wanted 7 miles into the coastal range where an old trail cut through the mountains from the Central Valley. John built his rustic log cabin at the edge of a 200 acre meadow atop one of the ridges that became know as Blanton Prairie (latitude: 40.606941, longitude: -124.03250; 605 meters above sea level), and the stream that ran south of the ridge became Blanton Creek (latitude: 40.576672, longitude: -124.009438). Both names still are used today on maps of the area. Even the government trail became know as Blanton Trail, and in some places it cut some three feet into the soil by the traffic to the Prairie as well as the mountains beyond. Today Blanton Prairie is located 7.83 miles from the Rohnerville Airport. Here John and Elizabeth farmed and raised cattle as well as their large family.
Both remained close to other family members after the move. Either with them or soon after, two of Elizabeth's siblings are later found in their area and were listed in the 1870 census for Hydesville, just a few miles east of Rohnerville and south of Blanton Prairies. This was her brother William Henry Shepherd with his wife Mary Mooney, and also her sister Susanna "Susan" Shepherd married to John Hutchens. William eventually moved back to Oregon where he died decades later in 1910 in Ashland, Jackson Co, Oregon (but Mary married died in Sacramento in 1919, probably living with one of her children). As for Susan, she and John were still in Humboldt County for the 1880 census at Yeager Creek, but eventually they moved to a ranch in Trinity County. Soon after her John died in 1916, Susan relocated to Eureka to be near her family including her sister Elizabeth who had moved there with her own John. She died in Eureka in 1921.
There are three government land records for John in Humboldt. One patent dates to 1 April 1875 for 165.39 acres in section 6 of township 2-N (accession # CACAAA 139107 and document #2443). A second was made for 160 acres on 1 Oct. 1879 in township 3-N for land in adjoining sections 26 and 35 (accession # CACAAA 139001 and document #4057). The third came a decade later on 24 Nov. 1888 for another 160 acres in section 19 of township 3-N (accession # CACAAA 140707 and document #5228). In addition to these, John's son Marion also took possession of 160 acres nearby on 24 Nov. 1888 in twsp. 3-N, section 32. He had earlier purchased 160 acres in township 1-N on 20 March 1882. Isaac S (L?) also bought land in the area on 7 May 1889 in section 30 in township 3-N which placed it beside John's land in section 19. The old idea of family staying close to family continued with this next generation in California.
However, the picture is made even more interesting by a land patent in the name of Elizabeth Blanton on 20 Sept. 1888 for 80 acres in sections 27 and 29 on township 3-N (accession # CACAAA 139094 and document #6546). Son Marion's land in section 32 was beside her property. The land in section 27 was beside John's in section 26, and Elizabeth's acreage in 29 was kitty-corner to John's in 19 and alongside the land Isaac would acquire in section 30 the following year. So it would seem that the family was selecting choice land in the forest that corresponded with meadows that could be used for grazing and farming.
That is not the end of the story for land. John's other children also took possession of land near him and Elizabeth. Hannah's patent of 11 April 1889 was for 164.31 acres beside her father's property in section 6 of twsp. 2-N and section 35 in twsp. 3-N. She added to this on 21 May 1891 with 160 acres more in sections 26 and 35 in 3-N, also beside her father. Two days after this she took possession of 120 more acres in section 27 of the same township. Her brother young John H. took title of 40 acres on 18 Oct. 1888 in section 18 of twsp 3-N. Since John was 13 at this time, it would seem that the land was actually his father's, or that John Sr., was buying land for his children or in their names.
A patent dated to 30 Oct. 1874 refers to a "T.B. Blanton" for 160 acres in township 2-N for section 2 (accession # CACAAA 144330 and document #1991). If the initials are accurate, this is likely John's much younger brother Thomas who might have joined him in Humboldt and was the first to take out an official land patent (although John's homestead dated from 1871). Knowledge about Thomas is rather limited, and the place and year of his death are not yet known, so he might have moved on from Humboldt a few years after getting his land patent or perhaps died young.
We are fortunate to have a description of this locale of the Blanton area in "Blanton Prairie Odyssey," a piece published in "The Humboldt Historian" in 1983 (Jan.-Feb., p. 14-15). It was written by Ernest C. Carter who had explored the area as an 11 year old boy in the summer of 1925 when he and his Rohnerville buddies trekked into the forests looking for adventures. By that date the Blanton family had long before left their isolated area, but much remained of the ranch. Some 58 years later Mr. Carter recalled his memories to picture a world that had vanished amid the heavy logging of the area: "Blanton Prairie was clear, open grassland, as I remember, about 200 acres some gently sloping and some quite steep, completely surrounded by virgin forest. There were fallen-down fences, a large barn and an old orchard, and at the far-eastern edge of the prairie where the trail entered the forest again, was a two-room cabin with a large rock fireplace. Everything appeared to have been abandoned many years before. There was an old broken-down mowing machine and a badly deteriorated hay-rake. I've always wondered about the family that lived there first and what hardships they must have endured. All supplies had to come over the narrow, seven mile trail from Rohnerville or Hydesville; the farm machinery would have had to be dismantled and carried on mules and horse.
"Close to the cabin was a spring-house, which was a small, one-room cabin built over a spring. The spring emerged from the ground at the upper end and then flowed down the full length of the building which had no floor. The ground was always damp, so it kept the whole inside nice and cool. Shelves were built all along the walls. The day we were there the weather was hot and it felt good to go into the spring-house and get a drink of cool water. Where the spring started, a hole had been dug so the water could be dipped out easily. I understand that spring-houses were quite common in the early homestead days, but this was the only one I've ever seen….
"The trail entered the second prairie (about a 1/3 mile beyond the first meadow) on the highest point of the mountain, and the view we beheld was beautiful. We had all been raised on the Loop Road, and in those days people didn't have the means to travel as we do now, so none of us had been in the hill county of eastern Humboldt. From our vantage point we could see the whole Lawrence and Yager Creek drainage, and beyond was the bare mountain top of Bald Jesse. To the northeast the Iaqua Buttes were plainly visible, jutting up above the bare hills of the Kneeland Prairie county. Further east we could see clear to the mountains bordering the west side of Sacramento Valley.
"…Being beyond the fog belt, the weather was warmer and dryer than we were used to, it felt good, even the air smelled good. The second prairie was all clear grass land, about 150 acres, and it too was completely surrounded by virgin forest. Any direction we looked, there was no sign of civilization, no houses or barns or fences, not even a logging road, just a solid expanse of virgin timber. It was in the heat of early afternoon and the only sound we could hear was a couple of bluejays just squawking their heads off up in the madrona tree above us…. Other than the jays the only other living thing we could see was a large chicken-hawk which appeared to be aimlessly circling over a small area of the Lawrence Creek basin. I remember it seemed so different to be looking down on a circling hawk, instead of up. To me, eleven years of age, the whole expanse of country was like looking out over another world. The second prairie was my favorite of the two prairies and it made me feel good that we could walk there directly from our home on Loop Road (in Rohnerville).
"Recently, on a nice summer day, our son Timothy asked me if I would like to go for a plane ride with him. I said yes, that I'd like to go out toward Bridgeville and then fly back over Bald Jesse and over the second prairie, then follow Blanton Trail, or where it used to be back to Rohnerville. On a trip that used to take us all day of steady and hard walking to get to the Blanton Prairie country and back again, we made the one way in less than five minutes in the airplane. Somehow it made me feel kind of sad to think how small the world had become in just sixty years. I felt sad too when I couldn't see any sign of Blanton Trail. The timber had all been cut and logging roads were everywhere. The prairies were still visible, but the barn and spring-house and orchard were gone. And the two room cabin with the rock fireplace was gone, but I'll bet the daffodils still bloom there in the spring."
Even out on Blanton Prairie the 1880 U.S. census for Rohnerville (page 404D) recorded the family members still living at home. They are all labeled W for white, and the two sets of initials at the end of each line are for the birth states of their mother and father.
John Self M Male W 49 MO Farmer VA NC Elizabeth Wife M Female W 45 AR Keeping House KY KY Frank Son S Male W 20 OR Farm Laborer MO AR Hannah Dau S Female W 18 OR At Home MO AR Isaac Lee Son S Male W 16 OR At Home MO AR John Son S Male W 14 OR At Home MO AR Laury Dau S Female W 12 CA At Home MO AR Martha Dau S Female W 8 CA MO AR William Son S Male W 5 CA MO AR Ann E. Dau S Female W 3 CA MO AR
For ranching and farming high up his forest meadows, John needed for good pack animals as noted in the Carter's article, and this is also revealed by awards John won in the 9th Agricultural District of Humboldt, Del Norte, and Mendocino Counties. Several times in the 1880s he entered his best Jack (donkey) "Andrew" in district competitions and won first place for pack animals. In addition to this, he also exhibited oats, and took 2nd place for 50 lbs of butter aged three months (valued at $2.50 in 1882). The 1884 report shows John was judged with the best bushel of barley (valued at $4.00), and as noted in the 1888 report, John is listed with a "Premium Awarded" for wheat (a bushel valued at $2.50). It seems he must have turned some parts of the meadows into grain fields as well as planting an orchard to accompany the cattle he grazed. His operation must have been fairly self-sufficient except the products not available such as cloth and gunpowder for hunting.
The "Daily Alta California" newspaper reported in its 8 Feb. 1884 edition that John Blanton and his daughter (unnamed) arrived in San Francsco from Eureka aboard the steamer "Humboldt." There is no other information since the story is mostly a list of passengers. Since there were 14 unnamed passengers in steerage, John must have been a first class passenger. However, no steamer of this name existed at this time, but the name was used for a two masted schooner which must have been the ship that carried John and his daughter. Records show the 138 ton "Humboldt" was built by Hans Ditlev Bendixsen at Eureka, in 1874 for J. J. Smith, J. S. Kimball, and her master, Oscar Kustel. Later it was owned by B. H. Madison but drops from the 1886 register (as reported by John Lyman in "Pacific Coast-Built Sailers 1850-1905" and cited in "The Marine Digest" May 3, 1941, p. 2.). It was dropped from the register since it sunk 1885 in a storm off the coast of Mendocino (39deg 38'12'N, 123deg 47'10'W according to the California State Shipwrek database at shipwrecks.slc.ca.gov/). The record states that the "lines parted" which is the term used when the winds tore apart the sails and destroyed the rigging. If that had happened while John was aboard, and the daughter with him was Laura, the history of the Showers family would be very different.
The 30 May 1896 edition of the "Eel Valley Advance," a Fortuna newspaper, carried a lengthy article entitled "A Complete History of the Organization of the Eel River Valley Lumber Company" and John Blanton is mentioned. John is identified toward the end of the piece concerning future logging development: "No lumber-making firm in the county has a better opportunity to take advantage of a rising market, and with a single exception none will be able to furnish a larger daily output or to float orders with greater punctuality. There is a bit of history connected with the home now owned Geo. W. Byard, which is within sight of Newburg town on the west. That property was located by pioneer Henry Rohner and John Sigrest in 1851, at a time when the population of Eel River Valley was indeed sparse and well scattered. Rohner and Sigrest had two other "neighbors" but it was a (obscured) walk to reach some of them.
"From the present terminus of the Eel River Valley Lumber company railroad in the vicinity of Felt's Springs to Blanton's Prairie is a distance of only about three miles. It is more than likely that in the near-coming future a branch railroad from the present one will reach out in the direction of the Prairie that Uncle John Blanton located so many years ago, for the intervening territory is covered with a vigorous growth of redwood and tan bark oak."
John's reputation as a woodsman increased when he managed to bag two Humboldt elk with one shot. He was so proud of this that he had a picture taken seated with the two heads and his gun, and an artist gave it a more lifelike look with colored chalk (a popular technique when photographs were black and white). It was set in a large, ornate gold frame and hung over the fireplace in the cabin at Blanton Prairies according to the story provided by his granddaughter Murtyce E. Judd Campau in the Sept.-Oct. 1986 "The Humboldt Historian." John did not employ a modern rifle for this but an old style muzzle-loader that used a ball and cap, the type of weapon he would have learned to shoot as a child in the 1840s back in Missouri. Since he did not use a shell, he could load as much gunpowder as he though necessary and safe, and perhaps that was the reason his single shot had the power to pass through one elk and into the other standing behind it. The picture shows him with a beard (but no mustache), pipe, dark suit and vest, collar with some sort of small dark ribbon or bow tie at the top, and a dark hat. He looks like a pioneer wearing his single Sunday best suit.
The "Daily Alta California" reported recent arrivals to San Francisco in its 9 Feb. 1891 edition, and Mrs. J Blanton of Eureka was staying at the Grand Hotel (Volume 84, Number 40). This must have been Elizabeth, but no other information is given. Since John and his daughter came to the City in 1884, perhaps going to San Francisco was something the family did on occasion for business or pleasure to break the monotony of life in rural Humboldt.
The granddaughter of John Blanton, Sibyl M. (Look) Jamieson, stated that John raised cattle and that the place was "one of the beauty spots and sportsman's paradise, the gathering place of local celebrities. Property was disposed of during President Cleveland's office" (The Madsen/Olesen Lines of Humboldt Co., Ca.").
The 1900 census Humboldt Co. records John and Elizabeth now living in Eureka. The life in the woods must have been too difficult for them, and they moved to the city where new amenities like electricity and indoor plumbing perhaps gave ease to their old age.
Eureka Township, 12 June 1900 (ED 3-23, Sheet 9B, page 46A 425 R St, #191 to #198):
- Blanton, John, Head, WM, Nov ? 1830, 69, married, for 48 years, b MO, father born VA, mother born KY, Farm Labor, Rents home;
- Elizabeth, wife, WF, Aug 1834, 65, married, for 48 years, mother of 10 children, 8 still living, AR/VA/AL;
- Martha, daughter, WF, May 1872, 28, single, b CA/MO/AR;
- Judd, Annie, daughter, WF, Sep 1876, 23, married, for 2 years, mother of 1, 1 living, b CA/MO/AR, Laundress;
- Myrtus, daughter, WF, Jul 1899, 10/12, b CA/OR/CA.
Son Lee, born 15 July 1865 Oregon and his wife Catherine A. born 30 June 1871 Massachusetts are living in Bucksport, and Martha, born May 1872, in Eureka.
The next record for John comes in 1910 with the census: for Humboldt Co, Eureka taken on 25 Apr 1910, Sheet 11B, page 140B, #251 to 259
- Blanton, John, Head, MW, Married first time, 57 years ago, b MO/VA/US, Gardener,
- Elizabeth, wife, FW, 73, married first time, 57 years ago, mother of 10, 6 still living, b AR/VA/US
- Judd, Annie, daughter, FW, 32, divorced, mother of 1, 1 living, b CA/MO/AR, Owner, Laundry
Myrtle, daughter, FW, 10, b CA/CA/CA At the time of his death John was living on Summer Street in Eureka, Humboldt, California. The local newspapers ran the story.
"Humboldt Standard" 15 July 1918: Blanton, John, died 14 July 1918 at his home, 1333 Summer Street, Eureka. Age 88 years, born Missouri. Came to Eureka about 1858. Left wife Elizabeth Blanton children: Mrs. Jacob O. Showers, Anna, Mattie, Lee, Wm. & Frank Blanton.
"The Humboldt Times" of 17 July 1918: "John Blanton Laid to Rest. The funeral of John Blanton was held at 2:00 o'clock from the family residence at 1333 Summer street. The interment being at Ocean View cemetery, with the Rev. Clark officiating. The pall bearers were H A Monroe, John Schott, John Porter, W S Clark, Richard Fraser, and A C Friend.
"The Humboldt Standard" of the same date added more information, but the paper mistakenly inserted California for Oregon as his original destination in the West: "John Blanton Funeral Held Here Yesterday. The funeral of John Blanton, a California pioneer of 1847, was held yesterday afternoon from the home at 1333 Summer street, where religious services were conducted by the Rev. R. D. Clark. Interment was at Ocean View cemetery. The pallbearers were A J Monroe, John Schott, John Porter, W. S. Clark, Richard Sweasey and A. C. Friend."
Elizabeth survived John only a few months and died 29 Nov. 1918 at her home on Whipple Street, now Fourteenth St., in Eureka, Ca.
---------------------------- ----------------------------
Biography of Isaac Blanton, Sr., the father of John Harvey Blanton
Birth: 11 May 1805 Powells Valley, Lee County, Virginia Death: 12 October 1868 Eugene, Oregon; buried in the Mulkey Cemetery "63 YEARS, 5 MONTHS, 1 DAY"
First (?) marriage: 12 June 1828 Clay Co., Missouri to Hannah Munkers/Munkirs (b. 1807 Tennessee, d. ca. 1849 Oregon);
Later marriage: July 1850 in Clackamas, Oregon to Mary Newman, b. 1808.
Children: - Mary Jane Blanton ? (b. July 25, 1827 in Missouri, died 1902, Oregon, married three times, 1st Mr. Shepherd, 3rd Mr. Nesbitt.; son A. L. Sheperd, daughter Mrs. Mary Richardson; obituary published Feb. 2, 1902 in the Sunday Oregonian names her brothers William and J. K. Blanton); - John H. (b. 12 June 1830, Washington, Missouri, d. July 14, 1918, Eureka, Humboldt, Ca.); - William (b. 1833, MO, d. 1904, Fairmount, Lane, Oregon; married Elizabeth Rush; established a donation claim south of Eugene, Oregon; named in the obituary of his sister Jane); - Benjamin (b. ca 1836, d. 1860, Jackson, Oregon); - Isaac, Jr (b. 1843, Platte, Missouri, d. 26 Jan. 1926, Eugene, Lane, Oregon; married Rebecca Ellen Anderson, 1855- 1926); - James K. (b. 1 Jan. 1846, Missouri, d. Jan 1914, buried in Mulkey Cemetery, Eugene Oregon; named in the obituary of his sister Jane); - David R. (b. 1847 ?, Missouri or Oregon, d. 1870, Lane, Oregon); - Thomas Blanton (b. 1848, OR, d. date unknown).
Little is know of Isaac until he appears as an adult in western Missouri in 1827 with his father and brothers who had all migrated west together from Lee County, Virginia. He bought a lot for $12.00 in Independence, Missouri in 1827 with his father John Blanton putting up the security for the transaction. A year later he married Hannah Munkers in Clay County where he is found in the 1830 census living near the household of his brother William.
However, Isaac's daughter Mary Jane Blanton was born July 25, 1827 in Missouri according to her obituary published in Salem in the Oregon Statesman of Feb. 2, 1902 (page 7). If this is accurate, then either Isaac was married to another woman in July 1827, or Mary Jane was born out of wedlock. Such a situation was not advertised in obituaries in 1902, so it would have been ignored. In fact, neither of her parents are mentioned in the obituary which only names Unfortunately, there seems to be no way to determine at this point in Hannah was Isaac's first wife.
According to "The Annals of Platte County," on 25 March 1839 by order of Governor Boggs, the First Circuit Court was established in Platte County, at the long tavern of M.D Faylor at the "Falls of Platte," and sheriff Jones H. Own empaneled the First County Grand Jury with Isaac Blanton the second man named. The deliberations of this grand jury indicted eight men for illegal gaming, and two others for running gaming houses. Also on the panel were James Flannery and Joshua Yates whose family histories reaching back to Virginia became entwined with the Blantons and their in-laws the Munkers (see John Blanton biography). The other family that often appears beside the Blantons are the Wells, and indeed they are found in the same legal documents: on the day following the establishment of the jury, John B. Wells was appointed administrator to look after the estate of the widow Rachel Wells and her daughter Fanny.
Land patents of Isaac Blanton in Missouri: - 8 Mar. 1834, 80 acres, w. half of section 30, township 49-N, Jackson Co., accession # MO 0190__.469, Lexington Office, doc number 12, signature of Andrew Jackson (by secretary Donelson); - 8 Mar. 1834, 39.86 acres, NE of NW section 6, twsp. 49-N, Jackson Co., accession # MO 0190__.272, Lexington Office, doc number 2684, signature of Andrew Jackson (by secretary Donelson); - 20 Jan. 1834, 79.72 acres, w. ½ NW section 6, twsp. 49-N, Jackson Co., accession # MO 0180__.422, Lexington Office, doc number 2352, signature of Andrew Jackson (by secretary Donelson); - 1 April 1846, 160 acres, NE of section 11, twsp 53-N, Platte Co., accession # MO4400__.246, Plattsburg Office, doc number 811, signature of James K. Polk (by secretary J. Knox Walker); - 1 May 1846, 40 acres, NW of SE section 11, twsp. 60-N, Andrew Co., accession # MO 4430__.230, Plattsburg Office, doc. number 2426, signature of James K. Polk (by secretary J. Knox Walker); - 1 May 1846, 40 acres, SE of NW section 11, twsp. 60-N, Andrew Co., accession # MO 4430__.445, Plattsburg Office, doc. number 2651, signature of James K. Polk (by secretary J. Knox Walker).
The land patents of Isaac's brother Joel were located nearby which shows the continued close connection of the family. On 6 Nov. 1835 Joel purchased 40.5 acres of the NW part of the SE quarter of section 11, Twsp. 50-N of Jackson County. Isaac had property in the next to township. On 7 Sept. 1838 Joel took legal possession of 39.56 acres of the SE part of the NW quarter of section 5, Twsp. 49-N. Isaac's property was in the adjoining section 6. On 1 March 1846 Joel received 160 acres in Twsp. 53-N, the SW part of section 11 (doc. #357). Isaac's property acquired a month later was in the same section and their properties touched. On 1 May 1846 Joel acquired another 160 acres in township 61-N, the SE part of section 36 (doc # 2806). Isaac's property was in the next township as well as that of his apparent brother Washington Blanton.
One of the most interesting documents from this period is the founding of the Unity "Flintlock" Baptist Church in Platte County on the first Saturday in August in 1840. On the membership roll of the founding members, Isaac Blanton is listed 1st and his wife Hannah is 16th. Other family members include Hannah's brother and sister-in-law Benjamin and Polly "Muncers" (#3 and #4) as well Hannah's sister Matilda along with her husband Bluford Stanton (#9 and #10). Also on the list is Jane Blanton (#78), the sister of Hannah who had married Joel Blanton and became a widow in 1846. She joined in Aug. 1848, but by the time she left the church when she moved away in Oct. 1897, she is identified as "Sister Hackwith" since she remarried in 1850 to Abner Hackworth. This is yet another example of the family living close to each for mutual support. And true to form, a member of the Yates family is also present in the person of William Yates who helped organize the congregation.
A schoolhouse near the home of Bluford Stanton provided the meeting place about five miles NW of Platte City. The membership voted on call themselves "Unity" evidently as a sign of their common beliefs and Christian values that crossed color lines. Among those who helped establish the church was William Yates, the father-in-law of Isaac's bother Ezekiel and sister Phoebe. In fact, when William died in 1846, Isaac is named in the will as one of those providing security for the debts. Perhaps he helped out since his sister-in-law Nancy Blanton, the widow of his brother Ezekiel, was an heir and he was helping protect her interests.
What makes the church list so interesting is that the congregation included both white and black members as early as 1844 and possibly from its beginning. Perhaps since there were so few institutions on the frontier, the southern racial barriers between white and black were less severe, and here the two groups worshiped together. The listing calls some of the African American congregation "servant of" which is the euphemism for a slave, but these names also include the designation of the member as a Christian "colloured brother" or "col'd sister" which suggests that religion could provide a means by which racial barriers could be circumvented. But some other slave members of the congregation are simply listed as "property of" another member. Yet by 1847 there does seem to be at least one slave who belonged to the church but whose master did not join (his name is not on the members list). This suggests that membership was not simply extended to black members of slave holding families, but was offered to those who wanted to belong. And one "colored sister" is named without any euphemism as servant or property, so she could have been a free black woman (although only her first name Dinah is given, which was the usual situation for a slave). There is no indication in this document or any of the census records that any of the Blantons or Munkers or their related families held slaves.
The church was built of hand hewn hickory and linden logs and endured as a meetinghouse into the 1920s; the last member listed is a certain "Linden" who was #147 and baptized 4 Oct. 1914 along with an Ella Thomas. However, although the building was abandoned, in the 1950s it was deeded to the Platte County Historical Society and eventually dismantled and shipped to the "Missouri Town 1855" project, a living museum thriving near Lake Jacomo in Platte County to preserve the state's history (8010 E. Park Road, Lee's Summit, Missouri 64064). The buildings are all original from the period, and to this end, the church's logs were numbered, dismantled, shipped to their new site, reassembled, restored to a working condition, and accepted to the National Register of Historic Places. The church today is used as a wedding chapel and seats up to 85.
"The Annals of Platte County, Missouri" from its exploration down to 1 June 1897 reports that Washington L. Blanton was a popular shoemaker and died in Platte City 12 Sept 1862. He seems to be the Blanton named as a merchant in Platte City in 1849. He was remembered as a "kind hearted, Christian gentleman…a genial and merry companion," born in 1805 and married Nancy Brunts. This seems to be the Nancy Blanton who helped organize the Platte City Baptist Church on 20 December 1850. His apparent daughter Mary married Christian Geyer 22 Aug. 1857, and in the 1860 census a 10 year old William Blanton is living in her household and seems to be her young brother. Mary's sister Sheba Blanton married John D. Flannery 25 July 1862 and later moved to Kansas (yet another Blantonn-Flannery connection). Another daughter must have married Joseph R. Daniel who died of Cholera, and Washington became the administrator of his estate on 9 June 1855 (for his daughter). As for Warren D. Blanton, he is named as a Platte County pensioner in 1883 at a rate of $12.00 a month. The likely reason is Civil war service but none has yet been discovered.
In the 1840 census there are eight people in Isaac's home in Platte County. There are three boys, one in each of the under 5, 5 to 10, and 10 to 15 age brackets. This record fits well with the ages of his sons by this date: John 10, William 7, and Ben 4. Isaac is placed in the 30 to 40 group. The girls' names do not survive since they appear to have married before the 1850 census and thus are lost to us. The one woman in the home in the 30 to 40 age group is of course Isaac's wife Hannah Munkers, born in 1807 to William Munkers and Rebecca Pendelton. But as usual, nearby are relatives. Isaac's neighbors included the households of James R. Shepherd and Enoch Shepherd. They are the nephews of Martha Shepherd from Lee Co., Virginia, who had married George Blanton, who seems to be the brother of John Blanton and the uncle of Isaac. The relationship though marriage must have been enough to count them as family. When the Shepherd cousins of James R. and Enoch arrived out in Oregon after a tragic trek from Arkansas, the Blantons welcomed them to the new territory and in fact married with them (see John H. Blanton above).
The pioneer spirit must have been strong in the Blanton family, and by the 1840s Missouri was becoming settled in contrast to new land available in the far west. So it was that brother Joel resolved to take his family to the Pacific Coast and fabled California, and Benjamin Munkers, the brother of Hannah, also left with his family for the west coast with Oregon territory as his goal. The first organized wagon trains to the Pacific Northwest had been organized in 1841, but Mary Elizabeth Munkers who made the trip with her father Benjamin in 1846 wrote that their crossing occurred in just the second year of organized wagon trains. But in the years before the gold rush to California in 1849, the flow of pioneers was still a trickle across the 2000 miles of wilderness from Missouri.
A certain Nicholas Carriger was a member of the same party with Joel's family, and he left a diary recording the events of the trip. The wagon train was one of those that left on the northern route from the Missouri river. They departed Round Prairie in Andrew County on Monday, 27 April 1846, but they were only on the trail for two weeks with a total of 31 wagons when Joseph suddenly died on 13 May. This was near the mouth of Honey Creek, 3 miles west of the Hamey-Thompson Ferry (now Corning, Missouri). Evidently without the head of their household, Joel's family determined the risk was too great to continue, and his widow Jane turned back to rejoin the rest of the extended family in Platte Co, Missouri ("Overland in 1846: Letters and Diaries of California-Oregon Train" by Dale Lowell Morgan). However, despite this tragic failure, Isaac resolved to lead his family west the next year in 1847, and for a time they would have followed the same trail as Joel through the territory that would later become the states Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Idaho, but then Isaac took the route north that brought him to even more sparsely settled Oregon. The death of Joel must have given him some worry that his own family might not make it, but it seems he was also enticed by the open land to homestead, and the family had long been self-reliant pioneers in their history of life on the country's frontier, first in Virginia's Powell Valley, then Harlan Co. in Kentucky followed by the long journey to western Missouri. The 1926 obituary of Isaac's son Isaac, Jr. who made the journey as a five year old, recalls that their wagon was pulled by an ox team across the plains (as well as across rivers, over mountains, and through hostile tribes). But the family was not immune to tragedy, and soon after their arrival in Oregon, it seems Isaac's wife Hannah died. Nothing is known about this, but with a family of children who needed a mother, Isaac soon married Mary Newman in 1850.
Isaac's brother-in-law Benjamin Munkers also established himself in Oregon, having made the trek to the coast in ca. 1846 (perhaps in the wagon train that included Joel Blanton). Two of his sons, Benjamin Franklin, Jr., and Thomas McClain set up a farm in Marion County where they were counted in the 1850 census. In addition, another son, Francis Marion Munkers, enlisted in Oregon's state forces for the Cayuse war of 1847-8. He is listed as a private in the 6th (E) company . He might also be the Marion Munkers who served as a 2nd lieutenant in the same company. He also seems to be the F. M. Munkers and F. M. Muncus who served in the 9th company, aka I and J companies (source: "The early Indian wars of Oregon: compiled from the Oregon archives and other original sources: with muster rolls, 1894, by Frances Fuller Victor).
The story of the Munkers crossing to California was told in 1916 by Benjamin's daughter Elizabeth who was age ten in 1846. Her story can serve as an example of what the pioneers endured to reach the west coast.
"CROSSING THE PLAINS IN 1846 AS TOLD BY Mrs. MARY ELIZABETH MUNKERS ESTES WHILE SITTING BY HER FIRESIDE CHRISTMAS EVE 1916" "From nearby Liberty, Missouri, in early April 1846, about fifty families prepared to make the journey to the far away Oregon Territory, which then included what is now the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and part of Nevada. My father, Benjamin Munkers, was among them. His family was composed of an invalid wife, three married sons and one married daughter, besides five younger children, the youngest a boy of five years. I was then ten years old and still have quite a clear memory of the journey and of conditions of the early days spent in Oregon.
"All the way across, Mother was unable to do anything, even having to be lifted in and out of the wagon. She made the entire ride on a bed. It was my work to help brother's wife, who managed the cooking for our camp.
"The Munkers family started out with five wagons drawn by oxen; three yoke to each wagon, thirty head of oxen, fifty head of roan Durham cows and five saddle horses. These made up our herd. Most all the company drove through some stock but I think no other family had so many as we.
"When we left Missouri, there was a train of about one hundred wagons but that was found to be too large a party to travel together as the teams must be kept up by grazing by the way. So they scattered out under leaders or train captains, as we called them. When we started, a man by the name of Martin was our Captain. Later when our train was much smaller, Ben Simpson, father of Sam L. Simpson, was our head man. The future Poet of Oregon was then Baby Sam of the camp. Many a time I cared for him while his mother was doing the family wash.
"After we left Missouri, all the buildings I remember seeing were Forts Laramie, Bridges and Hall. As this was but the second year of "Crossing the Plains", the way before us was much of it through a wilderness and over a trackless plain. There were no bridges, no ferries and a stream too large to be forded was crossed by means of rafts, if there could be found timber along its banks to make rafts. If not, our wagon beds were used for flat boats.
"We had no trouble with the Indians but we did have one awful scare. It was when we were in Utah. All at once our train seemed to be surrounded on all sides by mounted Indians! It was a war party going out to fight another tribe. I do believe there were ten thousand of them and we thought it was the last of us, but when they had seen us all they wanted to, they gave a whoop and a yell and away they clattered!
"Of those long weary months I cannot clearly tell. I know it was April when we started and October when we reached the place that was to be our home in Oregon. Sometimes we stopped several days in camp where we found plenty of water and good grazing and while the teams rested and fed up, the men fixed up the wagons and helped the women wash and prepare food for the next drive ahead. Then there were days we toiled over the arid plains till far into the night to reach the life-giving water that was a necessity to us and to our trains. The children of the company walked many many miles....sometimes I think I walked half of the way to Oregon! Some days it was very hard to find fuel enough for our camp fires. Many a time our simple meals were cooked over a fire of buffalo chips and sage brush. The weather did not cause as much trouble. I recall but one real storm. It was on the Platte River in Nebraska. We were in camp on the bank of the river when it came on. The wind blew a hurricane! Thunder roared and lightening flashed! It was a dark as Egypt. The rain poured like it was being emptied from buckets. I will never forget that night! Every tent was blown down. No one was seriously hurt, though a babe was narrowly missed by a falling tent pole. The men chained the wagons together to hold them from being blown into the river. Our camp belongings were blown helter skelter over the country around about and our stock was stampeded 'till it took all the next day to get them rounded up.
"But after all, we had but few hardships compared with some of the emigrant trains. Some years, you know, there was Cholera that wiped out entire families and trains that were raided by Indians and too, there were times when the oxen were diseased and died leaving families stranded on the plains. Yes, we were very lucky!
"In the early Autumn we reached the Columbia River and we drove down through the Barlow Pass and came into the Willamette Valley. We made camp there where the Swartz place is now. Father was anxious to secure a place where he could have shelter for the invalid mother and when he found a chance to buy out a homesteader (a man by the name of Anderson) he was glad to pay him his price ($1000) and take possession at once. The place was on Mill Creek, four miles East of Salem. There was a comfortable log house of two rooms, a log barn and ten of the 640 acres was farmed. Thus, before the winter rains came on we were snugly settled. Father brought in what supplies he could for the house and for our stock, but most of the cattle were turned on the range.
"The first winter's work was making rails with which to fence the farm. Then followed sod breaking and seeding, thus adding some acres each year to our fields. Father set out an orchard of apple and peach trees in the spring of 1850, I think it was. I don't remember where he got the nursery stock.
"He brought a half bushel of peach stones from Missouri. The orchard grew nicely and I think it was in the autumn of 1855 that father had 100 bushels of apples to sell. Fourteen dollars was the price he got per bushel. I do not often hear it spoken of now, but there was a time in the settlement where we lived when peas and wheat were currency. I cannot now say what the face value was, but I think one bushel either represented $1.00 in debit or credit. Peas were much used for coffee and often the only sweetening to be had was molasses.
"Oh no, we were not poor! Father brought $10,000 to this country. How? In gold and silver. You know mother was brought on a bedstead set right into the wagon. Well, underneath her bed was a box of bedding and in that box, the money was cached. Yes, we soon had pretty good homes started but the stampede to the gold mines in California in 1849-50 was a bad thing for our families. Four of my brothers went (Thomas, 14 years old / Ben, 16 years old / Riley, 19 years old and Marion). Marion later died there. They would all have gotten ahead faster had they stayed home.
"Where did I go to school? I did not have much chance to go to school after we came here. One winter the neighbors got up a school. There was a vacant house and they hired a man to teach the children awhile. I went. That was about all the schooling I had after I came to Oregon. Yes, I've been here a long time. Seventy years! I've seen Oregon grow up!
"What became of those who crossed the plains in our train? Well, the Crowleys settled in Polk County and the Fullerson's also as well as Glenn Burnett, our train preacher. The Browns, the Blakelys the Finleys and the Kirks settled in Linn County. Ben Simpson and family lived in Salem. Yes, I know most all the old timers. L.F. Grover, afterward Governor of Oregon and US Senator, was a guest at my wedding. Reverend Roberts, one of the early pioneers of Methodism performed the ceremony.
'Do I remember the hard winter and the great flood of 1861 & 1862? Yes! What was the worst winter and the greatest flood in all the years I've lived here. Much of Salem was under water. The Court House was full of people who had been driven from their homes. Near the old Bennett house, the water was swimming to a horse. The Willamette was a mighty river...miles in width, sweeping houses, barns, bridges and everything in its course. No, of course the river hadn't been bridged then, but then all the small streams were adding wreckage to the Willamette. The flood was in December '61. In January came the deep snow which lasted for six weeks and pretty nearly finished what the flood had left.'
The journey for Issac Blanton's family must have been similar to the travails of their Munker's counsins. And immediately on arrival in early December 1847, Isaac filed for land in the area that would become Clackamas County, with the document dated 13 Dec. 1847 (Volume VII, pg. 37). When they finally arrived, they were welcomed by those who were already established, but in the entire Clackamas County census in 1849, there were only 304 families registered, so it must have been fairly easy to find an open space to establish a home. In that record, Isaac's is the only Blanton household in the county, and it includes 1 male over 21 (himself) 7 males under 21, and four females. For the 1850 census Isaac's sons John H. (20) and William (17) were running their own small farm in Marion County. Isaac is found in the territorial census for Marion County in 1853, and is also named on the county's tax lists from 1854 to 1859, and the Marion county census for 1865.
The son of the deceased Joel Blanton was another John (W.) Blanton who married in Platte County, Missouri on 22 July 1851 to Margaret Swinney, but apparently she died or disappears from the scene since two years later in 1853 John signed on to help drive oxen on a wagon train to Oregon. When he arrived he was welcomed by his the family of his uncle Isaac and lived with them in Eugene for a time. It must have been during this time that he met the wife his cousin, our John H. Blanton, who had married Elizabeth Shepherd on 17 Dec. 1855. Elizabeth's younger sister Catherine was now a young woman, and John W. eventually married her. Also on the scene was William Blanton, brother of our John H. with whom he homesteaded with in 1850, but by 1860 he was living next door to cousin John W..
Joel also had a son who turns out to be named "General Francis Marion Blanton." This is odd. After the family turned back to Missouri following Joel's death, by 1850 his widow Jane (Munkers) Blanton remarried to Abner Hackworth. The 1850 Missouri census for the Hackworth family lists a 7 year old boy whose name appears to be "General F. Blanton." This is Joseph's son. By 1860 the Hackworth-Blanton family moved across the border to Iowa Point Twsp in Doniphan County, Kansas where in the census for that year this 14 year old teenager in the Hackworth household is named "Marion" along with the miswritten name "Branton" (misheard by the census taker). His older brother Richard William, age 16, is listed right above him. Later in the 1865 state census for the Hackworth family the young man's name now seems to read as "Gannel F. Blanton." It includes the information that this young man served in the 14th Kansas Cavalry in the Civil War. In addition, the census shows 8 of his neighbors also served in the 14th Cav., so the unit must have drawn from his area. A search of the military records for the state reveals the name "Marion Blanton" as riding in the 14th Kansas Cavalry.
So, putting it all together, it shows that Joseph's son must have been named General Francis Marion Blanton, and various parts of the name appeared in the census and military records. The 1865 state census taker must have written down the name incorrectly, perhaps due to accent (and maybe he wouldn't think someone's first name would be "General"). But this Francis is NOT the only one in the family to be named for the famous "Swamp Fox" Revolutionary War hero.
One of deceased Joseph's other sons, John W. Blanton who made it to Oregon in 1853 (see above) named one of his sons Francis Marion Blanton (born in Oregon in 1877). In addition Isaac Blanton's son, our John H. Blanton, named one of his sons Francis Marion Blanton (aka Frank, born in Oregon in 1859). An continuing the tradition, John H's daughter, Laura Ellen Blanton, the wife of Jacob Oscar Showers, Jr., named one of her sons Francis Marion Showers.
So what is this all about? It looks as though the family on multiple branches honored the name of the Revolutionary War hero. Could the family have served under him? The Oregon pioneer biography noted above for John W. Blanton stated the great-grandfather (John Blanton, Sr. or William Blanton Sr.) served in the Revolution. The "Swamp Fox" operated mostly in South Carolina, which is not too local to the Virginia/North Carolina border where our Blanton family seems to have owned land, but who knows how the fortunes of war might have affected the family. The fact that the name includes "General" suggests either that there was some rather close family history associated with the hero, or Joseph wanted to make sure the world knew that his Francis was a boy. How many men out there call themselves Frank to avoid confusion with the female version of Frances? But just for this reason, if Joseph saw a problem with the name, he still felt compelled to name his son this name. There must have been a good reason.
On 7 May 1857 when Hannah (Peters) Shepherd remarried in Marion County, Oregon to Nathan Smith, the two witnesses were John and Isaac Blanton. It is not clear if this is John H. married to Elizabeth Shepherd or John W. married to Catherine Shepherd since both men were Nancy's sons-in-law and were likely to be on hand for the wedding. And although the Isaac Blanton named could be either Senior of Junior, the document makes clear the family was close and supported one another through the stages of life.
Isaac is found in the 1860 census as "I. Blanton," age 57 (actually 55) in the Sublimity District of Marion County, a farmer with $1,700 in land value and $1,200 in personal property. With him is his 2nd wife Mary as "M" age 52 (and unable to reads or write), three sons: "I." (Isaac, 17, born in Missouri), "Jas." (James, 15, Missouri), and "D." (David ,13, Missouri). Next door are Mary's children from her previous marriage, George Newman (17, born in Iowa) and "S. Newman" (13, born in Oregon) who have set up their own household with a personal property value of $170. And just next door to them is the Field family who must also be relatives as well since Uriah Shepherd, age 30, is living with them. Uriah was the brother of Elizabeth Shepherd who had married Isaac's son John H. Blanton ca. 1851. Uriah was also the brother of Catherine Shepherd who had married in 1855 to Isaac's nephew John W. Blanton (b. 29 April 1833 Jackson Co., Missouri – d. 9 June 1916 Brooks, Marion Co., Orgeon), and they were living in Perkinsvill precinct in Jackson Co., Oregon (misidentified as "Blanten"). Beside them was Isaac's son William Blanton with his wife Elisabeth (Rush) with a budding family as well as William's brother Benjamin, age 25, who must have been helping run the farm. The family continued to live near relatives for support, the old social pattern that persisted all the way back to Virginia.
Isaac is named on page 4 of the 1865 Marion Co, Oregon state census. His sons nearby were Benjamin, Isaac W., James, and David.
Perhaps the last record we have of Isaac's life is a large land acquisition on 9 May 1866. He and Mary are named on a patent for 626.71 acres in sections 28 and 33 in twsp. 2-W in Marion County (accession #OROCAA 003954 and document #1968). Isaac had established his presence in the area of Eugene the decade before, and the family's long association with the area of Eugene led to their name being attached to various local spots including Blanton Road, Blanton Heights Road, Blanton Ridgeline Trail, Blanton Ridge City Park.
Isaac's final resting place was in the Mulkey Cemetery in Eugene where 26 Blantons are buried including son Isaac and his wife Rebecca Ellen Anderson Blanton, son William and his wife Elizabeth Rush Blanton, and nephew John W. Blanton (son of Joel Blanton) as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His headstone reads:
Blanton, Isaac Sr. d Oct 12, 1868 Husband of Elizabeth Monkers Blanton 63 years, 5 months, 1 day |