My Genealogy Hound

FLINT BLANCHARD. Among the most prominent farmers and business men of the town of Ellicott must be placed Flint Blanchard, whose name heads this sketch. He was ushered into this life in the town of Wales, Erie county, New York, October 17, 1825, and is the son of Amos and Eunice (Flint) Blanchard. The grandfather of Flint Blanchard, whose name was Caleb Blanchard, claims, as the place of his nativity, the village of Antrim, New Hampshire; and here, also, amid the granite hills, beautifully set with nestling lakes and ragged peaks, he finished the toils of life and passed out into the mystic realms beyond. His life was one of uprightness, honesty and simplicity, which attributes were not only inherent in his nature but also extended out into all his business transactions and relations. In occupation he was engaged in the operation of a farm, merchandising and the allied branches of business. The father of our subject, Amos Blanchard, was born in the town of Antrim in the year 1799, and died June 16, 1891. He came to Erie county, New York, about 1824, and removed from there to the town of Ellicott, Chautauqua county, in 1834, where he resided until the time of his death. He purchased a large farm and has devoted his life to its improvement and operation. Mr. Blanchard was a democrat in politics, and in religion a devoted member of the First Presbyterian church of Jamestown, in which he held the office of deacon. His marriage resulted in the birth of eight children, seven boys and one girl.

Flint Blanchard received his education in the common schools of his native town and the academy at Jamestown. In early life he devoted several years to school teaching and at a later period took up the occupation of farming and dairying, in which business he is now engaged. He owns a farm of three hundred and seventy-five acres in the town of Ellicott, in a high state of cultivation and productiveness. He has always cast his fortunes, politically, with the Democratic party, and has devoted much time and energy in party work. He has been a candidate for State Assembly and also for the Senate, and, although he suffered defeat, succeeded in reducing the republican majority from eight thousand to two thousand six hundred in the counties of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus, when but twenty-one years of age he was elected justice of the peace. Mr. Blanchard is a member of the First Presbyterian church at Jamestown in high standing, and for many years served as an elder. He is also a member of the Patrons of Husbandry. In his moral, social and business life Mr. Blanchard enjoys the esteem and confidence of his friends and fellow-citizens. Uniformly kind and courteous in his deportment toward those with whom he comes in contact, he is eminently deserving of the epithets genial and social.

Flint Blanchard was united in marriage to Sarah Jane Allen, a daughter of Sumner Allen, of Jamestown, New York. To them were born seven children, five boys and two girls: Henry L. is at present a resident of the State of Washington, a lawyer by profession (having graduated from the College of Law at Seattle) but more largely engaged in lumbering and manufacturing than in the active practice of his profession; Charles, a farmer, lives in Ellicott; Jennie D., died when quite young; Dr. Robert Newland, a practicing physician of Jamestown, New York (see his sketch); Mary E., married Fred A. Bentley, vice-president of Chautauqua County National Bank, and lives at Lake Wood; Amos F., a graduate of Buffalo Medical College, and now a practicing physician in Frewsburg, New York; and Clarence, dead.