♂William Channing Blanchard

William Channing Blanchard was a millman from Lewiston, Maine, who left the state after his marriage and was living in Colorado by 1910 and in California by 1920; a compiled Find a Grave record gives him as born 27 May 1880 and died 20 May 1934. He was the grand-uncle of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006), the brother of her grandfather George Wesley Blanchard (1868–1939).

Early life

He was the youngest of the four children of Wesley Blanchard (1844–1908) and Eldora M. Webster (1846–1913), who lived at Lewiston, Androscoggin County. A compiled Find a Grave record puts his sister Addie’s death six years before he was born, so he grew up with his brother George and his sister Edith. A Find a Grave index gives his birth at Kingfield, Franklin County, where George had been born; the Maine marriage return of 1903 names Lewiston. In 1900 he was twenty and unmarried, living with his parents in the city’s first ward. That October his aunt Ida Alice Blanchard died, and her will left “Channing Blanchard, my nephew” $300 and her books.

Marriage

On 27 May 1903 he married Lillian Anderson (a compiled FamilySearch tree gives her years as 1878–1950) at Norway, Oxford County. The return calls him a millman of Lewiston, aged 23, and her Lillian Estella Anderson, a trained nurse of Norway, aged 25, born at Hollis. She was the daughter of the late William Henry Anderson and of Eliza Ann McDaniel. The couple filed their intention on 10 May, and the day of the wedding is also the day Find a Grave gives as his birthday.

Colorado and California

By 1910 the Blanchards had left Maine. The census of that year finds them at Eaton, Weld County, Colorado; by 1920 they were at Porterville in Tulare County, California, where they were still living in 1930. Each census lists the two of them alone, he recorded as 30, 39 and 49 and she as 32, 42 and 52, and no children are on record. A family tree on FamilySearch has Lillian dying at Santa Cruz in 1950 and her burial at Porterville.

Death

A Find a Grave index gives William’s death on 20 May 1934 and his burial at Lewiston, Androscoggin County, Maine.

Notes

Death and burial

The FamilySearch family tree gives his death as 30 January 1934 and his burial in Riverside Cemetery, Vassalboro, Kennebec County, where the Find a Grave index gives 20 May 1934 and Lewiston. Neither is a death record. The date 30 January 1934 also appears in a descendant chart of the Cooke family.

Birthplace and name

Find a Grave and the FamilySearch tree agree on Kingfield and on 27 May 1880; the marriage return gives his age as 23 and his birthplace as Lewiston. The 1920 census index writes his given name as “William E”. The descendant chart gives the wedding as 27 March 1903; the return has 27 May.