Bradford Blanchard (1823 - 1897)

Born 6 Jan 1823 in East Stoughton, Norfolk County, MA

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1897 at about age 73 in Marshfield, MA (Plymouth)

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Biography

This profile is part of the Blanchard Name Study.

Bradford had been born to farmer Isaac Blanchard in Stoughton, Massachusetts in 1823, but lived in New York for some time, working as a merchant in the boot and shoe trade. He did very well there and for some reason, decided to move his family back to Massachusetts around 1860. Financially succesful, there had been a personal tragedy in his life – the loss of his 9 year old daughter in 1856 on a steamboat trip from New York to Massachusetts.

By 1860 the family was living in Stoughton, with his mother-in-law and a servant, his profession the same as it’d had been in 1850 – merchant. In the years before, while they lived in Kingsborough, an affluent section of Brooklyn City, New York, with an office in Manhattan, his brother George was lived nearby with his family, and working at the same address as Bradford. It could be assumed the two were in the shoe business together.

Bradford has a listing in the 1870 Boston City Directory, at 112 Pearl Street His older brother Henry has retired, and nephew David, a boot manufacturer, is also in Boston with his own business – D.H. Blanchard & Co. on Hanover Street.

In the 1872 Boston City Directory, Bradford has started B. Blanchard and Co with his nephew, where they are listed at 55 Pearl Street, the place to be in 1872 for the shoe and boot dealers and manufacturers.

In November of 1872, along comes the Great Fire of Boston and changes many lives. After the fire, Bradford Blanchard and his nephew file file for bankruptcy.

Two years after filing for personal bankruptcy – both David and Bradford, along with David’s brother Hiram, began putting money into Avon, Massachusetts, which was becoming a city separate from Stoughton.

On the 1880 census, we see Bradford living in Marshfield, Massachusetts and identifying himself as a farmer. He won at an auction 120 acres that formerly belonged to The Farmer of Marshfield, Daniel Webster. Careswell estate in Marshfield, formerly the property of the Farmer of Marshfield, Daniel Webster. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3652922/janesville_daily_gazette/

The main house on the Daniel Webster estate burned down in 1878. Daniel Webster’s daughter-in-law, Caroline, rebuilt it two years later and moved in. The estate Bradford bought wasn’t Daniel Webster’s home, but another estate within the Webster estate, where Webster's son Fletcher had lived.

The 1888 Selected U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880 same census shows Bradford as a farmer with 140 acres in Marshfield, near Caroline Webster’s 170 acres of land she’s farming.

The 1880 US Census shows two of his sons, Howard and Allan living with him, and say they are farmers, too. His 3 surviving children apparently were helped by him while he lived – all working on the farm. By 1894 from a directory, we see Allan is running a grocery store in Marshfield, where he’s probably selling whatever produce the family provides. It also appears from that directory that although Bradford is a farmer, he may not have kept the farm – instead of being listed as living on the 120 acre estate, he’s living on the corner of Canal and Careswell, a good distance from the home. Allan’s grocery store is on Canal – this may be their residence, also.

in the 1894 Marshfield directory, where he was still farming, living further down on Canal Street and Careswell – possibly still working on the Careswell estate.

Evidence that he did, indeed, die poor is on his death notice which says he died in 1897 at Carney Hospital, a charity hospital in Dorchester, (South Boston) run by the Sisters of Charity.

He was still a resident of Marshfield at the time and was buried in the family plot in Union Cemetary – probably the plot and matching stone were paid for long before his losses and his death.

Sources

Name, Birth

: Birth:

Date: 6 JAN 1823

Place: East Stoughton, Norfolk County, MA

Year: 1880; Census Place: Marshfield, Plymouth, Massachusetts; Roll: 550; Family History Film: 1254550; Page: 584C; Enumeration District: 546; Image: 0177 APID: 1,6742::15512386

Residence

Residence:

Date 1850

Census Place: Williamsburg, Kings, New York; Roll: M432_522; Page: 317A; Image: 364

Source Information 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

Residence: Brooklyn City, Ward 13, Kings, New York, USA

Date 1855

Census Place New York, State Census, 1855 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Original data: Census of the state of New York, for 1855. Microfilm. New York State Archives, Albany, New York.

Residence:

Date 1860; Census Place: Stoughton, Norfolk, Massachusetts; Roll: M653_515; Page: 135; Image: 137; Family History Library Film: 803515

Source Information 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

Residence

Massachusetts State Census, 1865," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11107-74915-44?cc=1410399 : accessed 18 November 2015), Norfolk > Stoughton > image 13 of 71; State Archives, Boston. [1]

Residence: Marital Status: WidowedRelation to Head of House: Mother

Date: 1880

Place: Marshfield, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA Source: #S-164226378 Page: Year: 1880; Census Place: Marshfield, Plymouth, Massachusetts; Roll: 550; Family History Film: 1254550; Page: 584C; Enumeration District: 546; Image: 0177 APID: 1,6742::15512386

File: [2]

Land

Boston Daily Advertiser (Boston, Massachusetts), Saturday, June 03, 1876 clipped from Janesville Daily Gazette, June 10, 1876 [3]

Bankruptcy

Bradford Blanchard bankruptcy court date for hearing Court Calendar." Boston Daily Advertiser Other information "Court Calendar." Boston Daily Advertiser [Boston, Massachusetts] 12 Oct. 1874: n.p. 19th Century U.S. Newspapers. Web. 25 July 2015. URL Gale Document Number: GT3006522401/record

Death

Death Record

Death: Y

Date: 1897

Place: Marshfield, MA (Plymouth) Source: #S-164226222 APID: 1,60525::100961598

Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911–1915. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. [4]

• Title: U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Author: Ancestry.com Publication: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. APID: 1,60525::0
• Repository: R-795853682 Name: Ancestry.com
• Source: Title: 1880 United States Federal Census Author: Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Publication: Ancestry.com Operations Inc APID: 1,6742::0

Burial

Burial:  :: Place: Marshfield, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA Source: #S-164226222 APID: 1,60525::100961598