Blanford, George Washington

BLANFORD, SLAUGHTER, STEWART, PIGLER

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/27/2009 at 09:15:07

Blanford, George Washington

In placing before the reader the review that follows due reference is accorded the feeling of the subject in conformity with whose wishes the writer will endeavor to adhere strictly to facts and omit as far as possible complimentary allusions, at the same time realizing that the latter have been honorably earned and should form no small part of the life-sketch in which it is sought to render nothing but what justice and meritorious recognition demand.

George Washington Blanford, successful tiller of the soil, of Mound Prairie Township, Jasper County, was born in Kentucky, June 27, 1836, the son of Henry and Nancy L. Blanford, natives of Maryland and Kentucky, respectfully. Henry Blanford moved to Kentucky when a young man and there married. He was a farmer by occupation and in 1841 he moved to Illinois, locating in Edgar County, where he lived until his death, at the age of eighty-six years, his wife also reaching that age. They entered land from the government, which they developed. Their family consisted of twelve children, eleven of whom grew to maturity, and six of them are still living.

George W. Blanford was educated in the common schools of Illinois and he grew up on the farm. He moved to Iowa in the fall of 1856 and located near Ottumwa, where he remained a short time, then came to Jasper County and bought a small farm, but soon sold it. He bought a farm of one hundred acres in 1862 in Mound Prairie Township, to which he later added forty acres, then eighty acres, and he is now the owner of one of the choice farms of the Township, consisting of two hundred and forty acres. He has placed modern improvements on the same and has a pleasant home and everything about him indicates thrift and good management. In connection with general farming he handles a good grade of livestock. In 1886 Mr. Blanford moved to Grinnell for the purpose of educating his children, but moved back to the farm five years later and he has lived retired practically ever since.

Politically, Mr. Blanford is a Democrat and he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Blanford was married on March 1, 1863, to Mary Ellen Slaughter, who was born April 17, 1841, near Burlington, Iowa, the daughter of Joseph and Melinda Slaughter, old settlers, having first come from Newark, Ohio, and located near Burlington, Iowa, in 1840 and in 1846 they came on to Jasper County, when their closest neighbors were ten miles away. Mr. Slaughter's death occurred in 1902, at the age of eighty-three years, his widow surviving until April 24, 1905, dying at the age of eighty-eight years.

Mr. Slaughter entered one hundred and sixty acres in Mound Prairie Township, and, being a man of unusual business ability, he prospered and became the owner of twelve hundred acres of valuable land. He was a Whig and later a Democrat, but he was never an aspirant for public office, preferring to give his exclusive attention to his large farming interests and his family. His family consisted of seven children, two of whom are living, Mrs. Blanford, of this sketch, and Scott Slaughter, of Mound Prairie Township. Mr. Slaughter was a thirty-second degree Mason and prominent in that order, having joined first in Prairie City.

Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Blanford, namely: Dora, who is the wife of James Stewart, was graduated from the Young Ladies' Atheneum at Jacksonville, Illinois; William T. was graduated from a business college at Lexington, Kentucky; Consuelo is the wife of Lewin Pigler; Frank; Joseph; Katherine was graduated from the business college at Lexington, Kentucky, and she was also graduated from the high school at Grinnell, Iowa; she was a young lady of talent and her promising career was cut short by death at the age of twenty-three years; George Edward and Charles A. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 877.