HON. LUCIAN C. BLANCHARD.

Hon. Lucian C. Blanchard, who in public office as a member of the state legislature and on the bench has been actuated by a spirit of direct and immediate serviceableness, was born in Diana, Lewis county, New York, a son of Caleb and Penelope (Aldrich) Blanchard, natives of Rhode Island and Vermont respectively. The father, born in 1797, removed from New England to New York at an early period in the development of the latter state and became a prominent factor in local affairs, serving as supervisor and also as justice of the peace for many years. Judge Blanchard, born Apri1 15, 1839, was only five years of age at the time of his father's death. He was educated in the common schools and the Carthage Academy at Carthage, Jefferson county. New York, and in 1858 came to the middle west; after which he attended the Rock River Seminary at Mount Morris, Illinois, for two years. He also engaged in teaching for several years and in 1860 went to Pike's Peak, attracted by the discovery of gold there, but in the fall of the same year returned to the Mississippi valley and taught school in Jasper county, Iowa. He took up the study of law at Newton, Iowa, and in June, 1862, he enlisted for service in the Civil war as a member of Company K, Twenty-eighth Regiment of Iowa Volunteers. With that command he participated in the battles of Port Gibson, Champion Hill and. the siege of Vicksburg. In his military service he was active and loyal and with a most creditable record returned to his home.

Returning to the north Judge Blanchard resumed the study of law and entered the law department of the University (if Michigan, from which he was graduated in the class of 1866. He began practice in Montezuma, Iowa, and soon demonstrated his capability to successfully handle important litigated interests by reason of comprehensive know ledge of the principles of law and a correctness in their application to the points at issue. In the fall of 1868 he was elected circuit judge for a four-years term, was re-elected in the autumn of 1872 and again in 1876, thus serving for three full terms or twelve years upon the bench. In a review of the legal history of the district at that time we find that his decisions indicate strong mentality, careful analysis, a thorough knowledge of Law and an unbiased judgment. The judge on the bench fails more frequently perhaps from a deficiency in that broad mindedness which not only comprehends the details of a situation quickly and that insures a complete self-control under even the most exasperating conditions than from any other cause; and the judge who makes a success in the discharge of his multitudinous delicate duties is a man of well rounded character., finely balanced mind and strong intellectual attainments. That Judge Blanchard is regarded as such a jurist is a uniformly accepted fact., He removed to Oskaloosa in 1874 and following his retirement from the bench in 1880 continued actively in the practice of law until 1886, when he spent the summer in Europe.

Natural fitness for leadership combined with a public recognition of his devotion to the welfare of county and state led to Judge Blanchard's selection for representative in the house in 1893 and he served for one term of two years. In 1895 he was elected senator and was re-elected in 1899, serving in the twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth general assemblies. He took an important part in framing the legislation enacted during those periods. He served as a member of the judiciary committee and on a number of other important committees and he was largely instrumental in securing the passage of a law prohibiting the eighty per cent insurance clause in fire policies and was the author of the anti-combine insurance law. In 1900 he was president of the Iowa State Bar Association and was the candidate of his party for judge of the supreme court.

He stands high in Masonic circles, having attained the Knight Templar degree of the York rite. He was grand treasurer in 1879-80 and grand orator, serving also for many years as chairman of the committee of jurisprudence. With Judge Wilson, of Newton, Iowa, he prepared and published the Masonic Digest and he is a past master in Tri Luminal lodge at Oskaloosa. He is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and in 1890 was senior vice commander of the department of Iowa. He is now a member of the Iowa Vicksburg National Commission. He was a member of the International Congress of St. Louis in 1904 and he now devotes his attention to the practice of law with the other interests previously mentioned. His  attention, however, is concentrated chiefly upon his legal business and his practice is extensive and of an important character.

On the 13th of January, 1870, occurred the marriage of Judge Blanchard and Miss Sarah Kilburn, daughter of F. A. Kilburn, of Montezuma, Iowa. To them were born a daughter and son, Rose and Claude, the former the wife of Dr. B. O. Jerell, of Oskaloosa. After losing his first wife Judge Blanchard was married, June 9, 1886, to Jozelle Williams, a daughter of Micajah T. Williams, of Oskaloosa. Her death occurred April 22, 1897, and Judge Blanchard was married to May Fanner, of Kirksville, Missouri, September 29, 1904. With a mind of much compass, laudable ambition and strong and unfaltering determination, Judge Blanchard has won a position of prominence in his chosen profession, his talents gaining him prestige as a lawyer at a bar which has numbered many eminent .and prominent men. Moreover his official record is one that has reflected honor upon the district that has honored him.