Title: William M. Blanding Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1847-1958

Creator:

• Blanding, William M., 1829-1901

Call Number: River Falls Mss X

Quantity: 5.6 c.f. (13 archives boxes including 24 volumes, and 1 flat box)

Repository:

Housed at the University Archives and Area Research Center, Chalmer Davee Library, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, ; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-River Falls, Chalmer Davee Library / River Falls Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Blanding, a St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, businessman, land speculator, and local politician. Blanding's business and political correspondence, 1847-1901, financial papers, and land records comprise the bulk of the collection. Political letters relate mainly to local village and county offices held by Blanding and to his unsuccessful campaign for the state senate in 1894. Among other materials in the collection are a few letters and records relating to transportation and logging on the St. Croix River; plat maps of surveyed lands around the St. Croix Valley; minutes of the St. Croix Literary Association, 1870-1871; a few papers pertaining to the founding and development of the Polk County Agricultural Society, 1886-1901; manuscript articles on the temperance movement and on Indian and white traditions in the St. Croix region; genealogical data; and other family correspondence, 1901-1958.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-rf000x

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William Martin Blanding, the son of Eluna M. and Eliza Tuttle Blanding, was born in Lyme township, Huron County, Ohio, on January 30, 1829. When he was six years old, his family moved to Harford, Pennsylvania, where Blending received his education, being a graduate of Harford University. In 1850, he left Pennsylvania and settled in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. Here, on May 24, 1857, he married Eliza M. Tuttle, the daughter of Andrew L. and Lucy Bacon Tuttle. They had fourteen children.

During his lifetime, William M. Blending was very involved in surveying, lumbering, farming, and filled many positions of public trust and honor, including county commissioner, probate judge, county surveyor, school trustee, register of the United States Land Office, and president of the village of St. Croix Falls. On May 23, 1863, Blanding was appointed a lieutenant of the Frontier Rangers, Wisconsin Militia, by Governor Edward Salomon.

Judge Blending died on December 17, 1901.

The William M. Blanding Papers, 1847-1958, deal with Blending as a St. Croix Falls businessman, land speculator, and politician. The collection includes correspondence, 1847-1958, financial and land records, speeches, articles, memos, genealogical data, and other materials relating to St. Croix Falls.

Included in the collection is correspondence, contracts, financial records and data, mortgages, land indentures, deeds, receipts, and other materials relative to his land speculations in Wisconsin and Minnesota, 1865-1901. There is also scattered correspondence, circa 1875-circa 1900, relative to transportation and logging on the St. Croix River.

There is likewise correspondence, pamphlets, and statistical data relative to his campaign for the Wisconsin State Senate in 1894, and to political conditions and developments in Wisconsin during the years 1880-1900. The collection also contains several manuscript articles on the subject of temperance and on the traditions of the Whites and Indians in the St. Croix region.

There are 77 miscellaneous account books, record books, and check and receipt books. Besides these there are several volumes, as listed, including the minutes, 1886, of a preliminary meeting called for the purpose of organizing the Polk County Agricultural Society; also scattered correspondence and miscellaneous papers relating to this organization, 1881-1901.

Worth special mention are the several plat maps of surveyed lands in and around the St. Croix Valley area.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Pearl and Agnes Blanding, St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, July 13, 1956.

Processing Information

Processed by AHM, March 6, 1965.

	Correspondence
Box   1	1847-1873
Box   2	1874-1879, June
Box   3	1879, July - 1887, August
Box   4	1887, September - 1890, March
Box   5	1890, April - 1893, September
Box   6	1893, October - 1897, July
Box   7	1897, August - 1958
Box   7	Incomplete, undated
Box   8	Miscellaneous items Scope and Content Note: Included are Blanding family genealogies; newspaper clippings; printed material; membership certificates; insurance policies; and plat maps.
Box   9	Speeches and articles
Box   9	Miscellaneous blueprints and building plans
Box   10-11	77 miscellaneous notebooks, account books, and memos (not numbered)
Box   12 Volume   1	Employment record book, 1875-1876
	William Blanding account books
Box   12 Volume   2	1853
Box   12 Volume   3	1875-1883
Box   12 Volume   4	1880-1883
Box   12 Volume   5	1883-1894
Box   12 Volume   6	1890-1891
Box   12 Volume   7	1892-1906 Note: Also includes accounts of the 1880s.
Box   12 Volume   8	Land Office account book
Box   12 Volume   9	Farm account book
Box   12 Volume   10	Camp account book
Box   12 Volume   11	List of lands owned by Blanding Note: Also includes an account dated 1895-1896.
Box   13 Volume   12	Chicog Brook logging account, 1890-1891
Box   13 Volume   13-14	Logging record books, 1890
Box   13 Volume   15	Court docket, 1871-1879
	Amos B. Blanding
Box   13 Volume   16	Day book
Box   13 Volume   17	Cash book
Box   13 Volume   18	Journal
Box   13 Volume   19	Ledger
Box   13 Volume   20-21	St. Croix Literary Association minutes, 1870-1871 Note: Also includes a logging account, 1866-1867, and other Blanding accounts.
Box   13 Volume   22	Ruth Blanding notebook
Box   13 Volume   23	Miscellaneous accounts of Seymour Blanding, 1880-1882
Box   13 Volume   24	Polk County Agricultural Society account book, 1886
Box   14	Plat maps