Commemorative of Calvin and Luther Blanchard

[V]

http://openlibrary.org/b/OL7059768M/Commemorative_of_Calvin_and_Luther_Blanchard

http://books.google.com/books?id=rNyC-i3gEA8C&oe=UTF-8


"And so of the individual actors in that never to be forgotten conflict, whatever of priority belongs to them as relates to time, place, or rank, let the honor be recognized. If Captain Isaac Davis was the first to fall on April 19th, let the fact be related and recorded, and let no other be given his place. If Abner Hosmer was the next to join the silent procession, which on that memorable morning struck their tents on earth to spread them "On Fame's eternal camping ground," let no one deny him the honor. And if there followed, a little later, James Hayward and Luther Blanchard, let it be said of them that they also were faithful unto death, and are numbered among "the few the immortal names that were not born to die." Let us inscribe on granite or bronze their virtues, nor stint them in the bestowment of a country's gratitude, because death came not as to the others, on the battlefield, but by slow, lingering approaches, and through the torture of painful wounds. To do this is magnanimous; to do this is just; but to do less is unjust."

At Acton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, April 19th, 1895, a memorial stone was dedicated with the following inscription:

"From This Farm Went
Calvin And Luther Blanchard
To Concord Fight And Bunker Hill,
Sons Of Simon Blanchard, Who Was
Killed At The Battle Of Quebec, 1759.
Luther Was The First Man Hit By A
British Bullet At The Old North Bridge
And Died In The Service Of His Country
A Few Months Later."

This memorial was erected by Luke Blanchard of Acton, a grand-son of Calvin and grand-nephew of Luther, whose names are thereon inscribed; and is situated in that part of the town which is known as West Acton, about one mile northerly of the Fitchburg railroad station and about two miles from Acton Center.

"Their feet had trodden peaceful ways;
They loved not strife; they dreaded pain ;
They saw not, what to us is plain,
That God would make man's wrath his praise.

No seers were they, but simple men;
Its vast results the future hid;
The meaning of the work they did
Was strange and dark and doubtful then.

They went where duty seemed to call;
They scarcely asked the reason why
They only knew they could but die ;
And death was not the worst of all."
                                                         John Greenleaf Whittier


No stone was erected to designate the grave of Luther at the time of his burial; for, as he died leaving neither wife nor children, his grave shared the fate of many another at that time, and was left unmarked.

The Revolutionary age was an age of the bearing of heavy burdens, and it was no lack of affection that allowed the bodies of the beloved dead to repose without a stone to bear them record.

[Fred]

    V, thanks for posting this.

    Looking back, it's kinda amazing how careless they were back then about the history of the day...

[V]

   Looking back, it's kinda amazing how careless they were back then about the history of the day...

You don't have to look back to see carelessness...

Here is the book description of the first edition I just bought online

Book Description: West Acton, Massachusetts: Luke Blanchard, 1899, West Acton, Massachusetts, 1899. Hard Cover. Book Condition: Near Very Good. No Jacket. First Edition. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall, 100 pp. Original brown cloth with gilt title on front board. Moderately edgeworn, rubbed, soiled. Black and white illustrations. Some pencil marks on one illustration. Inscribed presentation copy from author to Town of Sudbury on April 16, 1900. Signed by author. Bookseller Inventory # 000454

This country is throwing its heritage and history away...

Some of you may have seen my history presentations at shoots. I bought a first edition of "Beneath Old Rooftrees" with a similar history, bought by Mr Wilson's bequeath of the Wilson Fund for the Belfast Free Library in Maine.

I show people the book, I explain, first edition, bought by Mr. Wilson to stock a new library freshly built in their town. Then, and it breaks my heart every time I do it, I throw it on a table or into my SB box as I say "and they threw it away to stock their shelves with the latest DVD's. I bought this for five bucks online!" When I tell them, we are not teaching this anymore, we are losing our heritage and history, they believe me.

Now it seems I have another hostage. Signed by the Author, presented by the great grand nephew of Luther Blanchard, the man who erected the commemorative stone, to the town of Sudbury... SUDBURY.... not some hick town the other side of the country but presented by the author to a local town, the town which sent the largest contingent of men to Concord that day...

Well I got the book today... it wasn't the public library which tossed the book... the inscription reads:
"Property of Public Schools Towns of Sudbury; Presented by The Author, Rev. Alfred Sereno Hudson, April Sixteenth. 1900"

For the love of all that is sacred please join me in searching the internet for these things, I can't save them all.
V

So how much did I pay for this first edition, hand signed by the author... am I some millionaire patriot... hardly.
Guess... if I tell you it will break your heart.

[V]

One of the things I try to stress at my history based benedictions is that "we are not like those people. Their like will never come again. If we lose what they gave us, we will not win it back. So work now, to keep it, while the going is easy"

I use this idea after talking about the hardships of one or other of the people we talk about. So from the book I quoted above and from these ancestry records quoted below what do we piece together about Luther Blanchard.

His father Simon was killed in the early stages of the French and Indian wars at Quebec. His mother, Sarah, remarried to Aaron Brown. Their grandfather, Joseph, lived with them in this new mans house. He "petitioned court to have children removed from the care of Aaron & Sarah Brown; Joseph lived in the same house & knew Aaron was a poor husband providing meanly for the children who are hungry, cold & neglected even by their mother. Testimony by neighbors & town selectmen agree." So Calvin and Luther being "over 14, chose Ephraim Hosmer, of Acton, & Joseph Worcester, of Littleton, guardians." To make a living they apprentice themselves as masons. The rest of the family, including his sister Mary were "warned from the town" in 1775.

This is how they came to be living with Abner Hosmer and frequenting Issac Davis' militia company on April 19th when the muster came.

We are not like these people. Soft modern Americans cannot comprehend the difficulties that these people overcame in order just to survive, to live, and yet

"They went where duty seemed to call;
They scarcely asked the reason why
They only knew they could but die ;
And death was not the worst of all."

Bail people,  bail.

TG1-37 SIMON BLANCHARD
father

   Born: 6 Oct 1728, Littleton, Middlesex, MA [25b]
   Died: 1759, in Battle of Quebec, CND [7]*
   Married: Dec 1751, Littleton, MA [25a;25b]

       Sarah FALES

           Born: by 1735
           M2: 1761 to Aaron Brown [25a]

   Children, b Littleton, MA: [25a;25b]
       1. Mary, 19 Aug 1752; dy
       2. Calvin, 27 Feb 1754 [7]*
       3. Luther, 4 Jun 1756 [7]*
       4. Mary, 6 Aug 1758

   * Before 1759: Simon received from his father 1/2 of the home & land in Littleton, MA. [9a:#1917]*
   * Tradition locates Simon's home farm where Albert Littlefield lived in 1899 north of Boxboro railroad station. [103]
   * 1760, Jan: Middlesex Co., MA Probate -- Simon, Littleton, dec'd Adm: Sarah, widow; bonded by Joseph Blanchard [Simon's father] & Samuel Tenney. Inventory includes 1/2 house & land. Sarah's acct. includes wages due Simon for service done for His Majesty at Quebec. [9a:#1916]
   * 1761, 23 Nov: Middlesex Co. Court -- Jemima Blanchard vs Aaron & Sarah Brown [Sarah being former wife of Simon Blanchard]. Suit is re money Jemima loaned Simon in 1750. [7] of 2 Jun 1909]
   * 1762-63: Joseph Blanchard, grandfather, petitioned court to have children removed from the care of Aaron & Sarah Brown; Joseph lived in the same house & knew Aaron was a poor husband providing meanly for the children who are hungry, cold & neglected even by their mother. Testimony by neighbors & town selectmen agree. [9a:#1917]
   * 1773-73: Sons Calvin & Luther, over 14, chose Ephraim Hosmer, of Acton, & Joseph Worcester, of Littleton, guardians. [9a:#1917]
   * 1775: Littleton -- Aaron & Sarah Brown & children Rachel, Boaz, Elizabeth Brown & Mary Blanchard were warned out of town. [25a]
   * 1777, 14 Jan: Probate of son Luther -- Pet. by selectmen of Littleton who had been in charge of minor children requ. that Aaron Brown not be appt. admin. because of his past mishandling of estate. [9a:#1908]
   * * [7]: issue of 21 Feb 1910; of 30 Mar 1910
   * *Re Simon's land, Middlesex Co.: deeds not checked

[ItsanSKS]

This deserves a bump.