Hon. Lucian C. Blanchard, b. 1839
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 April 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, Illinos, 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 of 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 knowledge
of the principles of law pnd 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 KnightTemplar 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 Luminar 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. 0. 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 Farmer, of
Kirksville, Missouri, September 29, 1904.
With a mind of much compass, laudable
ambition and strong and unfaltering determination, I
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.
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from Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa by Manoah Hedge
The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1906
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy
Iowa Genealogy
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