Alma Moroni Blanchard

Alma Moroni Blanchard was born 5 April 1842 in Ingham County, Michigan. (LeRoy, Oakland County, Michigan). He was the son of Aseph and Eunice Elizabeth Thompson. He came to Utah in 1852 in the Isaac Bullock Company. A boy of 10 years old in company with his parents, he drove an ox team across the plain and had many experiences along the trail. Once while fording the river, the current was so strong that it started to take him down stream.

His home was in Springville, Utah. As a young boy he helped his father on the farm and was said he got his education while at the plow. He loved books and while at the plow would take a book along with him. This was considered a good education for his time.. He always sought for the books and they became a part of his life.

He married Emma Bocock on 13 May 1864 and from this union was born 6 children: Isorah, daughter who died in infancy, Medora, who later married Charles Andrew Hickenlooper, Lenora, daughter who died while a baby, Alma Moroni (Jr.), who married Hattis (Harriet Lillian) Smith, Sarah Elizabeth, who married Francis Ferrin, and Byron, who married Annie McLane.

In 1873 his wife passed away and for 7 years with the aid of his mother, he cared for his family. In 1880 he remarried to Emily Pierce. From this union came 6 children: Barbara, Reuben Alladin (Ruby), Rousseau, and two children who died in infancy, Borecio and Ovid O. Annette Lucile Blanchard was born to Emily Pierce on 14 August 1891. Alma Moroni obtained a divorce from Emily on 28 July 1892.

In later years his family life had been broken up and he started to travel. He bought a bicycle and riding it he toured most of the United States. From Ogden he went to Florida and up the Atlantic coast and crossed to New York. From there to Canada and back to Utah again. He visited on the trip most of the noted battle fields of the Confederate War and all the sacred places of the Latter-day Saint Church, as well as everywhere Joseph Smith had dwelt. While on this trip, he traveled over 1600 miles, being two years on the road. The wheel with which the journey was made is now in the Salt Lake Museum, together with the record of the trip taken from the leading papers of the states through which he passed.

He started on a pedestrian trip of the Northwest. This time he walked 4,000 miles and went through 7 states. He was six months in the northern states where he rode to Mount Shasta. He was known as the Bonneville Bard.

Mr. Blanchard often visited with Eliza R. Snow, Sarah E. Carmichael and Emily Wood Mansee. He had compiled a book of poems to be published and with the help of his son, Byron, bound it up together with all the records of the family.

He practiced dentistry in Springville and afterward in other places where he made his home. One of his greatest friends was Don G. Johnson of Springville and talked of the years his friendship lasted. He died in 1913 at Chester, Idaho (of smallpox) and was buried in the Farnum Cemetery at Drummond, Fremont, Idaho.

Daren Blanchard has in his possession a little black covered book of his poems– handwritten in ink. We don’t know if he ever got a book published.

Information was obtained from Mrs. Monte Wilson, Terreton, Idaho. She is Lynda Ruth Blanchard, daughter of Kermit Lefi Blanchard, who is the son of Rosseau Rossino Blanchard and Elenor Heaps

Alma Moroni Blanchard, Born: 1842 Troy, Ingham, Michigan, Died: 1913 Chester, Fremont, Idaho, USA. Author or contributor: Lynda Ruth Blanchard

More from another source:

The information I have on him came from the research of the late Norma Blanchard Powell.

Alma Moroni Blanchard was born 5 Apr 1842 in Troy, Oakland, Michigan. The nearby Royal Oak seems to have been named for a splendid large oak tree. Alma Moroni, called ‘Rone’ was the son of Asaph Blanchard and Eunice Elizabeth Thompson.

The family, which consisted of Asaph, Eunice Elizabeth, and her parents, Thomas A. and Charlotte Rice Thompson, moved from Michigan to LaHarpe, Hancock, Illinois when he was a baby. Most of the Mormon settlers in the areas outside Nauvoo either squatted or worked communally on land that belonged to more prosperous members of the community.

Asaph’s brother Walter M. Blanchard probably joined them by the spring of 1845. He came from Andover, Ashtabula, Ohio, to work as a carpenter on the Nauvoo Temple at least for the summer of 1845 (only one of the time books for temple construction has survived).

Asaph’s sister, Lodema, her husband Frederick David Winegar, and their children had even earlier settled in Bear Creek, Hanock County after having been driven from Caldwell County, Missouri. Thomas A. Thompson died 11 Sept 1845, the day of the anti-Mormon attack on the outlying Mormon settlements. (No record of his burial that I’ve been able to find.)

When the Blanchards left Nauvoo with the widowed Charlotte Thompson, probably in the spring of 1846, they went to Garden Grove, Decatur, Iowa, one of several Mormon way stations. Walter M. went back to Andover where he served as the presiding elder for the Strangite Church. They lived there, probably in a dugout or perhaps a cabin, until the spring of 1852 when they were finally able to cross the plains.

This means that Grandpa Blanchard walked from Iowa to when he was only 10 years old. But what is even more remarkable is that his grandmother Charlotte also crossed the plains in her mid-70s. She joined the Church in February 1832 when there were just about 1000 members, and she lived to be 90 years old. They settled in Springville the year after it was first settled. Of the Blanchard siblings who joined the Church, Asaph, Walter M., Clarissa Arvilla, Lodema, Cynthia, Asaph was the only one who came to Utah.

Grandpa Blanchard married 13 May 1864 Emma Bocock Law, who had been a plural wife of Charles Law, along with her two sisters. She brought her son Francis to the marriage. She died, probably from toxemia, before her 30th birthday, following the birth of her last child, who also died. He was left with five small children, aged 1 to 8. Even though Medora took a lot of responsibility for an 8-year-old and Eunice Elizabeth was nearby, he seems to have been inconsolable. He married Emily Pierce when Medora was about 12. The mix of his children and the new stepmother was not a success.

When Aunt Jane Ellis came down from North Ogden for her father’s funeral, Asaph Blanchard died 23 September 1879, she could see the situation. She took the now teen-aged Medora back to North Ogden with her. Aunt Jane was a midwife and she needed someone to carry on when she was called to a delivery. Medora’s older brother, Frank Law, helped out with her school expenses. Eunice Elizabeth had been a schoolteacher and was a constant reader so Medora had an advantage there. Soon she was the assistant schoolteacher in North Ogden. About that time, Ann Ham Hickenlooper moved to the North Ogden area. Uncle John Hickenlooper and Aunt Belinda Wade were already living there, and our Grandmother thought Salt Lake City was getting a little too wild for her boys. So when Charles A. Hickenlooper was able to take advantage of a little schooling, he had a teacher about his own age. Another connection between the Blanchard and Hickenlooper families came a little later when Medora’s youngest brother Byron married the lovely Annie McLane, daughter of Duncan McLane and Rachel Ann Hickenlooper, Charles’ sister.

In the meantime, things were not going well between Grandpa Blanchard and Emily. In fact, Grandpa Blanchard was not doing well himself in spite of his talents. He ended up going to prison and there was a bitter divorce when he got out. He refused to accept Lucile, Emily’s last child, as his own. There is an oral history of Lucile at the Utah State Historical Society. The story is that Emily had no means of support while he was in prison. She thought she was going to get a ham but along with the ham ended up pregnant with Lucile.

After that, Grandpa Blanchard sort of drifted around and became the family embarrassment. He had a certain flair with words, wrote a good deal of verse, and he called himself the “bard of Bonneville.” He probably had hopes of publishing, but his manuscript was a casualty of a fire. Some of his verses are floating around.

He took sick while visiting family and died 18 May 1913 in Chester, Fremont, Idaho and was buried in the Farnum Cemetery in Chester.

Emma (Blk. 46 Lot 4 Pos. 4), Asaph (Blk. 41 Lot 4 Pos. 3) and Eunice Elizabeth (Blk. 41 Lot 4 Pos. 2) are buried in the old Springville cemetery at 200 West 400 South (an immediate right when you pass over the viaduct coming East into Springville from Exit 263, the middle of the three I-15 Springville exits).

Alma Moroni Blanchardm Born: 1842 Troy, Ingham, Michigan, Died: 1913 Chester, Fremont, Idaho, USA

Author or contributor: Jean Ohai

From Another Source, but no author cited:

Alma Moroni Blanchard was born in Leray, Ingham Co., Michigan April 5, 1842. He was the son of Aseph and Eunice Elizabeth Thompson Manchard. He came to Utah in 1852 in the Isaac Bullock Company a boy ten years old in company with his parents. He drove an ox team across the plains and had many experiences on the plains. Once while fording the river, the current was so strong that it started to take him down the stream, but by holding to a rope he was rescued. His home was in Springville, Utah.

As a young boy, he helped his father on the farm and always said he received his education at the plow. He loved books and while at the plow would take a book along and while the oxen rested he read and studied and in this way assured a good education for his time. He always sought after books and they became a part of his life.

He married Emma Bocock and from this union was born six children – Isaure who died in infancy; Madera, who latter married Charles Hickenlooper; Lenora, who died while a babe; Alma, who married Hatty Smith; Sara H who married Francis Farren; Byron, who married Anne Me Lain. All of these children remained true to the ideal for which these pioneers crossed the plains.

In 1873 his wife passed away and for seven years with the aid of his mother he cared for his family. In 1880 he married Emily Pierce. From this union came five children– Barbara, Rubi, and Resse and two children who died in infancy. In latter years his family life has been broken up. He started to travel. He bought a bicycle and riding it, he toured most of the United States. From Ogden he went to Florida and then up the Atlantic coast to New York. From there to Canada, and then back to Utah again, having visited on the trip most of the noted battlefields of the confederate war and all the sacred places of the L.D.S. wherever Joseph Smith had dwelt. While on this trip he traveled over sixteen thousand miles, being two years on the road.

The wheel with which this journey was made is now in the Salt Lake Museum, together with a record of the trip, taken from the Leading papers of the states through which he had passed. He started on a pedestrian tour of the Northwest. This time he walked four thousand miles and went through seven states. He was six months in the state of California, where he wrote his ode to Mount Shasta and the “Sutter Site”. He was known as the Bonneville Bard and writes under that name de plume. Mr. Blanchard was a poet of note and oft times visited with Eliza R. Snow, Sarah E. Camicael, and Emily Woodmanese. He had compiled a Book of Poems to be published and when the home of his son Byron burned, it was destroyed together with all the records of the family.

He practiced dentistry in Springville and afterwards in other places where he made his home. One of his greatest friends was Don G. Johnson of Springville and throughout all the years this friendship lasted. He died in 1913 in Chester, Idaho and was buried in the Chester Cemetery.

It Is More Blessed To Give Than Receive, by Alma Blanchard

Poverty and want are abroad in the land,

The widow and orphan are here,

There’s a chance to do good for the liberal hand

And to dry up the sad mourner’s tear;

The Savior once said when here upon earth

And his words I most firmly believe,

I esteem them of value, I deem them of worth

“Tis more blessed to give than receive.”

If fortune hath lavished upon thee her wealth

Thou art blest in thy basks and store.

With plenty to eat, enjoyment of health

Forget not to succor the poor;

Thy neighbor may be in his poverty

More wretched than thou could’st believe,

Remember if he asks a favor of thee,

“Tis more blessed to give than receive.”

SOURCE: http://familyhistory.mathews2000.com/biographies/alma-moroni-blanch...

• Census: 1880 -  Springville, Utah, Utah, United States
• Updated from MyHeritage Family Trees by SmartCopy: Nov 25 2014, 3:58:40 UTC

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Alma Moroni Blanchard got Smallpox while travelling to visit his daughter Sarah and died while he was there. Note: white marble

• Updated from Find A Grave Memorial via sister Julietta Charlotte 'Jenetta' Van Leuven (born Blanchard) by SmartCopy: May 12 2015, 22:25:10 UTC

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Alma Moroni Blanchard got Smallpox while travelling to visit his daughter Sarah and died while he was there. Note: white marble

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jul 18 2016, 19:59:40 UTC