Special Collections Department
Blanding Family
Papers
1801 - 1920
(bulk dates 1834 - 1858)
Manuscript Collection Number: 451
Accessioned: Purchase, 1957
Extent: 1 linear foot
Content: Letters, diaries, essays,
notebook, will, tax assessment form, bill of lading, school report card, school
program, school leaflet, sketch, receipt, table of aggregates, invitation, botanical
specimen (grass), marriage record
Access: The collection is open for research.
Processed: October 2002 by
Carrie L. Foley
Special Collections, University of Delaware Library
Newark, Delaware 19717-5267
(302) 831-2229
Table of Contents
Biographical Note
Physician and naturalist William Blanding was born on 7 February 1773 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, where his family had lived for five generations. He was the eldest of nine children born to William and Lydia (Ormsbee) Blanding, and his siblings included James Blanding (1781 – 1870) and Lucy Blanding Carpenter (b. 1783). William attended Rhode Island College (later Brown University) and received his A.B. in 1801. Upon graduation, he returned to Massachusetts, where he briefly taught school in Somerset and practiced medicine for several years in Attleborough. William married Susanna Carpenter of Rehoboth in 1805, and the couple moved to Camden, South Carolina, in 1807. There, William established a medical practice and ran an apothecary.
Susannah Carpenter Blanding died in Camden in 1809 and two years later William married Rachel Willett of Philadelphia. The couple moved from South Carolina to Philadelphia circa 1835, where William practiced medicine and was an active resident member of the Academy of Natural Sciences. Elected to corresponding membership while living in South Carolina in 1825, William made frequent contributions to the Academy’s collection of specimens. He was a renowned naturalist, and is credited with the discovery of a species of turtle known as Blanding’s turtle (Emydoidea blandingii). William left Philadelphia circa 1846 and returned to Rehoboth, Massachusetts. He died there on 19 October 1857.
In his old age, William lived in Rehoboth with the family of his brother, James, who cared for him as his health deteriorated. James and his wife, Elizabeth Carpenter Blanding, the sister of William’s first wife, had eight children, including Susannah (Susan) Carpenter Blanding Arey (b. 1812), Elizabeth Parthenia Blanding Lyon Plimpton (1814 – 1871), Nancy Augusta Blanding Nattinger (b. 1816), Juliet Maria Blanding (1818 – 1853), William Willett Blanding (1820 – circa 1920), Abram Ormsbee Blanding, M.D. (1823 – 1892), Lephe Hunt Blanding (1825 – 1864), and Sarah (Sally) M. Blanding Bowen (1827 – 1911). Of these children, Nancy, Juliet, and Sarah are the most prominent authors in this collection.
Little is known about the Blanding sisters besides their vital statistics and the information that can be gleaned from this collection. Nancy A. Blanding was born on 31 March 1816 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. In October of 1840 she spent a year in Philadelphia teaching at the “Foster House” school and enjoying close contact with her aunt and uncle, Rachel and William Blanding. A year later, Nancy traveled from Philadelphia to Springfield, Ohio, to teach school. There she lived with family friends and relatives, among them the Nattinger family. By late 1847 she had returned to Rehoboth, Massachusetts, to live with her parents and siblings. There, she became the primary caregiver to her ailing uncle. On 25 September 1856, Nancy married John G. Nattinger and moved with him to Ottawa, Illinois. The couple had one daughter, Juliette Augusta, who was born on 27 March 1858. Nancy A. Blanding Nattinger died on 11 December 1887 at age 71.
Juliet Maria Blanding was born in Rehoboth on 8 May 1818. In the early 1840s she attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (later Mount Holyoke College) in South Hadley, Massachusetts. In 1843 she traveled to Evansville, Indiana, and lived with the Barnes family while teaching school. By March of 1846 she had returned to Rehoboth, but in October of 1847 she journeyed to Camden, Mississippi, to teach. She took ill in the spring of 1851, and returned to New England that summer. Juliet lived for some time with her sister Susan C. Blanding Arey in New Hampshire, and died in Rehoboth on 7 May 1853.
The youngest of the Blanding children, Sarah M. Blanding, also known as Sally, was born on 21 June 1827. She attended the Seekonk Classical Seminary in the early 1840s, and in November of 1849 she joined her sister, Juliet, teaching school in Camden, Mississippi. Sarah returned to New England with Juliet in 1851, and by 1855 she was living with her parents and siblings in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. She assumed the primary care of her uncle upon Nancy’s departure from Rehoboth in 1856. On 23 February 1865, at age thirty-seven, Sarah married Reuben Bowen. The couple had five children. Sarah M. Blanding Bowen died on 31 December 1911.
Sources:
Biographical material was derived from the collection.
Blandin, Bill. “Descendants of William Blanding.” Retrieved from http://www.koopa.org/genealogy
on 28 October 2002. A portion of this online genealogy has been printed and
is in the Blanding Family Papers collection folder. Mr. Blandin’s genealogy
relied heavily on:
Blanding, Leonard Clark. Genealogy of the Blanding
Family. [Grand Rapids, MI]: L. C. Blanding, 1995.
Finding Aid to the William Blanding Papers, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina. A copy of this finding aid is in the Blanding Family Papers collection folder.
Griffin, Kathy. Finding aid to the Blanding Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. A copy of this finding aid is in the Blanding Family Papers collection folder.
Spamer, Earle. Letter to Carrie Foley regarding William Blanding’s membership in the Academy of Natural Sciences, 9 October 2002. A copy of this letter is in the Blanding Family Papers collection folder.
Scope and Content Note
The papers of the Blanding family of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, consist of one linear foot of diaries, family correspondence, and other papers spanning the years 1801 – 1920, with the majority of the material falling between 1834 and 1858. Included are diaries kept by sisters Juliet M. Blanding, Nancy A. Blanding, and Sarah M. Blanding, as well as a brief diary written by their uncle, the distinguished doctor and naturalist William Blanding. There are more than two hundred family letters and other papers, of which William Blanding, his nieces, and other family members are the primary authors. Much of this material, including the diaries of Juliet and Sarah and one hundred and twenty letters, was purchased by the University of Delaware Library in 1957. The provenance of the remainder of the collection is unclear. Unfortunately, the family correspondence and diaries were arranged in chronological order, taped to leaves of paper, and bound into volumes. Though the chronological order has been maintained, all of the manuscripts have been removed from the volumes and are arranged in folders.
The Blanding Family Papers offer an in-depth look at the life of a New England family in the late 1840s through the 1850s. The family’s correspondence, which constitutes most of Series I, together with the household diary kept by Nancy and Sarah Blanding from 1855 – 1858 and Nancy Blanding’s diary from 1848 – 1849, provide a detailed account of the Blanding family’s every day life. The diaries contain almost daily descriptions of the family’s health, chores, travels, correspondence, social activities, and church attendance. The family’s correspondence between 1847 – 1852 offers a more informal, expressive discussion of these topics. Of particular interest are letters sent from family at Elm Cottage, the Blanding home in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, to Juliet Blanding, who was living in Mississippi.
This collection is also useful to a scholar of nineteenth- century education. The Blanding family diaries and letters provide insight into the work of schoolteachers in various parts of the United States. William Blanding’s diary offers the earliest of such accounts. In the fall of 1801, after graduating from college, William took a job as a schoolmaster in Somerset, Massachusetts. The job was an unpleasant necessity; William had no other prospect of earning money to pay off a debt to a former schoolmate. His diary is often lighthearted and humorous, and it candidly reveals William’s many frustrations with the job and the challenges of teaching in a small town with limited resources. William’s teaching experiences in New England are complemented by the accounts of Nancy, Juliet, and Sarah Blanding, who taught in the Midwest and in Mississippi in the mid-nineteenth century. The women’s personal diaries and letters home discuss their day- to-day experiences as teachers, with details on the conditions of the schoolhouse, the number of students, and the lessons they taught.
Historians interested in the life of Dr. William Blanding will be particularly interested in his correspondence, especially letters he wrote between 1840 and 1846 while living in Philadelphia. His most frequent correspondent was his sister, Lucy Blanding Carpenter, a schoolteacher in Brooklyn, New York. Several of these letters pertain to his work as a naturalist and his interest in shell collecting. He also discussed financial matters, including his investment troubles after the failure of several state banks in the 1840s. Other topics in his letters to Lucy include family and friends, his health, politics and current events, and her work as a teacher.
Lastly, the collection is a valuable resource for historians interested in travel and tourism. The diary of Juliet Blanding provides particularly vivid accounts of her journeys from Rehoboth to Evansville, Indiana, in 1843, and to Camden, Mississippi, in 1847. Juliet traveled by train, coach, and boat, and was often unaccompanied. She passed through upstate New York, Ohio, the East Coast north of Baltimore, the Appalachian Mountains, and the Mississippi River valley. Juliet spent a week in Philadelphia at the outset of her trip to Mississippi, and describes in detail the city and the tourist attractions she visited. Further travel description can be found in the first entry in Nancy Blanding’s 1841 diary, which provides a brief account of her arrival in Ohio.
Related Collections:
There are significant collections of Blanding papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston and the South Caroliniana Library at the University of South Carolina, Columbia. Copies of the finding aids to these collections are in the Blanding Family Papers collection folder. (Please see the manuscript librarian.) There are smaller collections of Blanding papers at the Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale (Western Americana Collection) and at Duke University Library. Brown University owns a portrait of Dr. William Blanding, painted circa 1810 – 1820.
Series List
I. Family Correspondence, 1834 – 1920 II. Diaries, 1801 – 1858 1. Dr. William Blanding, 1801 – 1802 2. Nancy A. Blanding, 1841 – 1842, 1848 – 1849 3. Juliet M. Blanding, 1843, 1847 – 1851 5. Household diary, 1855 – 1858
Contents List
-- Folder -- Contents
Series I. Family Correspondence, 1834 – 1920
Correspondence between members of the Blanding
family, primarily Dr. William Blanding and the
eight children of James Blanding. Also includes
other letters received by the Blandings from
friends, relatives, and business associates.
Several miscellaneous items that are not letters
are noted in the folder description.
F1 1834 – 1840
Includes a brief profile of William Blanding, possibly
published by Brown University. A manuscript list of
marriages in Rehoboth, 1763 – 1764, including William
Blanding’s paternal aunt, Lucy Blanding. Also includes
several letters from William Blanding to his sister,
Lucy Carpenter, one to Lucy Carpenter from Rachel
Blanding, and other correspondence.
F2 1841
Includes an essay written by Juliet Blanding while at
Mount Holyoke. Also includes an invitation to a Wistar
Party event from John P. Wetherill to William Blanding.
(The Wistar Party was the exclusive social organization
of the American Philosophical Society.) Also contains
several letters from William Blanding to Lucy
Carpenter, one to Lucy Carpenter from Rachel Blanding,
and other correspondence.
F3 1842 – 1843 Jun
Includes letters from William Blanding to Lucy
Carpenter, one letter from Rachel Blanding to Lucy
Carpenter, and a letter to William Blanding from an
African-American man named Fielding Smithea, who
requests Blanding’s assistance in conveying a letter to
Miss Elizabeth Savage of Philadelphia.
F4 1843 Jul – 1844
Includes two brief essays by Sarah Blanding. Also
includes letters to Lucy Carpenter from William and
Rachel Blanding, a letter to Juliet Blanding in
Indiana, and other correspondence.
F5 1845 – 1846 Jun
Includes seven essays by Sarah Blanding, Sarah’s report
card from Seekonk Classical Seminary, and a sketch,
possibly of James Blanding, labeled “My Father.” Also
includes several letters to Juliet Blanding in
Rehoboth.
F6 1846 Oct – 1847
[There were no letters for 1846 Jul – Sep.] Includes a
short essay by Sarah Blanding. Also includes several
letters to Juliet Blanding from her family and from A.
Purriance, the Post Master in Camden, Mississippi,
regarding her arrangements to teach there. Also
contains letters to Nancy Blanding, Lucy Carpenter, and
other correspondence.
F7 1848 Jan – Apr
Includes letters to Juliet Blanding in Mississippi from
friends and family. Also includes a letter to Nancy
Blanding from Juliet and two letters to William
Blanding from his nephews.
F8 1848 May – Dec
Contains a program of senior orations delivered at
Nassau Hall, Princeton University, including that of E.
B. Raffensperger, a friend of Juliet Blanding’s. Also
contains a bill of lading for one box to be shipped
from Philadelphia to William Blanding in Rehoboth.
Also includes letters to Juliet, Elizabeth P., Nancy,
and William Blanding.
F9 1849 Jan – Feb
Includes letters written to Juliet, Nancy, William, and
James Blanding, and one to Lucy Carpenter.
F10 1849 Mar – Jun
Includes letters to William Blanding, Nancy Blanding,
and several to Juliet Blanding from her siblings and
others.
F11 1849 Jul – Sep
Includes letters to William, Nancy, and Juliet
Blanding. One letter from Lucy Carpenter to William
Blanding. Also a receipt for Juliet Blanding’s
subscription to the Puritan Recorder, 1849 – 1851.
F12 1849 Oct – Dec
Includes letters to William, Nancy, James, Elizabeth P.
and Juliet Blanding. Also letters to Sarah Blanding,
who had moved to Mississippi to join Juliet, and two
letters from Abram Blanding to his family.
F13 1850 Jan – Apr
Includes family correspondence to Sarah, Nancy, and
Juliet Blanding.
F14 1850 May – Sep
Includes letters to Nancy Blanding from Abram Blanding
and from Elizabeth P. Blanding, who was visiting
Philadelphia. Also contains other letters to Nancy,
Sarah, and Juliet from family members, including one
long letter from an ailing William Blanding.
F15 1850 Sep – Dec
Letters to Sarah and Juliet Blanding from their siblings and friends.
F16 1851 Jan – Mar
Letters to Sarah and Juliet Blanding from their siblings.
F17 1851 Apr – Jul
Letters between the Blanding siblings, mostly regarding
Juliet’s ill health and Abram’s journey to Mississippi
to accompany her and Sarah to New England.
F18 1852 – 1920
[There were no letters for 1851 Aug – Dec.] This
folder contains correspondence for 1852, including
letters from Nancy and William Blanding to Sarah,
Juliet, and Abram Blanding, who had returned from
Mississippi and were living in New Hampshire. Also
includes letters to Juliet from pupils in Mississippi.
Contains three letters from 1855; a leaflet regarding
Rehoboth High School, 1857; a table of aggregates for
the town of Rehoboth, 1866 (removed to oversize); and a
draft of the will of William Willett Blanding, 1920.
F19 Undated
Includes a tax assessment form addressed to William
Blanding and a knot of grass with a label in the hand
of William Blanding. Also includes family
correspondence between the Blanding siblings, several
letters from Lucy Carpenter to William Blanding, and
other miscellaneous correspondence and envelopes.
Series II. Diaries, 1801 – 1858
This series contains the diaries of William,
Nancy, Juliet, and Sarah Blanding, as well as a
household diary kept by Nancy and Sarah Blanding.
Series II.1. Dr. William Blanding, 1801 – 1802
The diary of William Blanding, chronicling his
experience as a schoolmaster in Somerset,
Massachusetts, soon after his graduation from
Rhode Island College. Includes impressions of
Somerset and commentary on his lodgings, his
social life, the schoolhouse, teaching, discipline
of students, and the local church services.
F20 1801 Nov – 1802 Feb
Series II.2. Nancy A. Blanding, 1841 – 1842, 1848 – 1849
Two diaries covering Nancy’s work as a
schoolteacher in Ohio (1841 – 1842) and her life
with her family in Rehoboth (1848 – 1849).
F21 1841 Oct – 1842 Jan
Chronicles Nancy’s arrival in Ohio and her adjustment
to living with friends and family there. Discusses her
daily life including school, chores, church,
correspondence, weather, and social activities.
F22 1848 Jan – 1849 Mar
Account of Nancy’s life in Rehoboth with her parents,
James and Elizabeth Blanding, her uncle, Dr. William
Blanding, and several of her siblings, including Sarah
(Sally), Lephe, and William Willett Blanding. Nancy
writes about the health of her family, particularly her
uncle, and the family’s daily chores, activities,
social calls, incoming and outgoing correspondence, and
the weather. See also Household diary, 1855 – 1858, in
folders 34 – 41.
Series II.3. Juliet M. Blanding, 1843, 1847 – 1851
Two diaries covering Juliet’s work as a
schoolteacher in Evansville, Indiana (1843), and
in Camden, Mississippi (1847 – 1851). Also
includes a brief teaching notebook, [2 Sep 1850].
F23 1843 Aug – Nov
An account of Juliet’s trip to Indiana and her arrival
in Evansville to live with the Barnes family. Also
includes brief daily entries describing her first two
months as a schoolteacher.
F24 1847 Oct – 1848 Mar
The first month describes Juliet’s trip to Mississippi,
including a weeklong stop in Philadelphia. The
remainder of her journal contains brief daily entries
about the weather, her school, church, social
activities, and news about family and local friends.
F25 1848 Mar – Aug
F26 1848 Aug – 1949 Jan
F27 1849 Jan – Jul
F28 1849 Jul – 1850 Jul
F29 1850 Jul – 1851 Apr
The diary concludes on 1 April 1851, a few months
before Juliet’s return to New England because of ill
health.
F30 [2 Sep 1850]
A brief notebook that lists names of students and contains notes on teaching.
Series II.4. Sarah M. Blanding, 1850 – 1851
A diary of Sarah’s experiences as a teacher in
Camden, Mississippi, where she lived with her
sister, Juliet. Provides an account of her work,
social activities, correspondence and the weather.
The diary ends shortly after Juliet takes ill in
the spring of 1851.
F31 1850 Jan – Apr
F32 1850 Apr – Dec
F33 1850 Dec – 1851 May
Series II.5. Household diary, 1855 – 1858
This diary chronicles the daily life of the
Blanding family in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.
Family members regularly mentioned include William
(“Uncle”), James, Elizabeth C., Nancy, Lephe,
Sarah, and William W. Blanding, as well as
Elizabeth P. Blanding Plimpton, who lived nearby
in Providence. The entries were recorded almost
daily and regularly included details on the
weather; William Blanding’s health; the daily
chores, health, and travels of other family
members; local activities and social calls;
incoming and outgoing correspondence; church
attendance; and news of family and friends. See
also Nancy Blanding’s diary, 1848 – 1849, in
folder 22.
The writing is shared by Nancy and Sarah Blanding
as follows:
Nancy writes 1855 Jan 1 – Feb 11 and 1855 Mar 30 –
1856 Apr 26.
Sarah writes 1855 Feb 12 – Mar 29 and 1856 May 1 –
1858 Apr 30.
F34 1855 Jan – Mar
F35 1855 Apr – Sep
F36 1856 Jan – Mar
[There were no entries for 1855 Sep 2 – Dec 31. The
entry for 1856 Jan 1 begins with a description of the
previous four months.]
F37 1856 Apr – Sep
F38 1856 Oct – Dec
F39 1857 Jan – Mar
F40 1857 Apr - Sep
F41 1857 Dec – 1858 Apr
[There were no entries for 1857 Sep 7 – Nov 30. Dr.
William Blanding died during this break in entries and
his death is not noted in subsequent entries.]
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