He came from a family of mariners, that family occupation having begun with his father's generation, earlier Blanchards instead having been farmers. His father's title as Capt. Alexander Blanchard thus referred to being the captain of a schooner, not to a military title.
It was a dangerous occupation. Marcellus died at sea, said George Walter Chamberlain (GWC), a careful chronicler of Weymouth. Weymouth was an old seaside town just south of Boston. His paternal grandparents, Mary Lyon and Nicholas Blanchard, had married there, "husbanded" their farm animals there, and begun to raise the first half of their children, to be at least twelve in number. His father Alexander would be a middle child, but the first one born after their move to what, later on, in 1820, became Maine.
Mary and Nicholas had begun their time in Maine at Pittston ("History of Weymouth" vol. 3, written in the 1870s). That may have been his father's Alexander's birth town.
GWC knew accurate birth dates for those two grandparents, so had perhaps found their old Weymouth church records. GWC would not write his book until decades after the widowed Capt. Alexander Blanchard had returned to Weymouth to remarry and live out the rest of his life, perhaps hoping the children he brought with him could survive what had killed Alexander's first wife. Only a sister who remained in Maine and married another Blanchard would be long-lived.
Return to Grave Links
MOTHER & BIRTH DATE
========================
Capt. Alexander was raised in Pittston, Maine, then married and reared children in Freeman, Maine, true until his first wife, maiden name Sarah Dudley, mother to Marcellus, died there. Sarah's nephew, Dean Dudley (DD), was the Dudleys' family historian. He wrote of them after they left early Roxbury (then independent, now a south neighborhood inside Boston). The Dudley households would concentrate in New Hampshire and Maine. All of Sarah's children had been born in Freeman, Maine, he said, which fits other records. Most in Marcellus' family would die of "consumption" (tuberculosis), added DD, beginning with mother Sarah . Dean, an honest man, also reported that Sarah had worked her children too hard.
(DD reported none of Marcellus' half-siblings. This was logical, as their mother, Susan Bates, was not a Dudley. Of the Captain's four children by second-wife Susan, all but Leonard Wesley Blanchard died of infant illnesses. Leonard Wesley would die in the Civil War)
No signs of a marriage were found for Marcellus. Marriages were shown by DD for two older sisters. That of brother Alexander to Candace was missing in DD's and GWC's accounts, but is shown in Weymouth's "Vital Records", volume two, on marriages. Only GWC knew that Alexander had gone to California.
FATHER'S HOUSE
& DEATH DATE
======================
*Sea-related, late in 1848, this Marcellus was given permission to return to the US, through the port of Bath, Maine. The paperwork listed him as a citizen born in Freeman, Maine.
*The 1850 US Census showed him, still single, in Weymouth, in the household of his father Alexander and stepmother Susan. Also present was brother Horatio Nelson, making a third mariner in the house. The last listed was half-brother Leonard Wesley Blanchard. He was still in school, would be seen in the 1860 census, pre-Civil War, as a mason, the only child still living with the widowed Susan Blanchard.
An eldest full brother, Alexander Blanchard, named for their father, was out of the house. He and his wife Candace lived in a separate household in the area. They had not yet moved to California, as the Gold Rush had not yet attracted national attention to that soon-to-be state.
DEATH DATE. It can be narrowed to a range. What's known for certain? That he died before the 1860 US. Census. What is regarded as likely? That he died before the 1855 state census for Massachusetts. What is the narrowest estimate? sometime between the 1850 census and Dec., 1852. That was the day his elder brother Alexander named a newborn son for this Marcellus.
The actual date should be substituted if found in a source from Marcellus' own era, such as a newspaper death notice.
==================================
Copyright by JBrown, Julia Brown, Austin, TX, 2017, revised Aug., 2018; June, 2021. Permission given to Findagrave for use at this page. Descendants of people named here may use whole paragraphs in private materials for family.
It was a dangerous occupation. Marcellus died at sea, said George Walter Chamberlain (GWC), a careful chronicler of Weymouth. Weymouth was an old seaside town just south of Boston. His paternal grandparents, Mary Lyon and Nicholas Blanchard, had married there, "husbanded" their farm animals there, and begun to raise the first half of their children, to be at least twelve in number. His father Alexander would be a middle child, but the first one born after their move to what, later on, in 1820, became Maine.
Mary and Nicholas had begun their time in Maine at Pittston ("History of Weymouth" vol. 3, written in the 1870s). That may have been his father's Alexander's birth town.
GWC knew accurate birth dates for those two grandparents, so had perhaps found their old Weymouth church records. GWC would not write his book until decades after the widowed Capt. Alexander Blanchard had returned to Weymouth to remarry and live out the rest of his life, perhaps hoping the children he brought with him could survive what had killed Alexander's first wife. Only a sister who remained in Maine and married another Blanchard would be long-lived.
Return to Grave Links
MOTHER & BIRTH DATE
========================
Capt. Alexander was raised in Pittston, Maine, then married and reared children in Freeman, Maine, true until his first wife, maiden name Sarah Dudley, mother to Marcellus, died there. Sarah's nephew, Dean Dudley (DD), was the Dudleys' family historian. He wrote of them after they left early Roxbury (then independent, now a south neighborhood inside Boston). The Dudley households would concentrate in New Hampshire and Maine. All of Sarah's children had been born in Freeman, Maine, he said, which fits other records. Most in Marcellus' family would die of "consumption" (tuberculosis), added DD, beginning with mother Sarah . Dean, an honest man, also reported that Sarah had worked her children too hard.
(DD reported none of Marcellus' half-siblings. This was logical, as their mother, Susan Bates, was not a Dudley. Of the Captain's four children by second-wife Susan, all but Leonard Wesley Blanchard died of infant illnesses. Leonard Wesley would die in the Civil War)
No signs of a marriage were found for Marcellus. Marriages were shown by DD for two older sisters. That of brother Alexander to Candace was missing in DD's and GWC's accounts, but is shown in Weymouth's "Vital Records", volume two, on marriages. Only GWC knew that Alexander had gone to California.
FATHER'S HOUSE
& DEATH DATE
======================
*Sea-related, late in 1848, this Marcellus was given permission to return to the US, through the port of Bath, Maine. The paperwork listed him as a citizen born in Freeman, Maine.
*The 1850 US Census showed him, still single, in Weymouth, in the household of his father Alexander and stepmother Susan. Also present was brother Horatio Nelson, making a third mariner in the house. The last listed was half-brother Leonard Wesley Blanchard. He was still in school, would be seen in the 1860 census, pre-Civil War, as a mason, the only child still living with the widowed Susan Blanchard.
An eldest full brother, Alexander Blanchard, named for their father, was out of the house. He and his wife Candace lived in a separate household in the area. They had not yet moved to California, as the Gold Rush had not yet attracted national attention to that soon-to-be state.
DEATH DATE. It can be narrowed to a range. What's known for certain? That he died before the 1860 US. Census. What is regarded as likely? That he died before the 1855 state census for Massachusetts. What is the narrowest estimate? sometime between the 1850 census and Dec., 1852. That was the day his elder brother Alexander named a newborn son for this Marcellus.
The actual date should be substituted if found in a source from Marcellus' own era, such as a newspaper death notice.
==================================
Copyright by JBrown, Julia Brown, Austin, TX, 2017, revised Aug., 2018; June, 2021. Permission given to Findagrave for use at this page. Descendants of people named here may use whole paragraphs in private materials for family.
He came from a family of mariners, that family occupation having begun with his father's generation, earlier Blanchards instead having been farmers. His father's title as Capt. Alexander Blanchard thus referred to being the captain of a schooner, not to a military title.
It was a dangerous occupation. Marcellus died at sea, said George Walter Chamberlain (GWC), a careful chronicler of Weymouth. Weymouth was an old seaside town just south of Boston. His paternal grandparents, Mary Lyon and Nicholas Blanchard, had married there, "husbanded" their farm animals there, and begun to raise the first half of their children, to be at least twelve in number. His father Alexander would be a middle child, but the first one born after their move to what, later on, in 1820, became Maine.
Mary and Nicholas had begun their time in Maine at Pittston ("History of Weymouth" vol. 3, written in the 1870s). That may have been his father's Alexander's birth town.
GWC knew accurate birth dates for those two grandparents, so had perhaps found their old Weymouth church records. GWC would not write his book until decades after the widowed Capt. Alexander Blanchard had returned to Weymouth to remarry and live out the rest of his life, perhaps hoping the children he brought with him could survive what had killed Alexander's first wife. Only a sister who remained in Maine and married another Blanchard would be long-lived.
Return to Grave Links
MOTHER & BIRTH DATE
========================
Capt. Alexander was raised in Pittston, Maine, then married and reared children in Freeman, Maine, true until his first wife, maiden name Sarah Dudley, mother to Marcellus, died there. Sarah's nephew, Dean Dudley (DD), was the Dudleys' family historian. He wrote of them after they left early Roxbury (then independent, now a south neighborhood inside Boston). The Dudley households would concentrate in New Hampshire and Maine. All of Sarah's children had been born in Freeman, Maine, he said, which fits other records. Most in Marcellus' family would die of "consumption" (tuberculosis), added DD, beginning with mother Sarah . Dean, an honest man, also reported that Sarah had worked her children too hard.
(DD reported none of Marcellus' half-siblings. This was logical, as their mother, Susan Bates, was not a Dudley. Of the Captain's four children by second-wife Susan, all but Leonard Wesley Blanchard died of infant illnesses. Leonard Wesley would die in the Civil War)
No signs of a marriage were found for Marcellus. Marriages were shown by DD for two older sisters. That of brother Alexander to Candace was missing in DD's and GWC's accounts, but is shown in Weymouth's "Vital Records", volume two, on marriages. Only GWC knew that Alexander had gone to California.
FATHER'S HOUSE
& DEATH DATE
======================
*Sea-related, late in 1848, this Marcellus was given permission to return to the US, through the port of Bath, Maine. The paperwork listed him as a citizen born in Freeman, Maine.
*The 1850 US Census showed him, still single, in Weymouth, in the household of his father Alexander and stepmother Susan. Also present was brother Horatio Nelson, making a third mariner in the house. The last listed was half-brother Leonard Wesley Blanchard. He was still in school, would be seen in the 1860 census, pre-Civil War, as a mason, the only child still living with the widowed Susan Blanchard.
An eldest full brother, Alexander Blanchard, named for their father, was out of the house. He and his wife Candace lived in a separate household in the area. They had not yet moved to California, as the Gold Rush had not yet attracted national attention to that soon-to-be state.
DEATH DATE. It can be narrowed to a range. What's known for certain? That he died before the 1860 US. Census. What is regarded as likely? That he died before the 1855 state census for Massachusetts. What is the narrowest estimate? sometime between the 1850 census and Dec., 1852. That was the day his elder brother Alexander named a newborn son for this Marcellus.
The actual date should be substituted if found in a source from Marcellus' own era, such as a newspaper death notice.
==================================
Copyright by JBrown, Julia Brown, Austin, TX, 2017, revised Aug., 2018; June, 2021. Permission given to Findagrave for use at this page. Descendants of people named here may use whole paragraphs in private materials for family.
It was a dangerous occupation. Marcellus died at sea, said George Walter Chamberlain (GWC), a careful chronicler of Weymouth. Weymouth was an old seaside town just south of Boston. His paternal grandparents, Mary Lyon and Nicholas Blanchard, had married there, "husbanded" their farm animals there, and begun to raise the first half of their children, to be at least twelve in number. His father Alexander would be a middle child, but the first one born after their move to what, later on, in 1820, became Maine.
Mary and Nicholas had begun their time in Maine at Pittston ("History of Weymouth" vol. 3, written in the 1870s). That may have been his father's Alexander's birth town.
GWC knew accurate birth dates for those two grandparents, so had perhaps found their old Weymouth church records. GWC would not write his book until decades after the widowed Capt. Alexander Blanchard had returned to Weymouth to remarry and live out the rest of his life, perhaps hoping the children he brought with him could survive what had killed Alexander's first wife. Only a sister who remained in Maine and married another Blanchard would be long-lived.
Return to Grave Links
MOTHER & BIRTH DATE
========================
Capt. Alexander was raised in Pittston, Maine, then married and reared children in Freeman, Maine, true until his first wife, maiden name Sarah Dudley, mother to Marcellus, died there. Sarah's nephew, Dean Dudley (DD), was the Dudleys' family historian. He wrote of them after they left early Roxbury (then independent, now a south neighborhood inside Boston). The Dudley households would concentrate in New Hampshire and Maine. All of Sarah's children had been born in Freeman, Maine, he said, which fits other records. Most in Marcellus' family would die of "consumption" (tuberculosis), added DD, beginning with mother Sarah . Dean, an honest man, also reported that Sarah had worked her children too hard.
(DD reported none of Marcellus' half-siblings. This was logical, as their mother, Susan Bates, was not a Dudley. Of the Captain's four children by second-wife Susan, all but Leonard Wesley Blanchard died of infant illnesses. Leonard Wesley would die in the Civil War)
No signs of a marriage were found for Marcellus. Marriages were shown by DD for two older sisters. That of brother Alexander to Candace was missing in DD's and GWC's accounts, but is shown in Weymouth's "Vital Records", volume two, on marriages. Only GWC knew that Alexander had gone to California.
FATHER'S HOUSE
& DEATH DATE
======================
*Sea-related, late in 1848, this Marcellus was given permission to return to the US, through the port of Bath, Maine. The paperwork listed him as a citizen born in Freeman, Maine.
*The 1850 US Census showed him, still single, in Weymouth, in the household of his father Alexander and stepmother Susan. Also present was brother Horatio Nelson, making a third mariner in the house. The last listed was half-brother Leonard Wesley Blanchard. He was still in school, would be seen in the 1860 census, pre-Civil War, as a mason, the only child still living with the widowed Susan Blanchard.
An eldest full brother, Alexander Blanchard, named for their father, was out of the house. He and his wife Candace lived in a separate household in the area. They had not yet moved to California, as the Gold Rush had not yet attracted national attention to that soon-to-be state.
DEATH DATE. It can be narrowed to a range. What's known for certain? That he died before the 1860 US. Census. What is regarded as likely? That he died before the 1855 state census for Massachusetts. What is the narrowest estimate? sometime between the 1850 census and Dec., 1852. That was the day his elder brother Alexander named a newborn son for this Marcellus.
The actual date should be substituted if found in a source from Marcellus' own era, such as a newspaper death notice.
==================================
Copyright by JBrown, Julia Brown, Austin, TX, 2017, revised Aug., 2018; June, 2021. Permission given to Findagrave for use at this page. Descendants of people named here may use whole paragraphs in private materials for family.
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