IDUS WAS BORN ON A FARM NEAR ELKINS HILL AT BLOOMER ARKANSAS. IT IS SAID
THAT HIS MOTHER PLOWED THE CORN ALL DAY AND THAT NIGHT IDUS WAS BORN!
HE SPENT HIS BOYHOOD YEARS IN AND AROUND THE BLOOMER AREA. HE WENT TO
SCHOOL AT BLOOMER AND WENT TO THE 8TH GRADE. IN 1917 THE FAMILY WAS RENTING A FARM AT THE FOOT OF CHRISTMAS KNOB NEAR BLOOMER. THIS IS WHERE
IDUS SAW HIS FIRST AIRPLANE. IT WAS AN OLD BI-PLANE AND IT FLEW OVER ONE
DAY WHILE THEY WERE IN THE FIELDS.
IN 1919 HIS FAMILY BOUGHT WHAT THEY CALLED"THE OLD HOME PLACE". ACROSS
THE ROAD THEY LEASED A 40 ACRE FARM CALLED"THE OLD CARD PLACE". MANY
TIMES WHILE PLOWING THE FIELDS OVER THERE IDUS FOUND OLD CIVIL WAR BULLETS.
IDUS MARRIED FIRST TO MRS.VERA CHAPMAN RANKINS ON 11 SEPTEMBER 1929.
VERA WAS THE WIDOW OF CLAUDE RANKINS.(RECORDED IN MARRIAGE BOOK 3 PAGE 292 SEBASTIAN CO. C.H.)VERA DIED OF THYFOID FEVER IN 1930. IDUS ALSO
CONTRACTED IT AND ALMOST DIED HIMSELF.
HE MARRIED SECONDLY TO MISS RUBY HEARN OF THE SULPHER COMMUNITY
NEAR GREENWOOD. THEY WERE MARRIED 13 MAY 1931 IN BLOOMER BY A.C. COOK.
Cause of Death: LUNG CANCER
Comment 1: SERVED IN HOME GUARD DURING WORLD WAR II
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Children of RUBY HEARN and IDUS BLANKENSHIP are:
26. i. IDUS DEBB JR. "MIKE"6 BLANKENSHIP, b. 26 August 1932, NEAR GREENWOOD, SEBASTIAN COUNTY, ARKANSAS; d. 15 September 1998, BAKERSFIELD, KERN CO. CALIFORNIA.
27. ii. GEORGE THOMAS SR. BLANKENSHIP, b. 15 March 1935, NEAR GREENWOOD, SEBASTIAN COUNTY, ARKANSAS.
28. iii. MERLE GENE BLANKENSHIP, b. 12 February 1938, LAVACA, SEBASTIAN COUNTY, ARKANSAS.
29. iv. JERRY RAY BLANKENSHIP, SR., b. 22 August 1943, LAVACA, SEBASTIAN COUNTY, ARKANSAS.
30. v. MARTHA LOU BLANKENSHIP, b. 20 January 1946, FORT SMITH, SEBASTIAN COUNTY, ARKANSAS.