The Blantons of Spring Bank Source: Bloomburg USA in Cullen Baker Country The Blantons were French Hugenots. They fled to England before 1600. Coat of arms records show Blantons in Lancashire, England between 1571 - 1588. The earliest mention of Blantons found in America in 1682. Thomas Blanton was granted land in Rappahannock Co., Virginia. Many other land records are found after that date for Thomas and his wife. Richard married Mary Young, daughter of Richard Young, October 22, 1827. They headed west soon after that, to Lowndes Co., Alabama. They came to Arkansas in 1836, where four more children were born, making a total of eight children. The Blantons settled at Spring Bank on Red River between the fork of the Sulphur River and the Louisiana State Line, in what is now Miller County (then part of Lafayette County). Spring Bank was once the site of one of the Chief Indian villages along the river, also a trading post or what was called a factory. Spring Bank was formerly called Factory Bluff. Richard Blanton acquired several thousand acred of land through Federal land grants and sales. According to Goodspeeds History of Arkansas, Blanton was the first white man to till the soil west of Red River. He operated a ferry at Spring Bank; his family ran the ferry 130 years, until the State of Arkansas took it over in 1967. Richard was one of the earliest Justices in the county. He was appointed Lt. Colonel of Militia by President Polk. The first post office in the county was at Spring Bank. The Blantons were Methodists and meetings were held as early as 1836. Soon after the Blantons came to Arkansas, other families followed. Reddick Kelley, a brother-in-law of Blantons came and settled on the river, south of the Blanton place. The Larey family settled on Sulphur River. The Mercers were also early settlers. Old River maps show Spring Bank, Blantons Bluff, Missionary (Kelley Place), Palmer Landing, Larey's Landing. The family bible lists the eight Blanton children as: 1. Eliza Margarette; 1828 - 1836 1. Lenora Elizabeth; 1830 - 1858 Married Evans Larey, two children, Mary and Elizabeth. 1. James Deas; 1832 - 1902 Married Rebecca Knox, 13 children 1. Richard 1832; - 1848 1. William Ranson; 1837 - 1862 (after) 1. Margarette Deas; 1840 - 1864 (after) 1. Thomas; 1843 - 1843 1. John Coffery ; 1846 - 1872 Richards sister, Sarah, married Milton Tidwell. The Tidwells came to arkansas with the Blantons, then went to Texas to settle Strouds Community in Robertson County. In 1840, a party of Kachia Indians raided the settlement, killed Tidwell and captured Sarah and three small children. One child died in captivity. Richard went to the village and paid ransom for Sarah and the children, bringing them to Arkansas with him. They are listed in the household in the 1850 census. The Tidwell descendents still live in Miller County. In old family papers we find Richards Blanton as executor of the will of Edwin Mercer, deceased. His wife was Caroline. We don't know if the Mercers were relatives or not. No other mention of them appears in family papers. In 1850, Richard Blanton owned 20 slaves. We have one receipt, dated 1840 for two slaves bought off the auction block in New Orleans, price $1325.00 By 1860, Richard had prospered; He owned thousands of acres of land and thirty five slaves. His son, James Deas had married, had seven slaves, farming land, mercantile business, a cotton shipping and warehouse business, and a wood yard to furnish wood for the steamboats. Another son, William, was overseer for the Palmer Plantation nearby. The Civil War started and before it ended the good times and prosperity were gone. James D. served as Captain in the Crawfords Confederate Cavalry. He was in the Battle of Marks Hill and Price's Raid through Missouri. Richards Blanton and his wife, Mary, died during the war, she in 1861, and he in 1863. The ferry crossing at Spring Bank was guarded by Union Soldiers during the war, to keep Confederate beef and supplies from Texas being sent to the troops in Mississippi. Some of the Soldiers died of measles and are buried on the bluff. After the war, the Blantons had nothing but worthless land, worthless cotton. James D. came home and continued to run the ferry, the farm and mercantile business. He served as County representative and Justice of the Peace. Land went for un-paid taxes and was sold for cash to keep his daughters in Queen City School, and fashionably dressed. The Negroes stayed on the place, having no other place to go. They farmed small plots or shares. The descendents of these slaves still live on the old place along the river. Many of the older ones remember "the old master" as being good, kind man, although he cussed them and their worthless black hides every day untill he died. By 1880, James D.'s brothers and sisters had all died. Some of his children had died and others had been born. He and Rebecca had thirteen children, six surviving past childhood, only one son among the survivors. James Deas Blanton died in 1902. The son, Kelly, stayed at home with his aging mother and un-married sisters. He operated the ferry and farm. At this time, a saw-mill was at Spring Bank. New people came to work at the mill and live on the place. Several stores, boarding houses. Etc. sprang up around the mill. Kelly married Cedar Wallace in 1910, brought her home to live, along with his mother, Rebecca, his widowed sister, Ethyl, and her son James. Rebecca died in 1917. Kelly and Cedar had no children, but kept James, a nephew when Ethyl (Lame's mother) remarried. Cedar died in childbirth January 1, 1918, the child dying too. Kelly sold the old house to a sister, who moved it away from the river. He moved into one of the saw-mill houses that was left. He later married Nellie Cornman. They had one son, William Kelly Blanton, Jr. He grew up and operated the ferry, along with his cousin James. He married and had two daughters. In 1949, Nellie Cornman Blanton died. In 1952, Kelly Blanton died. He had lived 83 years at Spring Bank. Later that same year, his son Kelly Blanton Jr. died at age 29, leaving two small children. The last daughter married in 1964, ending the Blanton name at Spring Bank. The people are all gone from Spring Bank. The land has been divided and sold to a paper company, or caved into the river. There are no signs of the cotton wharf, saw-mill, or stores. The old houses gone. All that is left are the high bluffs overlooking the river, the unknown Yankee Soldiers graves, and the graves of the Blanton family. A feeling of sadness comes to the great-great-great-grandchildren of Richards Blanton as they look at Spring Bank and Blantons Bluff.