Biography of Robert B. Blanks, Ouachita Parish, LA

Submitted by Mike Miller
Source:  From Biographical and Historical Memoires of 
Louisiana, volume 2, p. 297.
 


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Robert B. Blanks 
         Ouachita Parish, Louisiana 

    Robert B. Blanks of Monroe, Ouachita parish, La., was born in
Kentucky in l854, a son of Robert A. and Eliza B. (Birmingham) Blanks,
natives of Alabama and Kentucky, respectively.  The mother of our
subject was his father's second wife, and they were married in
Louisville, Ky.  After living there a short time, they removed to
Caldwell parish, La., where the father was quite extensively engaged in
planting and merchandising.  Our subject was the second born of three
brothers and three sisters, four of whom survive.  He received a good
practical education in the local schools and at the age of nineteen
began business life for himself as a merchant on a small scale, at
Columbia, Caldwell parish.  He has continued in that line of business
ever since and the concern of which he is at the head at the present
time ranks among the greatest and most extensive in the central and
northern parts of Louisiana.  He has also a business at Blankstown, La.,
which was established -in 1889, the place being named in his honor.  In
connection with his mercantile interests he carries on planting quite
extensively and his combined operations aggregate at least a quarter of
a million dollars, annually.  He handles from 5,000 to 6,000 bales of
cotton every season, and is the owner of a valuable plantation of 1,200
acres of land near Opelousas, La, and considerable land and a large
planting interest in Caldwell parish.  He was one of the founders of the
Ouachita National bank at Monroe, in which he is still a large
stockholder.   He was one of the prime movers in the organization of,
and a large stockholder in the Merchants and Farmers bank of Monroe,
which was founded in February, 1890, and of which he is president.  This
concern has a paid up capital stock of $100,000.  Mr. Blanks is also
largely interested in the Compress & Warehouse company; the Monroe
Grocery company; the Independent Oil Mill and the Consolidated Ice
company, of Monroe and Shreveport, which operate large factories at both
places, and a business in Columbia, Caldwell parish, amounting to
$150,000 a year.  He is also a stockholder in Independent Mill at New
Orleans, and has stock in the American National bank at that place.  In
fact, there is no recent industry or enterprise in his section of which
he has not been an active promoter and in which he has not been largely
interested pecuniarily.  His success in business has been due entirely
to his business tact and his untiring energy.  He never inherited a
dollar and was never given a dollar.  His present large possessions he
has gained by his own unaided efforts.  In his business transactions he
is lenient with his debtors and has always aided them to the fullest
extent.  His large business concerns have so entirely engrossed his
attention that he has never been able to bring himself to be a recipient
of public honors, though they have been tendered him on many occasions.
He was married in 1880 to Miss Eugenia Faulkner, of Columbia.
 
From Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, volume 2, p.297. 
Submitted by Mike Miller

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