Lafayette County WI Archives History - Books .....Alvin Blanchard 1976 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wi/wifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com October 31, 2007, 9:11 pm Book Title: A History Of Blanchardsville, Gem Of The Pecatonica [photo of Alvin Blanchard] Alvin Blanchard Alvin Blanchard was born in Cortland County, New York, January 12, 1830, son of Asahel and Elizabeth Brown Blanchard, the former of whom was a native of New York and the latter of Massachusetts. In 1840, the Blanchard family emigrated from New York to Wisconsin and settled about seven miles southeast of Dodgeville in what is known as Garrison Grove. Here young Blanchard spent the days of his youth with his parents. He developed large business capacities even before he was out of his "teens". He thought a lucrative business could be developed by buying wheat from farmers and converting it into flour, middlings and bran if he could find a market for them. He noticed that the miners in and around Dodgeville and Mineral Point bought such products that had been hauled from Galena and other places. This induced him to experiment in this line of traffic. The Moscow flouring mill had already gained state-wide reputation for turning out excellent mill products. He began to buy wheat from the farmers and hauled it by two-horse and sometimes four-horse teams to the Moscow mill to be ground. It was then carted back and sold to the miners. It was while Alvin Blanchard was at the Moscow mill that he heard about a mill on the Pecatonica River that was being offered for sale. It had been built by Samuel Horner, a Mormon. Mr. Blanchard came down and bought the mill and the surrounding land. That was the beginning of Blanchard history for this area. Additional Comments: Extracted from A History of Blanchardville, Gem of the Pecatonica File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wi/lafayette/history/1976/ahistory/alvinbla137gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wifiles/ File size: 2.2 Kb