Joseph S Blanding
| Date of Interment or Death | 02/18/1944 |
|---|---|
| Location | Old Fairview |
| Section | D |
| Block-Lot-Grave | 9-1-6 |
Obituary
Pioneer of Very Early Days in Wahpeton Dies on Monday
Joseph S. Blanding Came Here Before City, County or State Had Been Organized
One of the few remaining earliest settlers in Richland county passed away on Monday. Joseph S. Blanding, 82, came to Richland county and no North Dakota. His brother, Walter D. Blanding, only surviving member of the family of ten children that came to this county in those early days, remains today probably the oldest settler in Richland county preceding the famous Wild Rice settlement in south central Richland by a matter of months. The father of the Blanding brothers came to this country from Lancaster, Wis., a deputy U. S. surveyor. He took back stories of the beautiful meadow land here at the junction of the Bois de Sioux, Otter Tail and Red Rivers. The result was an influx of settlers from Lancaster.
Mrs. Blanding brought out her family to Breckenridge. Across the river to the west lay Richville. One house composed the city, the home of M. T. Rich. At the outskirts of the present city, on south 11th street, the family made their home and for the past 72 years the Blandings have lived there.
There was no Fargo in those early days. The family came by steamboat to St. Paul and Pacific railway to Breckenridge. That was the end of the railroad that was to become the huge Great Northern system under the guiding genius of Jim Hill, the Empire Builder.
Joseph Blanding was, to a large extent, a man who loved his home and his community and spent his life where he loved to be. His family were active in affairs of the neighborhood but not so Joseph Blanding. His father Joseph W. Blanding was one of the first county commissioners Richland county ever had and was chairman of the board. His sister, Ms. Emma Burbank, was Richland county’s first superintendent of schools. Another sister Mrs. Jessie Fisher, was Breckenridge’s first school teacher and Joseph Blanding went to school in the school where his sister taught. A brother, Hugh R. Blanding was the county’s first register of deeds.
With game abounding in almost unbelievable quantities on the plains and in the streams, Joseph Blanding divided his time between the pursuit of game and work in the fields on his father’s farm. As age came he was forced to retire more and more from active life. But, to a limited extent, he remained hail and hearty in spite of his years until he was stricken with a heart attack Monday morning.
He was rushed to the hospital but passed away shortly after noon the same day. Besides his brother he is survived by a niece, Miss Evelyn Burbank, who makes her home there. Funeral services were conducted Thursday afternoon at two o’clock from the home and burial was in the family lot at Fairview cemetery. Neighbors from surrounded farms in Center township acted as pallbearers.
Headstone photograph(s)
Location
Old Fairview is located on the southern half of the cemetery grounds.