Blanding, William, 1773-1857. William Blanding papers, 1807-1920 (bulk, 1807-1853).
Title:
William Blanding papers, 1807-1920 (bulk, 1807-1853).
Family and business letters, drawings of animals and landscapes, and other papers, 1807-1850, 1916, 1920, written from S.C., Massachusetts, and elsewhere; topics discussed include War of 1812, slavery, the Union Party, Nullification, the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches, natural history (minerals and collection of reptiles, amphibians, and other specimens), the Bank of the United States, migration to Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Alabama, and elsewhere, religious and social activities, travel accounts of S.C. and elsewhere, etc. Letters to family in Rehoboth, Mass., and elsewhere; 2 letters, 29 Sept. and 2 Dec. 1808, Camden, S.C., S. Blanding to Elizabeth Carpenter, Rehoboth, re concerns with leaving New England for slave state, medical practice, and Abram Blanding and Betsey and Richard Champion; 2 letters, 4 July 1816 and 25 July 1816, Camden, S.C., R. Blanding to Hannah Lewis, Phila., re description and result of a slave conspiracy, and plans to leave South because of slavery; 2 letters, 18 June 1820 and 24 Mar. 1833, Camden, S.C., to W. Blanding, Providence, R.I., and J. Blanding, Rehoboth, re land in Illinois. Six letters, 8 Sept. 1825-17 Mar. 1827, Phila., Richard Harlan to W. Blanding, Camden, S.C., re preservation of scientific specimens, and Harlan's new reptile book; letter, 11-16 Apr. 1832, Camden, S.C., to Rachel Blanding, Phila., re closing his business in Camden, S.C., and traveling; letter, 13 July 1830, Camden, S.C., William Blanding to James Guignard, Camden, S.C., re his attempts at grape cultivation; 11 letters, 20 Jan. 1829-29 Nov. 1834, Camden and Charleston, S.C., to Rachel Blanding, Philadelphia, re Andrew Jackson, Bank of U.S., S.C. assets in Camden, slavery, leaving S.C., the Union Party, and mention of Chesnut, Manning, Witherspoon, and Boykin families. Nine letters, 23 Jan.-16 Sept. 1836, Frankfort and Louisville, Ky., and Columbia, S.C., A. Blanding to W. Blanding, Philadelphia, re desire to raise children without slavery, and purchases of land; letter, 13 Oct. 1838, Columbia, S.C., Mary Caroline Blanding to Lucy Carpenter, Rehoboth, Mass., re Presbyterian Seminary, reactions to Northerners, and Dr. Shubal Blanding's new medical partnership. Fourteen letters, 16 May 1848-21 May 1849, S.C., L. Carpenter to W. Blanding, Rehoboth, re medical practice of Dr. William Powell at St. Matthews, S.C., attending slave church service, and abolitionist reactions to treatment of slaves; letter, 3 Feb. 1849, Camden, J.K. Douglas to W. Blanding, Mass., re Blanding family genealogy, slaves purchasing freedom, and plans of a freedman, Edmund, to become missionary in Liberia; and letter, 12 Apr. 1849, re visit to slave quarters on plantation of James Chesnut, "Indian burial mounds" on John Cantey's plantation and hopes to prevent destruction of the site, and a duel between Hayman Levy and Dr. Wiley J. McKain (see folder 10). Two letters, 2 Feb. and 19 Mar. 1850, Camden, S.C., R[ebecca] A. Bonney to L. Carpenter, re Methodist and Presbyterian meetings, new night school in Camden, and travel from Charleston; printed broadside, "Rules for the Teacher," which notes that these bylaws were adopted by School District No. 2, Rehoboth, Massachusetts, on 3 December 1850; and an undated essay re Native American Indian tribes residing in North and South Carolina during the colonial era and relating a story describing the "hereditary enmity between the Catawbas & Shawanese." Bound volumes consist of: diary, 1807, Camden & Charleston, S.C., and Mass., 28 May-17 Aug. 1807, re religious activities, lawyers, local customs, medicine, demonstration against British government, 11 July 1807, in Camden, S.C.; diary, 25 June 1810-14 July 1811, re travel from Camden to Rehoboth, Mass., literature purchased in New York, and comments on cotton manufacture; diary, 1 Nov.-8 Dec. 1820, re expenses, medical condition of brother James, and herbal medicine; diary, 20 Oct. 1822-13 July 1823, between Philadelphia, Pa., and Camden, S.C., re moving, cotton trade in S.C., personal finances, Bishop [John] England sermon; and unbound journal, 25 Oct. 1848-8 June 1849, of L. Carpenter re trip to S.C., weather, and social activities (one signature; filed in folder 7). Collection includes significant number of manuscript maps, sketches, and color prints of animal and plant life. Some of the maps and sketches were clearly drawn by William Blanding, while others were produced by later generations of the family. Included among the maps are ones showing portions of Kershaw County, S.C., which notes the locations of both Haile's and Brewer's Gold Mines, and another showing the route from Camden (S.C.) to Asheville, North Carolina. Sketches include views of "Swananoa Valley as seen from Col. Davidson's on the morning of 29th Aug. 1828, Buncomb[e] Co., N.C.," and "the Meadow field at the Cata[w]ba Springs" and representations of veins at a "Gold mine... on the land of Mrs. Kirkley on the East side of Big Linches Creek - two miles from Brewer's gold mine," the "Plan of the Fætal [i.e. fetal] Circulation," and drawing of a meteor observed on the night of 22 Mar. 1835, including a written description of the event; photograph, 1916, titled "Officers 2nd Florida Infantry at Laredo, Texas - Mexico, Border";
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