Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/316

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388
BLANCHARD
BLANCHET

gave freely for its aid, and wrote much in support of it. Though one of the most radical on the peace question, however, he was thoroughly con- sistent, and, having decided that Christianity not only discountenances but forbids war, he accepted all legitimate inferences from this position.


BLANCHARD, Justus Wardwell, soldier, b. in Milford, N. II., in 1811 ; d. in Syracuse, N. Y., 14 Sept., 1877. Before the civil war he was cap- tain of the Burgess corps of Albany, N. Y. He entered the national service as captain in the od N. Y. volunteers in 1861, became lieutenant-colo- nel in 1863, and brevet brigadier-general of vol- unteers on 13 March, 1865. He was at Big Bethel in 1861, took part in Banks's Red River expedi- tion, volunteered on a forlorn hope at Port Hud- son, and was with Sheridan iu his Shenandoah campaign in 1864.


BLANCHARD, Thomas, inventor, b. in Sutton, Mass., 24 June, 1788; d. in Boston, 10 April, 1864. He had a fondness for mechanical employment, and was associated with his brother in the manufacture of tacks by hand. This process was exceedingly slow and tedious, and in 1806 he invented a machine, which he subsequently so improved that five hundred tacks could be made in a minute, with heads and points more perfect than those made by the old-fashioned plan. This patent he sold for $5,000 to a company that afterward went extensively into the manufacture. After this he turned his attention to the manufacture of a machine for turning and finishing gun-barrels by a single operation; and this he accomplished, finishing the octagon portion of the barrel by changing the action of his lathe to vibratory motion. This invention, afterward extended to the turning of all kinds of irregular forms, was one of the most remarkable improvements made in the century. During the progress of its development he was employed at the Springfield armory, where he received nine cents allowance from the government for each musket made by his machines, and this was his only compensation during the first term of his patent, originally granted in 1820. In 1831 he received, a patent for an improved form of steamboat, so constructed as to ascend rapids or rivers having strong currents, which was used on the Connecticut river and in the west. He introduced several improvements in the construction of railroads and locomotives, and was the inventor of a steam wagon before any railroad had ever been built. In 1851 he devised a process for bending heavy timber. He also constructed machines for cutting and folding envelopes at a single operation, and several mortising machines. Mr. Blanchard was awarded more than twenty-five patents for his inventions, for some of which he received ample compensation.


BLANCHELANDE, Philibert Francois Roussel, Count de (blonsh'-lond), French sol- dier, b. in Dijon, France, in 1735; d. in Paris, 11 April, 1793. He entered the army in 1747 and in 1779 was sent to Martinique, where he became lieu- tenant-colonel. He successfully defended the isle of St. Vincent against the English, for which ser- vice he was made a brigadier. He assisted at the taking of Tobago, and was made its governor in 1781. This office he afterward exchanged for that of Dominica, which he retained until his return to France at the epoch of the revolution. Later he was sent to St. Domingo as governor of the French part of that island ; but showing a disposition to disregard the authority of the national assembly, he was taken to France, condemned, and executed.


BLANCHET, Augustine Magloire Alexander, R. C. bishop, b. in St. Pierre, Quebec, in 1797; d. in Vancouver, 25 Feb., 1887. After his ordination, in 1821. he performed missionary duties. He was caTion of the cathedral at Montreal when he was nominated to the newly created see of Walla Walla in 1845. He reached his diocese in 1847, accom- panied by four oblate fathers and two secular priests, and labored among the Indians for about a year, but with Jittle success, owing to troubles among the natives. The see of Nesqually was erected in 1850, to which he was transferred the same year. He took up his residence at Port Van- couver on the Columbia, where he built a cathe- dral, and also erected churches at Olympia and Steilaeoom, on Cowlitz river, and among the Chi- nooks. The Catholic population of his diocese had increased to more than 6,000 in 1853, when the ter- ritory of Washington, which included the see of Nesqually, was organized. He resigned his diocese in 1879, owing to failing health. During his mis- sion he erected twenty-four churches. He founded colleges at Vancouver and Walla Walla, several in- stitutions conducted by the sisters of mercy, and flourishing Indian missions at Fort Colville, Yaki- ma, and Tulalip.


BLANCHET, Emilio (blahn-shay), Cuban author, b. in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1829. In 1870 he went to Barcelona, Spain, whei-e he receive^ the de- gree of Ph. D., and where he has resided since. His principal works are " El anillo de Maria Tudor," a drama ; " Prosa y Verso " (1858) ; a " Manual of Cuban History " ; " Flores de la Literatura France- sa " : and " El Libro de las Expiaciones."


BLANCHET, Francis Norbert, R. C. arch- bishop, b. near Quebec in 1795 ; d. in Portland, Oregon, in 1883. He received his ecclesiastical training at the Petit seminaire, Quebec, and was ordained by Archbishop Plessis in 1819. He la- bored for seven years on the missions of the gulf of St. Lawrence, and was then appointed cure of St. Joseph de Soulanges at The Cedars, where he re- mained nine years. After John Jacob Astor estab- lished the trading-post of Astoria at the mouth of Columbia river, and after the organization of the Hudson bay company in Oregon, there was a great influx of Canadian Catholics, who intermarried with the Indians. In 1838 tlie archbishop of Que- bec decided to establish a mission among them, and for this purpose selected fathers Blanchet and Demers. Father Blanchet made Vancouver his headquarters, and for the next four years he and his companion were the only priests in Oregon, which then included British Columbia and extend- ed along the Pacific to the California boundary. In 1843 he was created vicar-apostolic and received episcopal consecration from the archbishop of Que- bec. At the close of 1844 he had converted most of the Indian tribes of the Sound, Caledonia, and the lower Oregon. He had founded nine missions — four in the Rocky mountains and five in lower Oregon. Eleven churches had been erected, and two educational establishments founded — one for boys and one lor girls. There were fifteen priests in the country, besides sisters. In accordance with the representations of Bishop Blanchet, the pope formed his vicariate into an ecclesiastical province, divided into three sees, over one of which, that of Oregon City, he was appointed bishop. In 1878 he received Bishop Seghers as coadjutor, and in 1881 he was obliged to retire, after a priesthood of sixty two years and an episcopate of thirty-six. He has been called the "Apostle of Oregon."


BLANCHET, Joseph Goderick, Canadian statesman, b. in St. Pierre, 7 June, 1829 ; d. in Quebec, 4 April, 1890. He was educated at the Quebec seminary, and graduated as a physician. In