The Blanchard Family of Blanchard. 
By Edward P. Blanchard
pg. 442

     THE grandfather of Thomas Blanchard, who first came from England in 1639, was one of the French Huguenots who fled from France to England in 1572.
     We know nothing more of their history prior to their coming to this country in 1639.
     1. Thomas Blanchard, with his four sons by a first wife, and his second wife, widow Agnes Barnes, came from London, England, and landed in New England June 23, 1639.  His wife died on the passage, also an infant child, and he again married for his third wife Mary _____, who died June 2, 1676.  Thomas Blanchard lived in Braintree, Mass., until February, 1651, when he bought a farm of 200 acres on the Mystick side, then a part of Charlestown, now the town of Malden.  He died on this farm May 21, 1654.
     2. Nathaniel, son of Thomas, was born in 1636, probably in Andover, England; he died August 27, 1676, in Weymouth, Mass., where he had resided most of his life.  He was married December 16, 1658, to Susanna Bates.  His children were John, Mary, Nathaniel, Edward, Mercy and Susanna.
     3. John, eldest son of Nathaniel and Susanna (Bates), was born March 27, 1660, in Weymouth and is supposed to have passed his life in that town.  He was married there in 1685 to Abigail Phillips.  He died March, 10, 1733.  They had nine children.
     4. Nathaniel, sixth son of John and Abigail Blanchard, was born May 19, 1701, in Weymouth, Mass., and removed to North Yarmouth, Maine, in 1743.  In 1745 he was admitted by letter from the Weymouth church to that at North Yarmouth; he died in that town August 15, 1773.  He was married to Hannah Shawin 1726; she died about 1770.  They had eleven children.
     5. Ozias, third son and ninth child of Nathaniel and Hannah (Shaw) Blanchard, was born at Weymouth, Mass., July 31, 1742.  He was a resident of North Yarmouth, Maine, and served as a soldier in the Revolutionary army.  He was a sergeant in Captain George Rogers' company, in the Second Cumberland Regiment, and served six days in November, 1775.  This company was detached by order of Colonel Jonathan Mitchell to work on the fort at Falmouth.  He was a second lieutenant in Captain John Winthrop's North Yarmouth company of Colonel Fogg's Cumberland County Regiment, as shown by the list May 9, 1776.  He was also a second lieutenant in Captain John Gray's company of North Yarmouth, commissioned January 14, 1777.  He again enlisted for service July 7, 1779, under Captain Gray and Col. Jonathan Richards, and was discharged September 12, 1779.
     He also served two months and six days in the expedition to the Penobscot.  He was married in January, 1769, to Mercy Soule, who was born November 27, 1749, in North Yarmouth, daughter of Barnabas Soule and Jane Bradbury.  They were the parents of Samuel, Jeremiah, David, Reuben, Daniel, Olive, Jacob, Dorcas, John and Rufus.
     Their offspring are entitled to membership in The Society of Mayflower Descendants, and the Sons or Daughters of the Revolution; Mercy Soule having been a direct descendant on the one side, of George Soule, and on the other side, of John and Priscilla Alden, and the father and mother of the latter, Mr. and Mrs. Mullins, all of whom were passengers on the Mayflower.
     6. Jeremiah, second son of Ozias and Mercy (Soule) Blanchard, was baptized May 16, 1771, in North Yarmouth, and was one of the original members of the Second Church of that town, now the Cumberland Church, of which he was the third deacon.  He was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature when the state was divided and Maine became an independent state, and worked and voted for that measure.
     He was married to Dorcas Bucknam; their children were Dorcas, Ozias, William and Ann Aurora.
     7. Ozias, son of Jeremiah and Dorcas (Bucknam) Blanchard, was born May 24, 1804, in North Yarmouth, Maine.  He was married November 13, 1828, at Cumberland, to Martha Sweetser, who was born January 17, 1809, in Cumberland, Maine.  After his marriage he moved to Blanchard, Maine, where he bought a farm, held many local offices, was a member of the House of Representatives and the Senate, where he was largely instrumental in the election of Hon. Hannibal Hamlin to the United States Senate.  He was too old to enter the Civil War in the usual way, but on February 28, 1864, on the recommendation of Vice President Hamlin, was commissioned by President Lincoln, captain and A. Q. M., U. S. Vols., and served until August 10, 1865, after which he returned to Maine and lived in Dexter until 1870, when he moved to Herndon, Virginia.
     In 1876 he was a delegate from Virginia to the Republican National Convention in Cincinnati, where he voted for the nomination of James G. Blaine.
     8. Howard W., son of Ozias, was born January 18, 1852, in Blanchard, Maine, where his boyhood was passed on a farm.  He attended the public schools at Blanchard and Dexter, Maine, and Lockhaven, Pennsylvania, and graduated at George Washington University D. C, with the degree of LL. B. in 1889.  In the same year he was admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia and also in Virginia.  He was twelve years old when he left the State of Maine for Kentucky, where his father was in the military service, and returned there in 1866, locating at Dexter, where he continued until 1869.  In 1870 he located at Herndon, Virginia, and has ever since made his home in that town.
     He is a principal examiner in the U. S. Pension office at Washington, where he was appointed in 1880, and is a member of the Congregational church, and a Republican in politics.  He is a member of the D. C. Society of Mayflower Descendants.
     6. Jacob Blanchard, sixth son of Ozias Blanchard and Mercy Soule, was born July 2, 1784.  He married Abigal Pratt in 1808.
     He lived in Cumberland, Maine; was drowned while on a fishing trip July 5, 1815.
     7. Jacob Blanchard, 2nd son of Jacob and Abigal Pratt, was born at Cumberland, Maine, January 28, 1812.  He lived in Cumberland until 1833, when he moved to Blanchard, Maine.  He married, March 8, 1836, Rachel C. Packard of Hebron.  Jacob Blanchard was a carpenter, and lived in Blanchard all his life and died there January 30, 1899.
     Edward P. Blanchard, son of Jacob Blanchard and Rachel Cole Packard, was born at Blanchard, September 8, 1857.