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Blanchard, Charles A. (Charles Albert)

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1848 - 1925

Biographical Statement

Charles Albert Blanchard liked to recall that he was born in 1848, the year of revolutions. He was named for Charles Albert, Duke of Sardinia, who strove for Italian unification. The fifth of Jonathan and Mary Avery Bent Blanchard's twelve children was born on November 8, 1848, in Galesburg, Illinois. Charles' father had left the pastorate of the Sixth Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati to assume the presidency of Knox Manual Labor College in 1845. Following the elder Blanchard’s resignation in 1858 and brief pastorates in Congregational churches in Ottawa and Galesburg, the Blanchard family moved to Wheaton, where Jonathan Blanchard became head of the financially struggling Illinois Institute (soon re-named Wheaton College). The town of Wheaton became Charles Blanchard's residence for the remainder of his life.

Life as a boy in the Blanchard family included work on the family farm and preparatory school studies. A highlight of Charlie's younger years was a wagon trip to the Montana gold fields in 1864. Accompanying his father, the journey took them across the states of Illinois and Iowa and the territories of Nebraska, Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado. On the return trip, Charles remained for a time in Nebraska Territory as a farm worker.

Charles Blanchard began his preaching career at the age of nineteen, when he delivered his first sermon in York Center, Illinois. By the time he graduated from Wheaton College in 1870, he had presented 65 addresses concerning the ills of lodgery. Following his commencement, Charles lectured as an agent for the National Christian Association, a reform organization dedicated chiefly to opposing Freemasonry and other oath bound orders.

In 1872, Charles began the affiliation with Wheaton College which was to last the rest of his life. That year he took the position of Principal of the Preparatory Department. Two years later he became the College's first professor of English, a position he held for eight years. He studied at Chicago Theological Seminary in 1875 and served as Pastor of College Church in Wheaton from 1878-1883. Charles Blanchard married Margaret Ellen Milligan on October 16, 1873. His bride hailed from the Keystone State and the wedding took place in Pittsburg. Five children were born to the couple: Jonathan McLeod, Mary Belle, Julia Warden Ellen, Rachel Geraldine, and Clara Levancia.

In 1882, Charles Albert Blanchard succeeded his father as President of Wheaton College. He would retain leadership as President and Professor of Mental and Moral Science for forty three years; the longest tenure served by a Wheaton College President.

In 1884, after 11 years of marriage, Ellen died, suffering from heart lesions caused by childhood rheumatic fever. Charles remarried in 1886. The object of his love, Miss Amanda Jennie Carothers, had graduated with the Class of 1878 and served as Dean of Women from 1880 to their marriage. Jennie bore three children: Jane Caroline, Marie Frances, and Mildred Nora, bringing the total number of Blanchard children to 8. (The son born to Charles' previous marriage died in infancy and Marie Frances died at the age of two.) Amanda Jennie died in 1894, leaving Charles a widower for the second time.

Charles corresponded with Jennie's sister, Frances (an 1880 graduate of Wheaton College and medical doctor), after Jennie's death. This exchange eventually expanded to concern itself with matters of the heart and their marriage followed in 1896. During their marriage of twenty nine years, an adopted son, Paul, was added to the Blanchard home.

Blanchard's professional life continued to expand. In 1896 the Doctorate of Divinity degree was bestowed upon him by Monmouth College. Between 1897 and 1899, Blanchard served a second time as pastor of College Church. Wheaton College named Blanchard to the Professorship of Psychology and Ethics in 1900 and from 1902 to 1904 Blanchard held the Presidency of the National Christian Association. Until his death on December 20, 1925, Charles Blanchard remained active as President of Wheaton College as well as continuing to lecture and write.

Found in 4 Collections and/or Records:

Collection 093 Oral History Interview with Earl A. Winsor

 Collection
Identifier: CN 093
Scope and Contents Oral history interview with Earl Austin Winsor (1897-1983) in which he discusses his education at Wheaton College as a student (1919-1920) and teacher (1920-25, history, and 1939-1949, math and physics) and his missionary experiences in Africa under Africa Inland Mission, serving in what is now Zaire. Wheaton personalities, mission experiences, especially those relating to his education work, and analysis of his exposure to African government, churches, tribal customs, and health practices....
Dates: Created: 1979-1980

Collection 104 Oral History Interview with Bruce F. Hunt

 Collection
Identifier: CN 104
Scope and Contents Oral history interviews in which Bruce Finley Hunt (1903-1992) discusses his boyhood in Korea, college and seminary education at Wheaton College, Rutgers University and Princeton Seminary; a portion (1928-1942) of his missionary work in Korea and Manchuria; and his impressions of Korean culture. The time period covered by the interviews is roughly 1903-1976.Bruce Finley Hunt was interviewed by Robert Shuster on March 22 and May 21, 1980 and October 16, 2002 in Abington, PA and...
Dates: Created: 1980-1982

Collection 284 Oral History Interview with Gladys Wright

 Collection
Identifier: CN 284
Scope and Contents Oral history interviews with Gladys Lyle Wright (1902-1994), in which she discusses her work as a teacher in Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of Congo). Topics discussed include: Wright's family background, education at Wheaton College and Moody Bible Institute, her work as a missionary in the Belgian Congo for the Africa Inland Mission, memories of the Congolese people and culture, and her experiences at Wheaton when she was on the staff of the College after retriring from the mission...
Dates: Created: 1984

Moody Church Records

 Collection
Identifier: CN 330
Brief Description Correspondence, reports, scrapbooks, church bulletins, minutes of meetings, and other records documenting the activities of the influential independent Chicago church started by Dwight L. Moody; chiefly from ca. 1910 through 1946.Topics documented include worship services, Sunday school, the weekly activities of the congregation, the governance of the body, and various urban evangelistic outreaches of the church.  Besides the history of the church, the collection also documents...
Dates: Created: 1864-1987

Filtered By

  • Subject: Missions -- Finance. X

Additional filters:

Subject
Catholic Church. 3
Church and state. 3
Evangelistic work. 3
Language in missionary work. 3
Missionaries -- Training of. 3
∨ more
Missions -- Educational work. 3
Missions, Medical. 3
Animism. 2
Belgium. 2
Belgium. -- Colonies 2
Belgium. -- Colonies -- Africa. 2
Boarding schools. 2
Catholic Church -- Missions. 2
Catholic Church -- Protestant churches. 2
Children of missionaries. 2
Christian education -- Congo (Democratic Republic) 2
Christianity and culture. 2
Church development, New. 2
Church discipline. 2
Church work with children. 2
Congo (Democratic Republic) -- History -- Civil War, 1960-1965. 2
Education 2
Education -- Congo (Democratic Republic) 2
Evangelistic work -- Congo (Democratic Republic) 2
Indigenous church administration 2
Medical care 2
Medical care -- Congo (Democratic Republic) 2
Missionaries -- Appointment, call, and election. 2
Missions -- Congo (Democratic Republic). 2
Missions to Muslims. 2
Religious institutions. 2
Tribes -- Congo (Democratic Republic) 2
Tribes. 2
Women 2
Women -- Religious life. 2
Women missionaries. 2
World War, 1939-1945. 2
African Americans -- Religious life. 1
African Americans. 1
Animism -- Congo (Democratic Republic) 1
Belgium. -- Administration. 1
Boarding schools -- Congo (Democratic Republic) 1
Boarding schools -- Korea. 1
Buddhism -- Doctrines. 1
Buddhism. 1
Buddhists -- Korea. 1
Buddhists. 1
Catholic Church. -- Congo (Democratic Republic) 1
Catholic Church. -- Korea. 1
Catholic Church. -- Missions -- Congo (Democratic Republic) 1
Chicago (Ill.) 1
Chicago (Ill.) -- Religion. 1
Children -- United States 1
Children -- United States -- Religious life. 1
Children of missionaries -- Education. 1
Children. 1
Christian education -- Curricula. 1
Christian education -- Kenya. 1
Christian education -- Korea. 1
Christian education -- United States. 1
Christian education, Outdoor -- United States. 1
Christian education, Outdoor. 1
Christian vacation schools. 1
Church and social problems -- United States. 1
Church and social problems. 1
Church and state -- Congo (Democratic Republic) 1
Church and state -- Korea. 1
Church architecture -- United States. 1
Church architecture. 1
Church buildings 1
Church buildings -- Chicago. 1
Church fund raising. 1
Church growth -- Korea. 1
Church growth. 1
Church work with children -- Chicago. 1
Church work with children -- Congo (Democratic Republic) 1
Church work with youth -- Chicago. 1
Church work with youth. 1
Cities and towns -- United States. 1
City missions -- Chicago. 1
City missions. 1
College students -- Religious life. 1
College students in missionary work. 1
College students. 1
Confucianism 1
Confucianism -- Korea. 1
Congo (Democratic Republic) -- Agricultural conditions. 1
Congo (Democratic Republic) -- Description and travel. 1
Congo (Democratic Republic) -- History -- 1908-1960. 1
Congo (Democratic Republic) -- Politics and government. 1
Congo (Democratic Republic) -- Religion. 1
Congo (Democratic Republic) -- Social conditions. 1
Congo (Democratic Republic)--Social life and customs 1
Culture shock. 1
Dixon, A. C. -- Sermons. 1
Education -- United States. 1
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