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Note: ighteenth century, the trans-Appalachian region of North America remained much as it had been for the preceding centuries. Some trappers and backwoodsmen Frenchmen from Canada and Englishmen from the British colonies traveled through its woods and rivers, but the principal occupants of the region were Native Americans and a great diversity of wildlife. As the British colonies became more populated and prosperous, their citizens began to look towards the rich lands across the Appalachian mountains as providing new opportunities for settlement and economic growth. The French, who claimed the entire watersheds of the Mississippi and St. Lawrence Rivers which included the Great Lakes and the Ohio River valley became worried about British encroachments into this region and so they moved to set up a series of forts, including at Crown Point on Lake Champlain, and on the Wabash, Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. The British, meanwhile, built their own forts at Oswego and Halifax, the government granted lands in the Ohio Valley to the Ohio Company and adventurous traders set up bases in the region. Believed to originally be from Caroline County and born around 1735, William BLANTON found himself in military service during the French and Indian War. William is listed among the troops from Caroline County which fought with the Virginia regiment (the 1st Virginia Regiment) during this conflict. His name appears in the Order Books for the county court in claims for land bounties for services rendered. {Colonial Caroline: A History of Caroline County, Virginia by T.E. Campbell, page 372}. In 1750, British and French representatives met in Paris to try to solve these territorial disputes, but no progress was made. In 1752, the Marquis Duquesne was made governor-general of New France with specific instructions to take possession of the Ohio Valley, removing all British presence from the area.. The following year, he sent troops to western Pennsylvania where they built forts at Presque Island (Erie) and on the Rivière aux Boeufs (Waterford). At the same time, Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, was granting land in the Ohio Valley to citizens of his colony, setting in motion the events which inevitably led to the French & Indian War. Dinwiddie, hearing of new French forts on the upper Allegheny River, sent out a young Virginia officer, George Washington, to deliver a letter demanding that the French leave the region. This mission was, not surprisingly, a failure, but when passing through the region where the Allegheny and the Monongahela form the Ohio, Washington noted that the point of land at the junction was an excellent spot for a fort. In early 1754, in response to Washington's suggestion, the British started to build a fort there, Fort Prince George, but French troops soon arrived and threw them out. The French completed the fortification, renaming it Fort Duquesne. Washington, meanwhile, had been sent out with a contingent of troops to help establish British control in the west, and when he heard of the surrender of Fort Prince George, he set up camp in Great Meadows, southeast of Fort Duquesne. Washington received a report that a nearby French contingent intended to attack, so he launched a preemptive strike against the French camp. This was the first engagement of the yet undeclared French & Indian War. Though Washington won that engagement, he was soon defeated by a superior force sent out from Fort Duquesne, leaving the French in command of the entire region west of the Allegheny Mountains. Early the next year, 1755, Major General Edward Braddock was sent to America as commander-in-chief of the British forces in America. He quickly set in motion plans to capture Fort Duquesne, leading his troops west from Virginia in June. Meeting the French 10 miles east of Fort Duquesne, the British were defeated with heavy losses, including Braddock who died four days after the battle. Once again the French had maintained their grip on the Ohio Valley. In the north, British luck was better, for they won a battle on Lake George and established two forts just south of the French fortification (Fort Frederick) at Crown Point on Lake Champlain. These were Fort Edward on the Hudson River and Fort William Henry at the southern end of Lake George. "Two soldiers of record from Caroline took part in the campaign against Fort Duquesne. They were Thomas Riddle and William BLANTON who was shot through the thigh. Their names are perserved because the House of Burgesses voted their pensions on account of their wounds." {Colonial Caroline: A History of Caroline County, Virginia by T.E. Campbell, page 166}. January & December 1756: Listed in pay roll of Captain Peter Hog's company. {Virginia's Colonial Soldier by Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck, 1988, page 55 & 93} Despite all this military activity, it wasn't until 1756 that war was officially declared between the French and British. The military activity that year and the following was relatively inconclusive, though the French generally had the upper hand, capturing Fort Oswego on Lake Ontario and Fort William Henry. Listed in roll of Peter Hog's Company for 3 July & 4 August 1757. {Virginia's Colonial Soldier by Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck, 1988, page 97 & 102} Listed in the return of Major Andrew Lewis's company wanting necessaries for 29 August 1757. {Virginia's Colonial Soldier by Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck, 1988, page 112} Listed in the return of Major Andrew Lewis's company wanting necessaries & clothing for September & 27 October 1757. {Virginia's Colonial Soldier by Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck, 1988, page 112 & 116} Appears in the size roll of Major Andrew Lewis's company for December 1757. Roll gives name, age, height, occupation, country, county, and description. It cites "William BLANTON, 22, 5' 7 3/4", carpenter, Virginia, Caroline, brown, large good limbs, black hair." {Virginia's Colonial Soldier by Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck, 1988, page 117-121} In 1758 the tide began to turn and the British started to take the upper hand. That summer, the British finally captured the city of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, establishing control of the Bay of the St. Lawrence. And while they failed in an assault on the French Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga), the British gained control of Lake Ontario. In July, Brigadier General John Forbes assembled a large force to move against Fort Duquesne. Despite an initial setback, Forbes had great success. He held a council at Fort Bedford with the Indian tribes of region, establishing peace between them and the British. When the French realized they would no longer have Indian allies, they quickly abandoned Fort Duquesne, destroying the fort as much as possible. Forbes occupied the site, which he soon had rebuilt and renamed Fort Pitt, establishing British control of the upper Ohio Valley for the first time. The news in 1759 continued to be positive for the British. Major General Jeffrey Amherst took over from Abercromby as commander-in-chief of the British forces and he soon captured both the forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Also that summer, other British forces captured Fort Niagara and General Wolfe defeated General Montcalm at Quebec, in a famous battle in which both commanders lost their lives. By the end of the year, the British had control of almost all of North America, other than Montreal and Detroit. By the end of 1760, these two sites fell to the British. Amherst's campaign against Montreal resulted in the surrender of that city in September and one week later Major Robert Rogers took over Fort Detroit. The British had gained all of North America from the French. This de facto control was confirmed two and a half years later at the Treaty of Paris, February 10, 1763, which gave all of North America east of the Mississippi, other than New Orleans, to the British. The French also turned over their claims of New Orleans and the lands west of the Mississippi to Spain, as compensation for Spain's surrendering Florida to the British. Though the European-based war ceased, the Native Americans in the west remained hostile to the British. The Pontiac Rebellion and other Indian hostilities lasted until the end of 1764, at which time peace finally reigned in North America. This peace, however, would last only a decade until a new war, the Revolution, began a new episode in the history of the continent. 20 April 1763: John LEDFORD to Isaac TAYLOR . . . Power of Attorney . . . James Farlie witness, William DEAD and William BLANTON, Jurors. {Augusta County, VA Court Records, 1745-1800 by Lyman Chalkley, Volume I; Order Book 8, Page 27} 9 November 1764: A petition of William BLANTON, stating that in a skirmish with the Indians in May last (1764) under the command of Capt. LEWIS, he was shot through the thigh, and rendered incapable of getting a livelihood. {Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1761-1765, page 249} 15 November 1764: Petition resolved. William BLANTON allowed sum of 15 pounds "in consideration of wounds" he received in the Service, and to reimburse him in Expense attending his cure. {Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1761-1765, page 249} Blanton contacts from the Monroe County Historical Society Sanford W. Blanton 9993 Arcola Street Livonia, Michigan 48150-3203 Andy Blanton Insurance Agency 26 W Main St Forest City, North Carolina 28043 704-245-6467 Grey Blanton 3425 Pontiac Dr Columbus, Georgia 31907 404-561-8924 From "The Wisemans" 2nd Edition, 1992, by B. W. Venable: The Blantons belonged to one of the early families in Monroe County, Virginia. William Blanton was Constable in 1779, two years before the start of the American Revolution, and only ten years after the last Indian massacre on the Greenbrier. John Blanton, Isabell's brother, married Abner's sister Elizabeth in Monroe County, so Abner and Isabell's children were double cousins to those of John and Elizabeth Blanton. On a index card in the Monroe County Historical Society donated by a fellow who had made the recotds through the years was the following: William Blanton father and John and Isabel Wiseman as children. From "Greenbrier County (West) Virginia Records. transcribed by Larry G Shuck Volume 2. Greenbrier County (West) Virginia personal property tax lists: 1782 - 1815. William Blanton 1782 1 tithable 9 horses 9 cows William Blanton 1783 1 T 9 H 13 C William Blanton 1786 1 T 7 H 18 C William Blanton Sr 1792 1 T 11 H William Blanton Jr 1792 1 T 1 H William Blanton 1796 3 T 5 H Book 1 From Monroe County (W) Virginia Abstracts Deeds (1799-1817) Wills (1799-1829) Sim's Land Grant Index (1780-1862) compiles by Larry G Shuck. Published by Closon Press Apollo, Pennsylvania. Page 5 - William Blanton was elected an elector to elect the president and vice president on 3 Nov 1800. Page 7 - 19 Jan 1802 William Blanton Sr to John Blanton 140 acres for $1.00 in the Sinks adj heirs of Thomas Stuart, John Reaburn, Enock Boggess and William Blanton. Page 13 - 17 Mar 1804 Joseph Burk indebted to William Blanton by $120.00 convey in trust a lot N 61 of 1/4 Acre in the town of Union Page 16 - 14 Feb 1807 Joseph Burk and wife Mary Ann Burk to William Blanton a 1/4 Acre lot in Union called N 61 Page 29 - 18 Sep 1804 John Beckitt and wife Margaret Beckit, and Michael Beckett and whfe Elisageth Beckitt to Thomas Fife 55 1/2 acres for $1.00 in the Sinks adj John Reaburn, James Handley, William Blanton and Michael Beckitt part. Page 32 - Chosen as Electors to vote for President and Vice President of United States in 1804. John Blanton, William Blanton, John Wiseman, and Joseph Wiseman. Page 32 - Chosen as Electors to vote for President and Vice President of United States in 1808. John Blanton, William Blanton, John Wiseman, and Joseph Wiseman. Page 38 - 22 Nov 1809 William Blanton to Henry Stevger lot N 61 of 1/4 Acres in town of Union. Page 43 - 19 Feb 1811 Michael Beckett and Wife Betsy Beckett to Michael Alexander 55 acres for $1.00 in the Sinks adj to James Handley, Michael Erskine, George King, Wm Blanton, and Thomas Fife. Page 60 - Oct 1814 George King to Henry Kelly 184 acres for $1.00 in the Sinks adj William Blanton, Richard Alexander, Michael Erskine, and Andrew Wylie Page 63 - 19 Jun 1815 Michael Alexander and wife Polly Alexander to Samuel Kean 14 acres, one rod, 15 poles for $1.00 adj William Blanton, George King now Kelly, and Thomas Fife Page 63 - Note there are two page 429 and 428. 18 Jul 1815 William Blanton of Monroe Co to Martin Shirer of Grbr Co 220 acres for $2616.00 adj to Reaburn, Fife, Kelly, Andrew Wylie, Enoch Boggess and George Moore. Page 63 - 18 Jul 1815 William Blanton to son John Blanton 165 acres for $1.00 and natural love and affection adj Caperton, Stuart, Reaburn and Boggess. Page 67 - Deed Book E is of land auctioned off for the taxes owed and transferred to the new owners. As the entire book covered only two years, 1815-1817, the date of each deed was not extracted. William Blanton from Simon Ackers 98 acres Tax 1.25 page 14 From Greenbrier County (West) Virginia Records. Transcribed by Larry G. Shuch Volume 1 Early Survey Records 1780-1799. Early Court Records 1780-1801,1811. Page 6 - Wm Blanton 400 acres adj Thos. Stuart, Arch. Handley, Garret Green, and survey made for John Clendennen, Inc. 200 a. made Apr 2, 1774, by Comrs. Cert., July 9, 1782. Page 135 - Court records on May 21, 1784. Ordered that the sheriff summon William Ewing, James Ewing, Oliver Ewing, Joseph Ewing, John Gray, Thomas Beckett, John Kincaid, Edward Keenan, James Alexander, William Gullett, James Thompson, James Byrnside, Francis Fincher, William Blanton, Samuel Caldwell and John Kincaid, Jr., or any of them being first sworn, to meet upon the lands in dispute of James Callison and John Wiley and settle their respective boundries according to law and return an account therof to the court. Page 156 - Court records on May 21, 1784. Road from James Alexander to James Dempsey ordered to be established and William Blanton appointed surveyer. Page 173 - Court records on March 1787. George Clendenin appointed County Lieut. Ordered that the several overseers of the roads throughout this County be dismissed and the following persons be appointed to wit; William Blanton was included along with others. "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia"- Extracted from the original court records of Augusta County 1745-1800 by Lyman Chalkley. Complete in three volumes. Volume I. Baltimore Genealogical Publishing Co. 1965. Page 141 - November 18, 1767 (346) Hemp certificates: Wm. Blanton and others. ( Bill Lamb comment. Hemp was used to make rope for the British Army. It is not certain whether the certificate to raise Hemp was a reguirement or not, but most farmers raised it for the British Navy.) "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia"- Extracted from the original court records of Augusta County 1745-1800 by Lyman Chalkley. Complete in three volumes. Volume II. Baltimore Genealogical Publishing Co. 1965. Page 76 - William Blanton deposes, September 1803 that he has been acquaited with Powell's Valley since 1770 and was on a hunting party there in 1771-1772. He has now been living in the Valley 11-12 years. (Bill Lamb comment - I don't think this is the right William. Our William is in Monroe county in 1803. Could it possibly be William's father?) From "A History of Monroe County, West Virginia" by Oren F. Morton, B. Lit. Baltimore Regional Publishing Company 1988 Page 30: The first positive mention of a constable (in monroe county) is May 13, 1773, when William Blanton was appointed to succeed Archibald Handley. Page 67: Early settlers of Monroe had hard feelings abouth the Greenbrier Company that was trying to collect more for the land than the settlers were willing to pay. The feeling of the settlers is thus voiced in a Botetourt petition of 1777: "We have settled it (the country) in the west and defended it fror years against the savage, in consequences of which we hoped to have obtained to contribute large sums of money to the separate emolument of individuals." William Blanton of the Sinks of Monroe bought the right and improvements of a man who offered to make declaration that he and others had applied to Andrew Lewis, spokesman of the Greenbrier Company, offering to pay any reasonable price for their "settlements," but that the offer had been refused. Page 89: Early Land Conveyances. In describing each conveyence, there are given first the name of the grantee and next the name of the grantor. If either party is known to be of another state, or of another county of the Virginias, such a fact is mentioned. The Christian name of a wife is given in brackets. Next, provided the particulars are known, there are given (1) the number of acres, (2) the price -- an s following the amount means shillings and a p following the amount is for pounds. (3) the locality where the land lies, (4) date of survey and for whom surveyed, (5) date of patent and for whom patented; (6) date of deed. A c following a date means the approximate year. Page 93: Blanton, William of Matthew (Cathaine) Gwinn -- 350 -- 51 -- Sinks of Second Creek. -- 1795. Page 82: Patents under Greenbrier. Blanton, William - 400 - adj. Thomas Stewart, Archibald Handley -- 1783. Page 93: Ewing, James--of Abraham Henderson per William Blanton-- 50 -- $1 -- Sinks, adj. Blanton and Robet Wylie -- 1793 Page 95: Henderson, Abraham--of William (Tissy) Blanton -- 100 of 400 -- 5s -- adj James Black --1791 Page 192: Union, Monroe County, Virginia was created by the Virginia Assembly on January 6, 1800. The first lots were sold in the town in 1804. William Blanton was among those who first bought lots. Page 230: Among the people who were living in the Sinks at the close of the Revolution were several Methodist families. Among these were the Blantons, the Christys, the Johnsons, and the Warrens. They held religious meetigs at their homes, and as their membership was growing, they organized a regular society late in the summer of 1784. This date, it will be observed, is also that of the independence of the Methodist Chuch. Their meetings were often at a schoolhouse near where their church was afterward built. Among their local preachers were John Wiseman and James Christy. Page 313. Blanton: William came from the Cowpasture at a very early day. He settled on the Gaston Caperton place, was constable, 1773, and was a prominent member of the Rehoboth congregation. The familhy went to Kentucky. John was a son and Isabel (Abner Wiseman, 1800) a daughter or grandaughter. Page 472: Monroe Voters in 1800: Qualified voters for the presidential election of November 3, 1800 had to own land in order to vote. William Blanton was included on this list. Page 474-475: List of property holders done by Militia District. James Henderson's company included William Blanton who was worth $5.04. Page 477-8: Residents of 1799 were placed on a tax list. This is one of the first lists of the residents of Monroe County. Wm, John, and Thomas were all on this list. From "Annals of Bath County Virginia" by Oren F. Morton, B. Lit Staunton, Virginia. The McClure Co., Inc 1917. Page 189: In the section "The Families of Greater Bath" is the following paragraph. William Blanton whose wife was Christina Gwin, lived a while somewhere near Williamsville. He moved to the vicinity of Union in Monroe County, where he was a propserous and well know citizen, as well as a member of the fist Methodist congregation west of the Alleghanies. The following information on this family was attached to a letter written by Willma H. Newton, a grand daughter of William Blanton Humphreys, written on Aug 5, 1978 and sent the the Monroe Historical Society. A copy of the letter is in the Blanton Folder in the Historical Society at Union, West Virginia, and a copy is in the Blanton Folder in Sandy's files. These Blantons were not only prolific, but they were prolific in the male line, and I am sure most of the Blantons spring from the issue of these four sons of Thomas the emigrant. We do not know what year he came to America. We deduce his age from an affidavit he made in Henrico Co. in 1680 where he says he was 34 years old. We find his name in records as early as 1672. They also named their sons Thomas, John, Richard and William in each new generation which makes them a pain to sort. There were three men in Western Virginia in the Colonial Period named William Blanton. For years, many genealogists treated them as one man. In fact, many D.A.R. records have been worked with the lineages of these men, and they are wrong. Of course, much more material is being made available for research. About three years ago I made the acquaintance (by mail) of two wonderful women who have devoted the last 27 years studying the Blanton family. They are Irene Blanton Smith of Dallas, and Louise Blanton McDonald of Dana Point, California. I am not sure just how they got together on this, but in 1955 after a search of telephone books for people named Blanton, they sent out 2000 questioners for lineage information, and their results were amazing. Louise has made several trips East and searched the court houses and archives there and Irene has access to the wonderful Genealogical Library at Dallas. Louise has helped me a lot, and after I got what I thought was enough information, I decided to go to West Virginia. I wrote here I was going to Virginia and see what I could do to straighten out the William Blantons. She wrote back, “ I wish you luck, but if you do, you will do what nobody else has been able to do.” At Lynchburg, I found a size roll for the First Virginia - Soldiers of the French and Indian war. I knew my William was in that. This roll said he enlisted in Caroline County (1756 ? was hand written in here) - gave his height, etc. and that he had black hair. My father had the blackest hair as a young man - that I have ever seen - not a vestige of brown. Also blue eyes. I have since gotten a photographic copy of this Size roll from the original Richmond - supposedly in George Washington’s writing. This William is mentioned rather freely in History of Monroe County, and Annals of Bath. I found his Patent and deed for the 400 acres of land he received for his French and Indian War Service, and where he sold it to “my beloved son John” in 1815, and where “beloved John” sold it when he moved to Kentucky 1823/24. We found John in Kentucky for seven years, and I had already found him in Hendircks Co. Indiana, and his will there. So I have my line all straightened out but for Old Williams Children. The only ones I am absolutely sure of are my 2nd gr. Grandfather John who married Betsy Wiseman, and his sister Isabel who married Abner Wiseman, brother to Isabel. The others all went to Kentucky early. Louise McDonald is probably the most knowledgeable person alive on the Blantons. She has a typed manuscript of 600 pages of notes and facts on the various lines in various states. She has made this manuscript available to several libraries for filming. This brings me down to the late Ben F. Blanton of Houston, who was Director of Public Relations at Rice University when he died of a heart attack at age 55 in 1974. He had done a Blanton book on his line, the descendents of Ransom Gwinn Blanton b. 1812, Kershaw Dist, S.C. died in Texas. He was the son of William and Elizabeth Blanton b. Virginia. We are almost sure that William who married Christina Gwinn had a son William, but we have no trace. This William and Elizabeth were Methodists and gave land for a meeting house. All this follows true to Blanton tradition - being Methodist etc. In Virginia it was a custom to name the second son for the wife’s father, but apparently William and Christina didn’t do that, so we are wondering if son William didn’t give his son Ransom the Gwinn name. I am confident that Christina is the daughter of Robert Gwinn an emigrant who first settled in North Carolina, thence to that part of Virginia which is now Highland in 1745. He had six sons, two of whom moved to Monroe County where William and Christina were. James and Robert were the two sons. They didn't make much mention of girl children in those days. They lost their identify in a hurry. William was in Colonial army in this section for 8 years, and I feel that’s where he met up with Christina. I have no proof. William’s career as a soldier ended in May of 1764 when he was shot in the thigh in a skirmish with the Indians. When I was a little girl, my grandmother would tell us the story of some ancestor who was at the fort and was shot by the Indians. They removed the arrow and cleaned the would by running a silk handkerchief though it. Never did I dream that one day I would read this in the “Journal of the House of Burgesses,” and that the Burgesses would vote William a pension of 15 pounds. Since you mentioned M.D.’s cousin Judge Blanton, I wonder if he could related to this Ben Blanton. Ben was working on a history of the Gwinns at the time of his death. I have done a tremendous amount of work on my family, who have been in this country a long time, 163 years for some of them when the Revolution came. One interesting chap that came on the Mayflower was the bound servant, John Howland, who fell off the ship in a winter storm. He hung onto the halyard of the broken mainmast until they could fish him out, otherwise Meredith and I wouldn’t be here. I didn’t intend for this to be so long, but genealogy is a lengthy business. Meredith has shown remarkable skill at abstracting records when we have gone into court houses and libraries in Virginia. Her forte lies elsewhere - helping preserve some of the early history of Jennings through her work as Chairman of the Historical Committee at the Library. I believe that most of the Blantons - if not all, are related and come from Thomas the emigrant to Virginia. It��s just a matter of finding the right niche. I am sending copies of the records that have accrued from the Picayun article to Louise McDonald. Information received from Richard Blanton, Madison, Alabama: Some information taken from a "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form," For the William Gaston Caperton, Jr., House in Monroe County, West Virginia. The form was prepared by Dr. Ronald L. Ripley from the Monroe Co. Historical Society on 1 July 1991. I do not know whether this was accepted as a national historic place. The following is only part of the description that pertains to William Blanton taken from the description written by Dr. Ripley. The full account is in the possession of Richard Blanton and a copy is in possession of Sandy Lamb: Surrounded by rich native blue grass pasture lands is the house William Gaston Caperton, Jr., built in 1872. Wyndridge is a large, almost square, two-story hipped roof Georgian plan house used by the more prosperous landowner in Monroe county in the decades just prior to and just after the Civil War. It is Greek Revival in form and Southern in feel with a great hall through its center and a large one-story with loft service wing to the rear. Quiet touches of Italinate along with late Victorian features are evident. The house is situated one-and-one-half miles east of the historic district of the town of Union. It is approached by a farm road from West Virginia Route Three. Wyndridge faces west with an impressive view of Bickett's knob, the flat mountain mass just west of Union. Rolling lands, both cultivated and pasture, surround the house, along with numberous ancillary farm buildings. A virgin wood land of approximately twenty acres shields the house somewhat from West Virginia Route Three. Just to the north-east of the main block stands an early contributing log one room below, one room above house with stone chimney. Stone pier supports of cut soapstone form the foundation. This log house, measuring eighteen feet by twenty feet, has one door and two windows on the first floor and one smalll peculiar window in the gable end of the second story. This is the early pioneer 1773 Blanton house. Logs are hand-hewn and V-notched. Other contributing buildings just north-east of the house are a log ice house and log smoke house, each of which is approximately twelve feet square and of the same log construction as the other log structures. The south gable ends are extended without supports to form a covered entrance. Clustered on a hill and also north-east of the house and in the nominated property is a large contributing barn with vertical siding, a cattle scales and a machine shed. Eash has a standing seam tin roof. Construction dates are late nineteenth century. A contributing late nineteenth century carriage shed with vertical flat-board siding is situated south of the house along with one other contributing shed of unknown use. A spring erupts at the head of a small valley just behind the house. It is related that its waters flowed through a log and stone dairy. Only the foundation of this dairy exists and this unresearched site is not included in the property count. The early log house of William Blanton, built about 1773, stands alongside the sophisticated farm home that William Gaston Caperton, Jr., had constructed one hundred years later. The rich land in the Union area was a prize for the early settlers and they soon established their homes here after crossing the Alleghenys from the Great Valley of Virginia. William Blanton was one of these early settlers and his hand-hewn log two-story house with stone chimney is the oldest remaining home of this period in the Union area. The first we learn of William Blanton is in the court records of Botetout County, Virginia, in 1773 when he is elected as constable. This section of Monroe County was Botetourt until 1777 when it became Greenbrier and 1799 when it became Monroe. William Blanton is recorded in all records of these counties as a large landowner. In 1815, William Blanton passed his land and home one-and-one-half miles east or Union to his son, John Blanton and his wife, Betsy Wiseman Blanton. Betsy was the daughter of John Wiseman, a man of all trades in early Unon; blacksmith, silversmith, gunsmith, and Baptist minister. The Blanton house stood a mere quarter mile west of the early pioneer church, Rehoboth. Rehoboth, of round unhewn notched-end logs, is still standing as a museum maintained by the Methodist Conference and is considered the oldest church west of the Alleghenys. William Blanton was one of the early pioneers who built this church. In 1820, the early Blanton homestead was sold to Henry alexander, son of James Alexander who founded the Town of Union in 1799 and was one of the original settlers.
Note: From Richard L Blanton Jr., Madison, Alabama: In the early part of the e
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