The following comments from David Maas’ Wheaton College Awakenings, 1853-1873 illustrate the image of the ideal woman from “The Beltonian Review” 1857.

Few there are that realize the influences that Woman exerts over man, society, and the world….In her hands may it be truly said are the destinies of men and nations, for in every civilized nation in Christendom, she guards the path of the man from the cradle to the grave and yet the education and elevation of her who is to man the daystar of hope, are viewed by many as visionary, chimerical, unnecessary; and only to be sought so far as fancy may dictate for purposes of fashion and folly….Who but she lays the foundation of character for man and the nation? There is none to whom the child looks with such confidence as the mother….Then if woman is called to fill this high and important station that of molding and framing the character of immortal beings then how vastly important is it that she be educated and elevated according to her sphere….There is another class and I am sorry to say, largely represented by females who seem to think that woman was made for a mere toy to be kept in the parlor, not for any special use or benefit, but as the toy man wears within in his showcase to attract the eye….when her sons have grown to belong to manhood….they come within the empire of young ladies whose power and influence over young men are without a parallel. It is the province of young ladies alone of every community to raise the moral standard the province of young men to reach it. Finally,…comes the and love more mature influence of the wife….Hers alone then is the holy calling to apply the balm, to pour the oils of love, through all life’s journey into the heart of man, when lacerated by the constantly accumulating cares and burdens of life. Mothers, sisters, wives, let each of us be up and ready to act well our parts that our influence for good, though the proper education has been denied us for these offices as falling is best we can that the rising race may see and learn and appreciate the usefulness of woman.

The following comments by Charles Blanchard, who would have been 12 years-old when his father, Jonathan, assumed the presidency in 1860, are taken from David Maas’ Wheaton College Awakenings, 1853-1873.

“That fall [1860] I entered the academy, and my father being president of the institution, of course I was in touch with all college affairs. The home in which we lived was a small house one block south of the southwest corner of the campus, now owned and occupied by Mr. E.P. Webster, an alumnus. It is, as all who know it will remember, a very small house. My father had his study in the college building. There was only one building then and it was a very small part of what the central building is now. My father’s study was in the southwest corner. On the floor there were four class rooms. The college library was in my father’s office, and there was ample room for it there. I remember that when I was a child my father frequently wrote very late at night and that a light from his office window shown out in the dark.

My father’s life in the college was as my own has been. He taught the seniors and gave himself afternoons, Saturdays, Sabbaths, summer and winter, to the outside interests of the college. In this way funds were secured and students were attracted.”

“We, that is, the family, arrived in Wheaton on an April day in the year 1860. The thunder of the guns about Fort Sumter was only a year away yet there was no hint of that dread concert in the air or the earth of that April morning. As already intimated the town was unspeakably dreary. The cold damp of the spring rains, the low marshy grounds the inferior huddle of houses, the single college building standing alone in the midst of its campus, the boarding house at the foot of the hill, cheaply constructed altogether was wearisome and dreary.

My father had been at work since the preceding January. I marvel now as I think of his faith and courage and cheer as in those unfavorable circumstances, with almost no resources, he pushed on the work of empire-building. Not a material empire but a spiritual kingdom founded in the soul of men, to outlast the mountains and the stars.”

In Paul Bechtel’s Wheaton College: A Heritage Remembered, it is remarked that “Jonathan Blanchard drove himself unsparingly. He traveled, lectured, organized and promoted agencies for social justice, and labored in the cause of Christian higher education. Never a physically robust man, he suffered from chronic dyspepsia and periods of weakness. In the hope that his health might be improved, the trustees granted him a six-month leave of absence in the spring of 1864, enabling him to fulfill a long-held desire to see territory west of the Mississippi. With sixteen-year-old Charles at his side, he set out by covered wagon across Illinois, and pressed on beyond the great river. Since many wagon trains were moving in the same direction, it was easy for father and son to link up with one of them. Having passed through Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, they came finally to Salt Lake City, where the Mormons were building their city and rearing the great temple on the square.”

History’s only records of this grand expedition are the personal letters that Jonathan and Charles wrote home from the frontier. Due to the economic hardships of the time, the promise of gold seemed to add an alluring element to their journey. As an idealistic teenager, young Charlie wrote that he was becoming enamored with pioneer life and proclaimed, “I think it hardly possible to think of going back to Illinois for the remainder of the years I am allotted here on earth.” Obviously, the events of Charles’ life unfolded much differently and he went on to attend Wheaton College and later serve as its second president for the remainder of his life. Below are excerpts from letters written during their journeys out west.

Letter from Charles Blanchard to “Friends at Home” (Platte River. 6/19/1864)

“Some of our boys have found gold here which is in little grains very fine in sand. I heard one say he had made 20 dollars a day mining in no better diggings than these but we must go on until we find a place where we can pick up the pieces for I have got my eye on a place 60 miles this side of Omaha…”

Letter from Jonathan Blanchard to his wife, Mary (Virginia City, Montana. 8/9/1864)

“They have dug down to what they call here ‘pay dirt’ and today or tomorrow expect to try and wash out some gold. But the claim cost little and we expect little more than expenses from it.”