Christopher Columbus Blankenbaker

I don't know much about the Blankenbaker's, but I do know they must have had great taste. Two married into our family.

This is one of my favorite discoveries, even though it is one of the more embarrassing ones because the solution was always right under my nose! As usual, I came across this family while looking for someone else. My search for Mary Cavitt, daughter of Margaret White and Thomas M. Cavitt took me to 1880 Bates County, Missouri.

Year: 1880; Census Place: Lone Oak, Bates, Missouri;
Roll: 673; Family History Film: 1254673;
Page: 222B; Enumeration District: 159; Image: 0754.

The most intriguing part of this census image was the word "cousin" beside Mary Cavitt. A cousin? Whose cousin? Blankenbaker family trees showed C. C. Blankenbaker's wife as Sarah White, but not much else. Still, it looked promising. I searched for the Blankenbaker's marriage record in Bates County, Missouri. I looked for it in Linn County, Kansas. I even tried Monroe County, Missouri. But where did it finally turn up? In Henry County, Missouri. Right under my nose. See transcription here.

One of the remarkable finds about C. C. or "Lum" Blankenbaker is a piece he wrote for a local book, The Old Settlers' History of Bates County Missouri: from its first settlement to the first day of January 1900, published by Tathwell & Maxey, Amsterdam MO, pp. 139-141.

Christopher Columbus Blankenbaker described how harrowing life was on the Missouri frontier even before Civil War. It makes what used to be only a name on a family history tree come to life.





Lum's wife, Sarah A. Blankenbaker, fits the known information for Sarah A. White, daughter of Joseph and Sarah White of Henry County, Missouri. Mission accomplished. I thought my work there was done. But while scrolling through Blankenbaker family information online, it seemed that my eye caught sight of yet another White name...