Bio: Blanc, Paul (? - 25 Mar 1896)

Contact: Dan Rusch-Fischer
Email: dan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Blanc, Goff, McKerrow

----Source - Centralia Enterprise & Tribune, Centralia (now part of Wisconsin Rapids on the west side of the Wisconsin River), WI, 28 Jul 1894; p. 6

Paul Blanc (? - 25 Mar 1896)

To Fight The Army Worm, Prof. E. S. Goff Gives Some Valuable Advice

Madison, Wis., July 21. George McKerrow, superintendent of farm institutes, a day or two ago received from Paul Blanc of Dorchester, Wis., secretary of the German Farmers' club, a sample of the worm which has been doing great damage to the crops in Clark, Marathon, and Langlade counties. Mr. Blanc asked if the worm is poisonous to stock if put up with hay. Supt. McKerrow replies that from all the light that can be secured on the matter it seems ther has never been any poinsoning of stock from eating the worm. The worms sent as a sample were carefully examined by Prof. E. S. Goff, professor of horticulture at the State university, who makes the following statement in regard to them:

The samples sent are of the army worm, Leucania unipuncta. Destructive outbreaks of this insect are of quite irregular occurrence, and usually follow dry seasons. The larvae are usually to be found in grass fields in summer in greater or less numbers, but their presentce is not detected by the farmer unless they becom sufficiently numerous to cause damage. When the worms of a given locality are so numerous as to early exhaust their natural supply of food, they travel en masse to fresh fields. They eat the grasses, oats, rye, sorghum, corn and wheat, but seldom devour any part but the fresh leaves. In times of unusual abundance of the worms, clover, peas, beans, onions and other vegetables are sometimes attacked.

Remedies - The worms may be prevented from passing from one field to another by making a ditch six or eight inches deep, of which the side toward the field to be protected is dug under a little so that the worms cannot climb it. They will collect in this ditch, and may be destroyed by burning straw over them. Along this ditch, on the side toward the field to be protected, sprinkle plaster with which Paris Green has been mixed, on the grass, to destroy any worms that may chance to pass the ditch. Fence boards are fastened on the edge, so as to slope slightly away from the field to be protected, and having the upper edge smeared with coal tar, have also been used successfully. Hogs, chickens and turkeys are fond of the worms, and may sometimes be made useful in destroying them.

Note: Follow on research was from Dan Rusch-Fischer

Found this interesting newspaper article that refers to Paul Blanc as the Secretary of the German Farmers Club at Dorchester seeking advice regarding whether army worms were toxic if livestock ate them.

I have it tentatively labeled it “Bio” rather than “history”, though both could apply. I don’t find any other reference to the ‘German Farmers Club’ in Dorchester on the Clark County website, so that is interesting.

In the summer of 1954, as a 5-year-old driving with my family I recall witnessing an Army Worm infestation that had devastated large tracts of northern Wisconsin. My dad, Melvin Fischer, had difficulty controlling our ’54 Pontiac Star Chief, owing to the caterpillars that were so thick on the road that the fastest we could manage without skidding on their crushed, slimy bodies was a crawl. The ground on both sides of the road was stripped of vegetation, all the trees were leafless, and everything as far as could be seen was a wriggling mass of these revolting larvae. After that, the unforgettable images left by the experience readily came to mind whenever the Plagues of Egypt were recounted at church or Sunday School.

I would have guessed ‘Blanc’ is French (i.e., Blanc = white), though many of the Prussian immigrants used the spelling ‘Blanc’ (rather than Blanck, Blancke, or Blank); Paul Blanc did emigrate from Germany. Paul Blanc died at Dorchester, 25 Mar 1896, but haven’t found location of his burial. His wife, Mary (Foster) Blanc remarried 8 Jan 1910, at Menominee to an M. John and relocated there with her family of six. Paul Blanc was the Mayville Town Clerk and conducted the June 1895 Wisconsin Census of Mayville. His signature is on every page of that census and he lists his family as consisting of 4 males (would be father Paul and sons Edwin, Benjamin, and Milton – oldest son Samuel was likely off on his own at this time at 12 years old) and 3 females (would be mother Mary Foster Blanc and daughters Bertha [married Dorchester undertaker Dunn W. Bursell]and Alfrieda). Of the 7 family members, 6 were listed as born in US (mother and 5 children) and one as born in Germany – Paul Blanc.

If I were to hazard a guess as to who W. S. Bertha Blanc was in the Dorchester Memorial Cemetery, I would say she could likely have been Paul Blanc’s sister and would have been named Bertha after their common mother. By the same reasoning, Paul & Mary Blanc’s first daughter was named Bertha, likely after Paul’s and W. S. Bertha’s mother also?? We know the birth/death dates for W. S. Bertha Blanc, (18 Jan 1849 - 13 Apr 1887), would be interesting to see if a death certificate exists in Neillsville, which would most likely have the info on it to clear up who she was. Both she and Paul Blanc have much of their history occurring during the lost 1890 US Census period which makes genealogy in this time a real challenge.

(Note: Additional information provided by Daniel Rusch-Fischer)

"The Phonograph", 21 Apr 1887

W. S. Bertha Blanc
b. 18-Jan-1849, Kamin, Germany
d. 13-Apr-1887, Dorchester, Clark Co, WI

Died at the residence of (Heinrich Franz) Paul Blanc on Thursday April 14th (headstone says 13th), W. S. Bertha Blanc, age 38 years, 6 months, 28 days. Miss Blanc was born at Kamen (Kamin), Germany, Jan. 18, 1849, and in 1870 became a member of the Red Cross Society. During a year she was to be seen on the field caring for the wounded. In 1884 she came to America and has lived with her only brother Paul Blanc, ever since. The interment took place on Saturday the 16th, Rev. Wm Koland, of Chippewa Falls officiating.
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Heinrich Franz Paul Blanc
b. 10-Feb-1855, Kamin, Germany
d. 15-Mar-1896, Dorchester, Clark Co, WI

Paul Blanc was born in the small town of Kamin, Germany. He was orphaned young and grew up in an orphanage with his older sister, W. S. Bertha Blanc.

He married Anna Maria (Mary Ann) Forster on Aug. 20, 1880 in Waukesha Co, WI. Their daughter, Bertha Nathalia Blanc, married Dorchester undertaker Dunn William Bursell 24-April-1899. Mary Ann Forster-Bursell later married Matthias Johns 08-Jan-1910 at Menomonie, Dunn Co, WI and they are buried there.

Paul died (suicide) on 15-Mar-1896 at his home in Dorchester.
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Note: Bertha & her younger brother Paul lost their parents while young and they grew up in a German orphanage. Though Paul has no headstone, he is almost certainly buried in the plot adjacent to his sister Bertha in the Dorchester Memorial Cemetery.
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V/R

Daniel Rusch-Fischer
803 Matterhorn Rd
Payson AZ 85541
(928) 478-6239
tatmeister@npgcable.com