Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

The Blanchard family Cemetery is very small, and is to be found on a rise of land, somewhat kitty-corner to Chemin du Muguet, on the east side of Route 243 north.  The cemetery is somewhat shielded by trees and brush, and is more visible in the fall and early spring.  David Blanchard, Sr. (1761-1838), a Captain during the American Revolution, serving on the American side, arrived in this Township around 1800.  He married one of Jonathan Heath's daughters.  (Heath was also one of the very first families to settle in the region.)

He and his wife homesteaded to the east of his father-in-law's land, which was likely located on what we now call Chemin White.^[1] (see notes on Meigs' Corners).  They raised four sons and seven daughters.  One of the Blanchard daughters married Joseph Manson, after which family Mansonville receives its name.^[2] Captain David Blanchard, Jr. settled near his father, and was a magistrate for 25 years, a Commissioner of the Commissioner's Court, also a Captain and later Lieutenant Colonel of militia.  He was a Deacon of the Baptist Church and died March 5, 1859 at the age of 72.  Several of the Blanchard family lie in cemeteries throughout Potton; however, Blanchard is a name no longer commonly heard in Potton.