When Homer Joslyn Blaisdell was born on 11 April 1832, in Perrysburg, Cattaraugus, New York, United States, his father, Ephraim B Blaisdell, was 33 and his mother, Elizabeth Eaton, was 29. He married Gabrila Augusta Shiner on 9 December 1855, in Erie, Whiteside, Illinois, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 2 daughters. He lived in Portland, Whiteside, Illinois, United States in 1880 and Chaves, New Mexico, United States in 1910. He died on 22 October 1914, in New Mexico, United States, at the age of 82, and was buried in Yokum, Gonzales, Texas, United States.
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Historical Boundaries: 1838: Portland, Whiteside, Illinois, United States
By 1829 Venus, Illinois had grown sufficiently and in 1832 was one of the contenders for the new county seat. However, the honor was awarded to a nearby city, Carthage. In 1834 the name Venus was changed to Commerce because the settlers felt that the new name better suited their plans. But during late 1839, arriving members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bought the small town of Commerce and in April 1840 it was renamed Nauvoo by Joseph Smith Jr., who led the Latter-Day Saints to Nauvoo to escape persecution in Missouri. The name Nauvoo is derived from the traditional Hebrew language. It is notable that by 1844 Nauvoo's population had swollen to around 12,000 residents, rivaling the size of Chicago at the time. After the Latter-Day Saints left the population settled down toward 2,000 people.
William Rand opened a small printing shop in Chicago. Doing most of the work himself for the first two years he decided to hire some help. Rand Hired Andrew McNally, an Irish Immigrant, to work in his shop. After doing business with the Chicago Tribune, Rand and McNally were hired to run the Tribune's entire printing operation. Years later, Rand and McNally established Rand McNally & Co after purchasing the Tribune's printing business. They focused mainly on printing tickets, complete railroad guides and timetables for the booming railroad industry around the city. What made the company successful was the detailed maps of roadways, along with directions to certain places. Rand McNally was the first major map publisher to embrace a system of numbered highways and erected many of the roadside highway signs that have been adopted by state and federal highway authorities. The company is still making and updating the world maps that are looked at every day.
English (Cumbria and Lancashire): habitational name from a place inthe Lake District named Blaisdell, from the Old Norse bynameBlesi (from blesi ‘blaze, white spot’), or from thesame word used in the sense of a white spot on a hillside, + Old Norsedalr ‘valley’.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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