Maggie Blanchard

Maggie was a Chippewa woman (aka Ojibwe) from the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians

Biography

Maggie Blanchard was a Mulatto born to a French Canadian father Joseph, and a German mother Sophia. She had a younger brother named John.
-(Curator Note: I'm not sure how Maggie is identified as Chippewa, or qualified for admission to the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians given both her parents seem to be white! If her father Joseph Blanchard as French-Canadian was Chippewa (the 1910 census identifies her as Mullatto) as he seems to have spent most of his life and marriages on the Lac Court Oreilles Indian Reservation, the agency for which is also in Sawyer County and could have assisted in Maggie's disposition. Joseph's 3rd wife Angeline appears to have been 1/2 Chippewa of either the Turtle Mountain or St. Croix tribe. Assuming that Maggie and her brother lived with Angeline, who would have been her stepmother before she died in 1897, this may have impacted her self-awareness or possible tribal affiliation. According to the US Census Bureau, race is a person's self-identification with one or more social groups. The Wisconsin death index cited specifically identifies Maggie as Native American.)

"Maggie Blanchard was originally committed to a home for the feebleminded in Wisconsin but as there was no room for her there, the judge ordered her to the Eau Claire County Asylum, in Wisconsin. The Canton records fail to show how the transfer (to Canton) came about.- Silk ltr. 10/3/1933. "In the case of only 9 patients (at Canton) do the records of the institution (Canton Asylum) disclose that there have been any court inquiries." Silk 10/3/1933, Maggie was one.

Maggie was admitted to the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians on January 30, 1916, and diagnosed with dementia praecox (Dementia praecox (meaning "premature dementia" or "precocious madness") is a disused psychiatric diagnosis that was originally designated a chronic, deteriorating psychotic disorder characterized by rapid cognitive disintegration, usually beginning in the late teens or early adulthood. Dementia praecox is a term that was used to describe the condition now known as schizophrenia.)

Maggie was transferred to St. Elizabeth Hospital in the District of Columbia on December 22, 1933, at age 40. It appears that she died there in 1963 at the age of 70 and her remains were transported back to Wisconsin. Records state that Maggie was NOT buried in the East Campus Cemetery, but in those days St. Elizabeths Hospital seemed to have a contract with W.W.Deal Funeral Home to arrange for transport according to family wishes or by Indian Agency direction, and there are no records confirming that this arrangement was in place for Maggie. Were she was interred remains a mystery.

Her profile is part of the https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Canton_Asylum.

Research Notes
-Maggie was a Mulatto according to census reports. (Mulatto is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. "a person of mixed white and Black ancestry, especially a person with one white and one Black parent".)
-There is an apparent error in FS sourcing. For Maggie, FS refers to the 1910 census as documentation that the mother of Maggie is Alice, BUT the census specifically says it is Sophia!
-She was indicated as 57 years old in the 1950 St. Elizabeth Hospital census = birth in 1893
-The 1960 US Census records will not become available until April 2032.
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Sources

1910 Apr 22 - "United States Census, 1910", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPVL-VYP : Wed Oct 04 20:48:25 UTC 2023), Entry for Joseph Blanchard and Sophia Blanchard, 1910, pg. 1167/1256, line 85-88, census of Almena (near Turtle Lake), Barron, Wisconsin

1918 Feb 2 - Camp Verde School: 1910-27; Canton Insane Asylum: 1910-22, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155854182?objectPage=879, line 40, Canton Asylum female census

1920 - "United States Census, 1920", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6J7-FN7 : Fri Dec 08 02:37:29 UTC 2023), Entry for Maggie Blanchard, 1920, pg. 652/1130, line 68 (age 27), Asylum for Indians, Canton Township, Lincoln County, South Dakota

1920 Feb 2 - Camp Verde School: 1910-27; Canton Insane Asylum: 1910-22, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155854182?objectPage=899, line 3, Canton Asylum female census

1921 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68Z4-CZQK : Sat Oct 07 00:06:24 UTC 2023), Entry for Maggie Blanchard, 1921, pg. 509/522, line 4, Canton Asylum female census

1923 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=032, line 4, Canton Asylum female census

1923 - Harry R. Hummer; Hummer, Harry R., “1923 Annual Report Narrative and Census,” Honoring the Dead: A Digital Archive of the Insane Indian Asylum, accessed December 17, 2023, https://honoringthedead.omeka.net/items/show/18, pg. 4 line 4. Blanchard, Maggie, Chippewa. Hayward. Wisconsin.

1924 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68Z4-F7BX : Thu Oct 05 15:02:02 UTC 2023), Entry for Maggie Blanchard, 1924, pg. 516/522, line 6, Canton Asylum Female census

1925 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=117, line 5, Canton Asylum female census

1925 - "South Dakota State Census, 1925", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMWP-HW5 : Wed Oct 04 09:16:52 UTC 2023), Entry for Maggie Blanchard, 1925, pg. 2654/3397,. card #655, Canton, Lincoln County by H.R. Hummer

1926 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=168, line 7, Canton Asylum female census

1927 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=186, line 7, Canton Asylum female census

1928 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=211, line 6, Canton Asylum female census

1929 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=329, line 6, Canton Asylum female census

1930 Apr 7 - "United States Census, 1930", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQVC-BMB : Tue Oct 03 01:17:07 UTC 2023), Entry for Maggie Blanchard, 1930, pg. 610/1062, line 47 (Inmate age 36), Asylum for Insane Indians, Canton Township, Lincoln County, South Dakota

1930 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=351, line 7, Canton Asylum female census

1931 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=371, line 6, Canton Asylum female census

1932 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=391, line 5, Canton Asylum female census

1933 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=428, line 6, Canton Asylum female census

1940 - "United States Census, 1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K733-9GY : Tue Nov 28 18:00:13 UTC 2023), Entry for Maggie Blanchard, 1940, pg. 91/987, line 7 (age 47), Police Precinct 11 (Tract 96), District of Columbia, St. Elizabeth's Hospital

1950 Apr 1 - "United States 1950 Census", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6F73-GK4G : Tue Oct 03 22:47:08 UTC 2023), Entry for Calvin J Blalock and Maggie Blanchard, 1 April 1950, pg. 26/244, line 2 patient inmate, census of St. Elizabeth Hospital, Washington City, Washington County, District of Columbia

1958 Jul 1 - "United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6KSY-6L12 : 10 February 2023), Maggie M Blanchard

1963 - "Wisconsin Death Index, 1959-1997", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V891-2M9 : 8 January 2022), Maggie Blanchard, 1963, pg.