The Blanding-Carpenter papers contain 70 incoming and outgoing letters of the families of Noah Blanding of Attleboro, Massachusetts, and James Blanding of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Correspondents include friends and family members from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York.
Family and local news were frequent topics of conversation, as were illnesses and their treatments. Several friends reported news of acquaintances' teaching careers around New England. Others mentioned their travels, particularly within Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and some mentioned people who were considering a move to California during the Gold Rush. Though based in Bristol County, Massachusetts, each family received letters from a variety of locations, and several recipients spent time in Seekonk, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; and Brooklyn, New York. On one occasion, Nancy A. Blanding wrote her sister Elizabeth about a party she attended in Brooklyn (January 28, 1847). Childcare was also discussed; for example, Susannah Carpenter Blanding, then married to Nathaniel Arey (or Avrey), wrote about the growth of her children, and included a pattern for a child's stocking (September 12, 1852).
James Blanding (1781-1870), the son of William Blanding V and Lydia Ormsbee, had at least one brother, William Blanding VI, who was a physician in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. On April 24, 1811, James Blanding married Elizabeth Carpenter (1784-1865), the daughter of Revolutionary War veteran Caleb Carpenter, also of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. They had eight children: Susannah Carpenter, Elizabeth Parthenia, Nancy Augusta (1816-1887), Juliet (Juliette) Marie, William Willett, Abraham Ormsbee, Lephe H., and Sarah Murray. Nancy Augusta Blanding married John G. Nattinger, a merchant from Ottawa, Illinois, on September 25, 1856. Susannah Carpenter, Elizabeth Carpenter Blanding's sister, married Elizabeth's brother-in-law, William Blanding VI.
Noah Blanding (1795-1851), James Blanding's third cousin, married Rosanna Carpenter (1799-1859) on November 15, 1819. They had six children: Abby R. (b. March 5, 1822), Horatio N. (b. November 21, 1824), Esther B. (b. July 26, 1826), Noah H. (b. October 23, 1828), Elizabeth Carpenter (July 18, 1832), and Frances R. (January 31, 1839).