Newton
Blanchard

NEWTON E. BLANCHARD was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 2, 1897 to George and Martha Blanchard. His parents married when his father was 50, and was almost 60 when Newton was born, his mother 35.  The family lived at 3029 Susquehanna Avenue in Philadelphia, where George Blanchard worked as a pressman. Besides Newton, there were four children of George Blanchard from his previous married living at home, Florence, 31; Howard 24;Clarence, 18; and Frank, 16. Sometime after 1900 George, Martha, and Newton Blanchard moved to Frederica, Maryland, where they were living in 1910. By 1910 Clarence Blanchard had moved to Gloucester City, where he worked as a newspaper printer. Newton Blanchard eventually came to New Jersey as well.

Newton Blanchard enlisted in the Canadian Army prior to America's involvement in World War I, and served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was transferred to the United States Army once it arrived in France and served as an instructor in for the rest of the war. After returning to the United States he came to Camden, where he became known as a boxing referee, having gained experience while boxing as an amateur. He lodged at 923 St. John Street, the home of another World War I veteran, Jesse D. Seybold. Jesse Seybold operated a stable, still a viable business in the 1920s, but had a few other sidelines. By 1926 Seybold was the owner of a saloon at 818 Broadway, which he operated until at least 1928.

In January of 1928 Newton Blanchard came to the attention of the police and press when he summoned police to the Sixth Ward Republican Club, where a fight was brewing. As Camden detectives Clarence Arthur and Thomas Cheeseman entered the club, Philadelphia gangster Joseph Cimini was shot and mortally wounded by Camden political and organized crime figure Joseph Devon. Camden political and crime figure Joseph "Mose" Flannery was also present, and was held as a material witness. Although identified as the operator of a crap game at the club, Newton Blanchard was questioned and released.

After this brush with the law, Newton Blanchard married. At the time of the April 1930 Census he was living at 301 White Horse Pike in Collingswood NJ, working as an automobile salesman.

Newton Blanchard was mentioned in the Courier-Post on August 8, 1935 when he posted bail for his old friend Jesse Seybold, who had been arrested  for operating a speakeasy out of his home on St. John Street. Newton Blanchard was still living on the White Horse Pike in Collingswood at that point. 

By the 1950s Newton Blanchard had gone into the restaurant business. His Marlton Manor restaurant on Route 70 at Cornell Avenue in Delaware Township (present-day Cherry Hill) was quite popular. He also was a nationally known bridge player.

By 1956 Newton Blanchard and his wife and son had moved to Diplomat Parkway in Collingswood. Newton Blanchard died in December of 1957. He was survived by his wife, Virginia, and a son, James T. Blanchard. Mrs. Blanchard and her son were still living at the Collingswood address as late as the fall of 1970. 

The Marlton Manor restaurant, located near the site of the present-day Taylor's night club, burned down in a spectacular fire in 1972.