1892 Biography - Robert B. Blanks

Robert B. Blanks of Monroe, Ouachita parish, La., was born in Kentucky in l854, a son of Robert A. and Eliza B. (Birmingham) Blanks, natives of Alabama and Kentucky, respectively. The mother of our subject was his father's second wife, and they were married in Louisville, Ky. After living there a short time, they removed to Caldwell parish, La., where the father was quite extensively engaged in planting and merchandising. Our subject was the second born of three brothers and three sisters, four of whom survive. He received a good practical education in the local schools and at the age of nineteen began business life for himself as a merchant on a small scale, at Columbia, Caldwell parish. He has continued in that line of business ever since and the concern of which he is at the head at the present time ranks among the greatest and most extensive in the central and northern parts of Louisiana. He has also a business at Blankstown, La., which was established in 1889, the place being named in his honor. In connection with his mercantile interests he carries on planting quite extensively and his combined operations aggregate at least a quarter of a million dollars, annually. He handles from 5,000 to 6,000 bales of cotton every season, and is the owner of a valuable plantation of 1,200 acres of land near Opelousas, La, and considerable land and a large planting interest in Caldwell parish. He was one of the founders of the Ouachita National bank at Monroe, in which he is still a large stockholder. He was one of the prime movers in the organization of, and a large stockholder in the Merchants and Farmers bank of Monroe, which was founded in February, 1890, and of which he is president. This concern has a paid up capital stock of $100,000. Mr. Blanks is also largely interested in the Compress & Warehouse company; the Monroe Grocery company; the Independent Oil Mill and the Consolidated Ice company, of Monroe and Shreveport, which operate large factories at both places, and a business in Columbia, Caldwell parish, amounting to $150,000 a year. He is also a stockholder in Independent Mill at New Orleans, and has stock in the American National bank at that place. In fact, there is no recent industry or enterprise in his section of which he has not been an active promoter and in which he has not been largely interested pecuniarily. His success in business has been due entirely to his business tact and his untiring energy. He never inherited a dollar and was never given a dollar. His present large possessions he has gained by his own unaided efforts. In his business transactions he is lenient with his debtors and has always aided them to the fullest extent. His large business concerns have so entirely engrossed his attention that he has never been able to bring himself to be a recipient of public honors, though they have been tendered him on many occasions. He was married in 1880 to Miss Eugenia Faulkner, of Columbia.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana, published in 1892, volume 2, page 297.