BLANCHE PING is the daughter of Otis Warren Ping and Margaret (Maggie) Elizabeth Miller. She was born on 17 October 1905 in Jasper Co., Illinois.
Her mother died on 23 September 1907 in Bentonville, Benton Co., Arkansas, when Blanche was a little over a year old. According to her obituary, Maggie had been sick for several months with typhoid fever, followed by consumption. She shares a headstone with her mother Mary Elizabeth (Ping) Miller in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Benton Co., Arkansas.
Her father was left to the care of a young child, although he died soon after on 3 December 1909, a little over 2 years after his wife, Maggie. Blanche was left an orphan. She is shown in the 1910 census of Garland, Benton Co., AR as living with her grandparents, James and Mary Miller.
Otis was said to have contracted tuberculosis from his first wife Clara Skaggs, who died 18 months after they were married. He and a brother went to Arkansas to try to recover from the illness. While there, he married Margaret "Maggie" Miller, his first cousin. It is believed that both Otis and Maggie later died from tuberculosis, although her obituary said otherwise.
Sometime before 1920, Blanche came to live with her uncle, Robert William Miller, his wife Dora Ann and their children. She is shown in the 1920 Census as living with the R.W. Miller family, along with her grandfather, James, who was widowed.
She moved from Arkansas to California with the family and continued to live with the Miller's up until the time she married before 1930. She had one son, Albert Earle MacDonald (1930-1996) from her marriage to Maxwell Laurier MacDonald from Canada. She and Maxwell were divorced as he died in 1968.
After 1940, Blanche married Paul Clifford Coldeen who died in 1962. She and Coldeen were listed together in 1953 in the Monrovia city directory.
Blanche died on 7 April 2001 in Altadena, Los Angeles County, California at the age of 94. She is buried in the Live Oak Memorial Park in Monrovia, Los Angeles County, California.
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RECORDS
Blanche Irene Ping
1910 - Garland, Benton County, AR
1920 - Garland, Benton County, AR
1930 - Ventura County, CA - can't find this census record, but son Albert Earle was born in this year and place
1935 - Montecito, Santa Barbara, CA
1940 - Monrovia, Los Angeles, CA
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22 April 1910 census of Garland, Benton County, AR, found the Miller family living in dwelling #79. James and Mary said that they had been married 39 years and 7 of their 11 children were still living:
James T. Miller 70 IL OH IL - No employment
Mary E. 66 IN KY KY
Blanche Ping 3 IL IL AR - Granddaughter
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23 Jan 1920 census of Garland, Benton County, AR, found Blanche living with the Robert Miller family in dwelling #50 on Fourth Street:
R. W. Miller 40 IL IL IN Salesman - H.W.D.
Dora 36 AR AR TN
Hurbert 14 AR IL AR Twin
Herschell 14 AR IL AR Twin
Maggie 12 AR IL AR
Dick 9 AR IL AR
Donald 7 AR IL AR
Maxine 3 AR IL AR
Ruth 1 6/12 AR IL AR
Blanche Pitts 13 IL IL AR Niece
J. D. Miller 80 IL OH IL Father, Widowed
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19 April 1940 census of Monrovia, Los Angeles County, CA, found the MacDonald family living at 448 South El Monte Road. They said that they lived in Montecito, Santa Barbara County, CA, on 15 April 1935:
Maxwell MacDonald 44 Canada - Completed 4 years of high school education, Chauffer - Private family, Earned $900 in past year
Blanche MacDonald 33 IL - Completed 2 years of high school education
Earl MacDonald 10 CA - 4 years of education
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"United States Social Security Death Index," Blanche P Coldeen, 2001
First name: Blanche
Middle name: P
Last name: Coldeen
Birth date: 17 October 1906
Social security number: 548-36-3673
Place of issuance: California
Last residence: Altadena, Los Angeles, California
Zip code of last residence: 91001
Death date: 7 April 2001
Estimated age at death: 95
Source Citation: "United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch
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THE TRIP TO CALIFORNIA (as remembered by Maxine Miller Mason and written by Margot Mason Stockstill)
On August 1, 1924, the family left Benton County, Arkansas, and headed for a ranch near Crescent City in Northern California that Robert's uncle and namesake, Robert William Miller, had given him. Mimi had only been out of Benton County once and then only a few miles into Oklahoma.
There were 24 people and a collie named Socrates in the moving party packed into a new Maxwell, a Ford, a Buick and a Ford Truck. They were: Mimi and Robert, Herbert and Hershel, Blanche, Margaret, Don, Dick, Maxine, Ruth, Bill, JK (just 7 weeks old), Uncle John Miller (Robert's brother) and his wife Aunt Dove and their 5 girls, Mimi's brother Uncle Claude Callis, Aunt Arthula and their son Louis, Mimi's father John Hamilton Callis, who was 64 years old, and Cora Nichols, Mimi's twin.
The first stop was Grove, Oklahoma, at Mimi's brother Uncle Clark's home. Aunt Cora only went that far. Uncle Clark had a big going away party for the family. Each night while traveling they stayed in campgrounds. The women would wash clothes and the men would work on the cars and truck.
In Colorado there was an inspection stop for boll weevils so the family had to empty all their boxes. the Rocky Mountains were too big for Robert so his sons Herbert and Hershel drove. The family drove down through Oregon and reached Crescent City on Don's birthday, August 30th. The trip had taken 30 days. When they first saw the Pacific Ocean Mimi said,"I think we've come too far."
On their new ranch they lived in tents. The children had fun playing in the river but Socrates, the collie, got ahold of a dead salmon and died. They wouldn't let Grandad (John Hamilton) Callis play his fiddle for fear it would attract bears and Indians.
In September it was time for school so the family moved into town. Uncle John Miller took his family to Smith River. That winter Uncle John's youngest girl died, their house and car burned, but they stayed on in Smith River. There was a hurricane which ruined part of Crescent City. Mimi was sick all winter because the damp weather caused her to have rheumatism. Uncle Claude and Aunt Arthula left Crescent City and moved to Ojai, writing back about the warm and beautiful valley.
As soon as school was out in 1925 the Millers headed south, stopped in Suisun and leased a ranch with apricots and peaches. Mimi always said that that was one of the happiest years of her life. Robert took Hershel and Margaret to Ojai and liked it so well they decided to move down in the Fall of 1926.
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SOURCES
Memories of Robert William Miller, Jr.
Census and other researched records
www.millerinfo.net/genealogy
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