The Rev. Blanshard brought his sons to Grand Rapids, Michigan, for maternal care by his mother, Orminda Adams Blanshard, widow of Methodist clergyman Shem Blanshard. Francis left them in her care, briefly to pastor a church in Helena, Montana. In 1899 the four moved south to Edinburg, Ohio. Upon being diagnosed with tuberculosis, Francis was advised to seek the drier climate of the American West. In 1902, Rev. Blanshard bade his mother and sons goodbye. They moved northwest to Bay View, Michigan, and he moved alone to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where, in 1904, he died, alone in a tent.