James Alfred Blomquist and Audrey Sears

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Husband James Alfred Blomquist ¹

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           Born: 24 Jan 1899 - North Warren, Warren Co, PA 1
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         Father: Gustaf A. Blomquist (1877-      ) 1
         Mother: Alice Amelia Olsen (      -      ) 1

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       Marriage: 20 Feb 1924 2

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Wife Audrey Sears ²

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           Born:  - Frewsburg, Chautauqua Co, NY
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         Father: Glenn Sears (      -      ) 2
         Mother: Bertha Sutton (      -      ) 2

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Children

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1 F Rachel Audrey Blomquist ²

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           Born: 5 Jan 1926 2
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2 F Barbara Alice Blomquist ²

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           Born: 12 Sep 1930 2
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3 F Nancy Carolyn Blomquist ²

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           Born: 22 May 1937 2
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General Notes: Husband - James Alfred Blomquist

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After graduating from Warren High School, in 1919, he entered the employ of the Bashlin Company at North Warren, Pennsylvania, valve manufacturers, and continued there for three years. In 1922 he was connected with the G. Gifford Smith Furniture Company, of Warren, Pennsylvania. Next he went to Pittsburgh and became associated with the James McCreery Department Store, as a salesman in the furniture department. Two years later he accepted a position as buyer for Gimbel Brothers in Pittsburgh and remained in this post until 1930, when he came to North Warren and launched his career in his own furniture store. When business was first started, the store embraced only one room, twenty-eight by forty feet, with a modest assortment on display of everything needed in the furnishing of a home. Business increased rapidly, and in 1935 Mr. Blomquist added a basement, practically doubling the size of the floor space. However, it was soon realized that even this increased size would soon be inadequate to care for the business, and in 1940 Mr. Blomquist rented the second and third floors of the Bashlin Company. Eventually it became a modern furniture store with nine thousand three hundred and sixty square feet of floor space, augmented by two other buildings of smaller size. When the formal opening of the enlarged store was held on February 28, 1941, more than two thousand visited the store, where an extensive variety of merchandise was displayed in an unusual manner.
Mr. Blomquist was affiliated with Joseph Warren Lodge, No. 726, Free and Accepted Masons; Warren Commandery, No. 63; Occidental Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and Coudersport Consistory. He was also active in local civic affairs, being a prominent member of the Kiwanis Club, and a member and past president of the Civic Club of North Warren. He was a member of the United Commercial Travelers Association, and an active member and trustee of the Presbyterian Church.

1 Joseph Riesenman, Jr., History of Northwestern Pennsylvania, Vol. III (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Inc., 1943), Pg 313.

2 Joseph Riesenman, Jr., History of Northwestern Pennsylvania, Vol. III (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Inc., 1943), Pg 314.