John Blair Sr.
John Blair (c. 1687 – November 5, 1771) was an American merchant and politician, a member of the House of Burgesses representing Jamestown and Williamsburg and four-time acting governor of the colony of Virginia. He was the nephew of James Blair, the founder of the College of William and Mary, and father of John Blair, Jr., a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.
John Blair | |
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| Born | c. 1687 Scotland |
| Died | November 5, 1771 |
| Burial place | Bruton Parish |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | College of William and Mary |
| Occupation |
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| Known for |
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| Children | 10, including John Blair, Jr. |
| Parent(s) | Archibald Blair |
| Relatives | James Blair (uncle) |
Early life
Blair was born in Scotland around 1687, the only known son of Archibald Blair, and immigrated as a child with his family to Virginia in the 1690s. Archibald was a brother of James Blair, the founder of the College of William and Mary in Williamsbury.[1] Archibald operated an apothecary shop in Williamsburg.[2] John Blair graduated from the College of William and Mary around 1707[2] and remained in Williamsburg his whole life.[1]
Public career
Blair's public career may have begun in 1715, when he or a cousin with the same name was appointed keeper of the Royal Storehouse in Williamsburg.[1] Blair took the oaths of office as a justice of the peace for York County on August 17, 1724 (serving until he was sworn in as a member of the Virginia Governor's Council in 1745) and in 1727 as a James River upper district naval officer (serving until he became deputy Auditor General of Virginia on August 15, 1728).[1] He served as deputy Auditor General until his death in 1771, while simultaneously holding various other positions.[1]
Blair was elected to the House of Burgesses from Jamestown from 1734 to 1736, succeeding his father. Subsequently, he was then elected to represent Williamsburg from 1736 to 1740[1] where he dealt with issues of the defense of colonists from attacks by Indians.[3] From April 22, 1741 to October 15, 1741, he served as clerk of the Governor's Council. During part of that time, his uncle James Blair was the acting governor.[1]
He is likely the John Blair who was Williamsburg's mayor in 1751.[1]
Blair having inherited approximately £10,000 from his uncle James, Governor William Gooch now considered him qualified for a seat on the upper house of the colonial legislature, the Virginia Governor's Council and recommended to the king in February 1745 that he be appointed to fill a vacant seat. However, the king had already named Blair to fill a different vacancy on November 15, 1744. He was seated on August 6, 1745. He became the council's senior member or president in 1757 and served four times as Virginia's acting governor. The first was after the departure of Robert Dinwiddie, from January 12, 1758 to June 5, 1758, when Francis Fauquier arrived. The second time was in September and October 1761 when Fauquier was consulting with General Jeffery Amherst in New York. In 1763, Blair was acting governor when Fauquier was in the Province of Georgia in September to December. The final time was after Fauquier's death on March 4, 1768 until the arrival of his replacement, Norborne Berkeley on October 26, 1768.[1]
Although appointed for life, he resigned on October 15, 1770 after the death of governor Berkeley. In poor health himself, he did not want to serve as acting governor again for the fifth time.[1] He died the following year. Blair having a large family to support, the Council petitioned the king to grant Blair a pension. The king and Privy Council did not act before Blair's death.[1]
Deputy Auditor General
Holding the position for 43 years, he was responsible for certifying the accuracy of official government revenue accounts, including quitrents and taxes on exported tobacco, then a major component of Virginia's agricultural production. Blair successfully improved procedures and records to prevent the evasion of paying quitrents. However, in his final years the efficacy of the office was poor, probably due to his failing health and the death of his assistant. Blair's son became the next deputy auditor general.[1]
Governor's Council
In 1746, he voted to license Reverend Samuel Davies to preach in Williamsburg, one of the first non-Anglican ministers licensed in Virginia. This was not popular with the established church as Davies advanced the cause of religious and civil liberty and preached to religious dissenters against the Anglican Church.[3]
Governor
During his first term as acting governor in 1758, he addressed the General Assembly on March 31 requesting that Virginia raise an additional regiment for offensive operations in the Ohio Valley against the New France forces in the French and Indian War, which was approved.[1] Also approved was the issuance of £32,000 of treasury notes to fund defenses of the colony.[2]
In 1768, Fauquier had intended to call the Assembly into session. After Fauquier died, Blair, again acting Governor,[3] followed through with a session that closed in April at which time he sent to the king and Parliament the assembly's challenges, led by speaker Peyton Randolph of Parliament's right to tax the colonies. The response was the speedy appointment of Berkeley as new governor with instructions to quash such protests of the crown's authority over the colonies. Blair also urged Virginia's clergy to raise money to aid the victims of a fire in Old Montreal (then under British rule) that destroyed the Congregation Notre-Dame convent and 88 houses.[1]
Other civic action
Blair served on a 1745 committee to revise the laws of Virginia, on a committee that oversaw the 1748–1753 rebuilding of the Capitol after it burned in 1747, and on another in 1763 to correspond with Virginia's London agent.[1]
He was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the public hospital for lunatics established in 1769.[1] Blair was the only participant in the bricklaying ceremonies for both of the Williamsburg Capitol buildings (in 1699 or 1701 and 1752 or 1754).[2][1]
Religious duty
Blair served as a vestryman of Bruton Parish, from around 1744 or earlier, and was a churchwarden about 1749. He was also a visitor of the College of William and Mary in 1758.[1]
Williamsburg business interests
Until his death in 1733, Blair's father, Archibald, was the largest shareholder of Dr. Blair's Store, a mercantile house. Blair was the store's manager. Blair was also a partner with John Blair Jr. (the son of a cousin) in another store from 1740 to 1759. Blair owned one the largest taverns in the colony, the Raleigh Tavern, named after Sir Walter Raleigh and the Chowning Tavern, renting them to tavern keepers. He owned Chowning from 1726 to around 1738, and sold Raleigh in 1742. In 1745, he was a partner with 16 others in a 1,000-acre (400 ha) land grant on the Potomac and Youghiogheny rivers.[1]
Personal
Blair married his first cousin Mary Munro about 1726[4]. Munro, the daughter of the Reverend John and Christina Monro of St. John's Parish, King William County, was born circa 1708 and died 1768[2] They had ten children,[2][lower-alpha 1] including eight daughters.[4] Their fourth child, John Blair, Jr. became an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.[1]
One daughter was named Agan (Scottish for Anna), who married Colonel John Banister.[3] She was born in 1746 and died in 1813.[5]
Another daughter, Mary (Born September 27, 1734), married on December 6, 1753 Colonel George Braxton who died October 3, 1761, and on December 31, 1774 Colonel R. Burwell who died January 30, 1777, and lastly on June 2, 1795 to Mr. R Prescott who died June 2, 1795.[3]
A third daughter was Elizabeth (Betsy), who married Captain/Commander/Admiral Thompson.[3]
A fourth daughter, Christian (1727–1784), married Armistead Burwell who was elected Burgess in 1753–1754.[3]
His son Dr. James Blair married in 1771 and shortly thereafter separated from his wife and died the next year. This led to a dower lawsuit between his estate and wife (Blair v Blair), involving his brother John as executor and Thomas Jefferson and Edmund Randolph as council. Some considered this matter a scandal.[6]
John Blair Sr. died in Williamsburg on November 5, 1771 and was buried in Bruton Parish churchyard.[1]
Blair and his family likely lived in the John Blair House, presently located on Duke of Gloucester Street in the National Register of Historic Places district living history museum of Colonial Williamsburg. The house was originally built in the mid 18th century (1747[2]) and is one of the oldest in Williamsburg. The house features typical American colonial architecture, including hip roof dormers. The stone steps were imported from England. The house was reconstructed in 1937. According to Blair's diary, he loved gardening and maintained a garden with flowers, vegetables, and a fruit tree orchard.[4]
Notes
- Another source says 12 children.[4]
References
- Van Horne, J.C.; the Dictionary of Virginia Biography (February 23, 2017). "John Blair (ca. 1687–1771)". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
- Rouse, Jr., Parke (1971). James Blair of Virginia. The University of North Carolina Press. ASIN B000SJKEDQ.
- Horner, Frederick (1897). The history of the Blair, Banister, and Braxton families before and after the revolution: With a brief sketch of their descendants. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company.
- Brinkley, M. Kent; Chappell, Gordon W. (1996). The Gardens of Colonial Williamsburg. Williamsburg: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. p. 20. ISBN 0879351586. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
john blair williamsburg.
- "Blair of Virginia Political Family Tree" (PDF). politicalfamiltytree.com. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
- Dewey, Frank L (January 1981). "Journal Article Thomas Jefferson and a Williamsburg Scandal: The Case of Blair V. Blair". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. The Virginia Historical Society. 89 (1): 44–63. JSTOR 4248451.
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