Blairs from Antrim to Tazewell
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The eldest known Blair of this line was Samuel.

He had 4 sons and 4 daughters, only Thomas has

been identified to date.

Most of Thomas' children emigrated from County Antrim,

Northern Ireland to Tazewell, Peoria, McLean

and Cook counties, Illinois, in the 1850's and 1860's

There are 1729 individuals and 641 families representing 497 surnames in this database.

The most common surnames in this database are:

 

Blair(167), Fluegel(27), Greengard(40), Hughes(44), Nutty(21),

Smith(24), Spence(20), Stewart(35), Tyrrell(21)

 

These WWW pages were updated on Monday Mar 15, 2004.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z (NONE/OTHER)

 

Surname List

 

 

Database Owner Contact Information and

   the Person Responsible for the Errors

        James B. Blair
              Cypress, California
                   jbb6@ca.rr.com

     This site would not have been possible without

the input from many friends and relatives.

     Most of them are listed below, if I forgot someone, I apologize.

Nancy Becraft, Gayle Behm, Margaret Bush, Barbara Fahs, Joe Greengard, Stacy Hall, 
Richard Herbst, Darrel Hunter, Diane Keeton, Janet Kloville, Jim McKinty,

Charlotte Pencroft, John Schunk, Charles Wallace, J Thomas Viemont, Warren Watkins

Acknowledgements:
This all got started from a manuscript titled "The

History of The Blair Family" that was compiled by:

Mary Blair Moore, Lillian Sparks Blair and Florence Blair McFaddin in 1968.
The Samuel mentioned below, was the Grandson of Samuel, the earliest known Blair.

            From -Portrait and Biographical Record of Tazewell and Mason Counties, Illinois - 1894- Page 372:

Samuel Blair, of Mackinaw, for many years followed farming in Tazewell County; but is now living a retired life.  He was born in County Antrim, Ireland July 11, 1834 and was one of sixteen children, eleven of whom grew to mature years.  The parents were Thomas and Jane (Gillan) Blair.  The grandfather, Samuel Blair, was also a native of County Antrim and there followed farming.  He reared a family of four sons and four daughters, all of whom remained on the Emerald Isle.  In religious belief, he was a Presbyterian.  The father of our subject followed farming in Ireland and there married Jane Gillan, by whom he had sixteen children.  Six of the number went to the World’s Fair in 1893 with their parents.   Those who grew to mature years were: William of McLean County, Ill.; Samuel; David, now living in England; Thomas, a railroad engineer of Peoria, Ill.; Matthew, a carpenter of Chicago; Robert, a distillery supervisor of Chicago; James, who resides on the old homestead in Ireland; Mary, wife of Robert Tinsdale of Ireland; Eliza, wife of Arthur McNeal of Chicago; Jane, who became the wife of Alex Totten and died of smallpox in Chicago in April, 1894; and Hannah, who died on the Emerald Isle.

No event of special importance occurred during the childhood and youth of Samuel Blair, who was educated in the common schools and remained with his parents until his marriage.   In 1856 he was married to Miss Jane Smith, daughter of Nathaniel and Jane (Colville) Smith.   Her father was a son of Nathaniel and Margaret Smith and her mother was a daughter of Alexander and Margaret (Magill) Colville of Scotland.

 In 1858 Mr. Blair bade adieu to home and native land and crossed the Atlantic to the New World, locating in Tremont, Tazewell County, Ill.   His cash capital then consisted of five sovereigns.   He began work as a farm hand and was thus employed for three years, when be purchased a team and engaged in the operation of a rented farm for five years.   His first purchase of land comprised twenty acres in Tremont Township.   On selling this he bought a tract of ninety acres in the same township and later became the owner of two hundred acres in Mackinaw Township.   For some years he successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits; but in 1889 left this farm and came to Mackinaw, where he has since made his home, enjoying with his amiable wife the rest which they have so truly earned and richly deserve.

To Mr. and Mrs. Blair were born five children: Thomas, now living in Allentown; David, who follows farming; Jane, wife of Gus Flegin, Maggie, wife of William Firre; and Nettie, who for five years has successfully engaged in teaching in the public schools of Mackinaw.   She was educated in Bloomington, Ill.   Mrs. Flegin was also a teacher of recognized ability in the county for seven years.   The parents were members of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland.   In politics Mr. Blair is a Democrat.   He need never regret his emigration to the New World, for here he has found a pleasant home, has won a handsome competence in his business dealings and has gained many warm friends.

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Other Blair Genealogy Sites:

Clan Blair Society; www.clanblair.org

Blair Society for Genealogical Research; www.blairsociety.org

 

This page, and all genealogical data contained on it are © 1997 - 2004 James B. Blair (jbb6@ca.rr.com).

This page was produced by GED2WWW version 0.31 compiled on Sep 27 1999 at 13:23:34. GED2WWW © 1996-1999 Leslie Howard. GED2WWW is free software, distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. For more information about GED2WWW or the GNU General Public License visit the GED2WWW webpage at http://www.lesandchris.com/ged2www