Colonel James Blair

Colonel James Blair was a Patriot Soldier in the Revolutionary War.  He was born in Augusta County, Virginia in 1761 to Colbert Blair and Sarah Morgan.[1]  Colbert and Sarah were from Bucks County, PA.  Sarah was the daughter of  John Morgan and Susan Lloyd.  John Morgan was the son of Edward Morgan and Elizabeth Jarmann.  The log cabin home of Edward and Elizabeth is still standing and is a tourist attraction in the town of Lansdale, PA (NW Philadelphia)[2].  The famous frontiersman Daniel Boone, the famous Georgia frontierswoman Nancy Hart, and the Revolutionary War hero General Daniel Morgan are also descendants of Edward and Elizabeth.[3]  Colbert Blair was a Quaker and he left Pennsylvania about 1750 to avoid the "coming tidings of war" (the French & Indian Wars).  Colbert Blair likely moved with a larger group of Quakers leaving the area at about the same time following the wagon road south into western VA and NC. [4]

Edward Morgan Log house, Lansdale, PA

(Morgan Log House website)

Colbert Blair is buried near Lenoir, in Caldwell County, NC

James Blair's exploits during the American Revolution are well known.  He is said to have been wounded at age 19.  He was serving as a scout prior to the King's Mountain battle where he rode to Fort Defiance (Virginia) to arouse the Patriots to meet the British (at King's Mountain).

Col. James Blair's Rev. War Pension Application
(Georgia Archives)

After the war James lived in Pendleton District, South Carolina.  He then later moved to Franklin County, GA.  He was a surveyor and Indian agent and the "Blair Line" in NE Georgia is his creation.  He was also a politician having served for many years in the Georgia Legislature.

Historic road sign denoting the Blair Line in NE Georgia

(Georgia Archives)

On January 16, 1814 Hugh Montgomery of Jackson County, Georgia wrote the following to Peter Early, the Governor of Georgia:

I have a few days past seen Captain Blair from Franklin.  He says the people on the Frontier of that County (those interested in supplying and engaged in spyes excepted) are unanimously of the opinion that they are unnecessary & ought to be discontinued - if your Excellency was as well acquainted with the Cituation of the Country as we are & has the power to Discontinue them I think you surely would the one on the north fork of the Oconee in Jackson & the two in Franklin as they are only a trouble to the people & an expense to the state without and possible advantage to either. I am Sir with highest Respt your Excellencys humbl servt H Montgomery Esqr of Jackson County, dated 16the January 1814 (The Daily Times, Gainesville, GA, November 30, 1969)

Hugh Montgomery was the brother of James Mc. Montgomery (of Standing Peachtree/Fort Peachtree fame).  They were both men of high influence in the early frontier days of North Georgia having been soldiers, surveyors and politicians.

James Blair Biography

(Gilmer County Historical Society)

In his book "Georgians",  Governor George Gilmer wrote that he had accused Colonel James Blair of corruption when they were both in the state Legislature and Blair vowed revenge.  Years later, Gov. Gilmer met Blair quite by accident when Gilmer was traveling and he had stopped at the home of a son-in-law of Blair's: 

"We left Mr. McGehees' in the morning, and stopped to get dinner at the house of a son-in-law of old Jim Blair of Franklin, Georgia.  The old fellow was there.  When we were about leaving, he insisted that we should go direct to Georgia by the McIntosh Trail, through the Creeks, instead of the road by Benton court-house through the Cherokees.  The road forked about half a mile from the house.  When we got to the place, my wife declared that if we went the road advised by Blair, she would imagine that she saw him behind every tree with his gun directed at me.  The mail rider had been murdered on the road which Blair advised us to take a short time before, with the expectation by the perpetrators that the deed would be charged upon by Indians.  Blair had spent his life on the frontiers, had traded much with the Indians. and was very unscrupulous.  When I was first a member of the Legislature, McKinnie and Shultz, extensive private bankers, endeavored to strengthen the credit of their issue by obtaining a charter for their bank.  They gave notice of their scheme, and a portion of stock to several leading members of the Legislature, to Blair among others.  He went to Milledgeville, opposed to the proposed bank.  He became a clamorous advocate for it.  I charged him before the House with corruption, and dared him to have an inquiry into his conduct.  He answered my remarks by saying, that he did not fight with pistols, but that he would wait for time and opportunity to take his revenge.  These circumstances were known to my wife.  She would not therefore trust him for directions about the road.  We did him and ourselves great injustice by our suspicions, for which we suffered much, by taking the wrong road, turning over our carriage, being delayed, and undergoing other losses and crosses"

One anecdotal tale that I read about Col. James Blair was that he was arrested while living in Pendleton District for breaking a friend of his out of jail.  This friend had been arrested for striking an Indian.  I found the following account in a book which may be a record of the incident, albeit a slightly different version of events than the anecdotal tale:

Anne K. McCuen, Jane E. Kirkman, Penelope Forrester, Abstracts of General Sessions Court Case Rolls, Washington District South Carolina 1792-1799

A couple of interesting associations are worth noting: Captain Benjamin Whorton may be related to my paternal HORTON ancestors and Robert Anderson is the famous Revolutionary War officer that noted my paternal 4th great-grandmother (Mary Anderson Lemon) in his Will.  James Blair is my maternal 4th great-granduncle.

Colonel James Blair's grave was recently re-discovered (2013) in rural Pickens County, Alabama.

__________________

[1] A daughter of Colbert Blair and the sister of Col. James Blair married Captain Moses Guest who was another hero of the Kings Mountain Battle.  Captain Moses Guest and Mary Blair lived in Franklin County, NC where they are buried (near Mize, GA).
[2] http://www.morganloghouse.org/

[3] I have not found and documents that prove General Daniel Morgan is part of this line; However, Nancy Hart, is said to have stated on more than one occasion that she was a cousin of both men.

[4] https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/religious-society-of-friends-quakers/

(This page was updated on  5/5/2023)