Husband Hon. Samuel S. Blair 1 2
Born: 5 Dec 1821 - Indiana Co, PA 1
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Father: Rev. David Blair (1786-1882) 1 2 3 4
Mother: Margaret Steel (Abt 1801-1865) 1 5
Marriage: 2 Dec 1845 1
Wife Sarah M. Denniston 1
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Father: John Denniston ( - ) 1
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General Notes: Husband - Hon. Samuel S. Blair
At the age of eleven he entered the freshman class of Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and after a year there spent a year at the Indiana Academy, whence he returned at the expiration of another year to Jefferson. In September, 1838, he graduated at that institution. Shortly after that event he went to Georgia to teach school, and soon after his debut in that section was selected to act as principal of the academy at Carnersville, pending the arrival of Professor Haverstick, the regularly chosen incumbent. Six months after that Mr. Blair was appointed principal of the academy in Clarkesville, Haversham County, Georgia, and in charge of that institution remained until the summer of 1841, when he accepted the place of clerk in the United States Mint at Dahlonega, to the superintendency of which Mr. Paul Rossignol, of Clarkesville, had just been assigned by President Harrison. During the ensuing year at Dahlonega he divided his time between his clerkship at the mint and teaching private classes.
In 1842 he was called to his Pennsylvania home by the fatal illness of his brother. While at home he determined to embrace the legal profession, and accordingly, in 1843, he entered the office of Thomas White (in Indiana), judge of the old Tenth District. In September, 1845, he was admitted to the bar. In January, 1846, he made his home in Hollidaysburg, and entered the field as a disputant for legal honors and successes in Blair and its sister counties. During his extended career at the bar he has had as law partners Hon. John Dean and Martin Bell, but for a greater portion of the time conducted unaided the details of a practice that engaged his time and energies to their utmost.
In 1858 he was chosen by the Republicans of his district to represent the counties of Somerset, Blair, Cambria, and Huntingdon in Congress. During his term he was conspicuously active in matters affecting the public welfare, and served as chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims, and as a member of the Pacific Railroad Commission. Mr. Blair was strongly radical on all questions of serious public importance, but his high standing as a zealous advocate and promoter of all measures closely allied with the general good made his name a tower of strength, and so, despite the fact that his district was anti-radical, he was re-elected to Congress in 1860. In 1862 he was put forward by his party for a third time as a congressional candidate, but that year being an "off" season for the Republicans the opposition won the victory. From that period Mr. Blair held aloof from participation in affairs of public life, and with his old-time vigor and enthusiasm devoted his exclusive attention to his increasing and already extensive practice, which, it may be remarked, he did not altogether abandon during his congressional career.
During his political life, Mr. Blair was more than once a delegate to State Conventions, and in the convention that nominated Gen. Fremont to the Presidency sat as one of Pennsylvania's delegates. He was from time to time identified with business enterprises of an important character, and was a director of the First National Bank of Hollidaysburg. He was one of the founders of the Blair County Bar Association, and was its first president. He was reared in the Presbyterian Church, was a member thereof for more than a quarter of a century, and for twelve years an elder therein.