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Descendants of Samuel Blair

Generation No. 1

1. Samuel¹⁷ Blair (Daniel¹⁶, Samuel James¹⁵, Daniel¹⁴, Brice¹³, John¹², John¹¹, John¹⁰, John⁹, John⁸, David⁷, James⁶, Hugh⁵ De Blair, Roger⁴, David³ Blair, William², William¹ De Blair) was born 1738 in Raloo, Antrim, Northern Ireland, and died 07 Aug 1820 in Woodcock, Crawford, PA. He married Mrs. Ann Young Abt. 1775 in Pennsylvania. She was born Abt. 1750, and died 16 Apr 1823 in Woodcock, Crawford, PA.

Notes for Samuel Blair:

SAMUEL "THE RENEGADE" BLAIR
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Taken from Tales of a Blair Family websight
(http://www.clinton.net/~daver/blair.htm)

Samuel Blair was born in Ballyvallough (near Raloo), County Antrim, N. Ireland in 1738. His nickname, "The Renegade", was given to him years after his death by Blair family historians. It was used as a means of distinguishing him from the many other Sam Blair's who were roaming the New World in the 1700's. The name was chosen because of his daring escape from the hangman's noose in Northern Ireland. Following is the poem, written by Sam while enroute to America, and the story behind his escape that was published in the November 1927 issue of the "Blair Magazine."

FAREWELL TO ERIN
by Samuel Blair, "A Hearts of Steel Man"

"While I live I'll never forget
The sorrow of that day
When, bound unto a foreign land,
Our good ship sailed away.

So I left my friends in Belfast town,
My love on Carrick shore;
And I gave to our dear Old Ireland
My blessings o'er and o'er.

Right well I knew when I set sail
What my hard fate would be;
When gazing on my native hills
They seemed to fly from me.

I watched them as they wore away,
Until my eyes grew sore;
Well knowing I was doomed to tread
On Shamrock soil no more.

They tell me I'm for Freedom's Land,
Where all my Masters be;
But were I in my winding sheet,
There's none to succor me.

For I must eat the stranger's bread
And bear the stranger's scorn,
That haunts me with a deal o'care
Sweet Isle, where I was born!

And were in now the tender heart
I once could call my own?
Who gave to me a long farewell
The day I left my home!

Not all the gold that I could earn
Beyond you Western Main,
The pleasures of my own dear girl
Could bring to me again!"

These lines were written by Samuel Blair, of Ballyvallough, a leader in the Hearts O'Steel Rebellion in Ireland, 1770. He was captured and condemned to death, but escaped through the cleverness of his twin sister, Mary. The Heart O'Steel Rebellion, it may be said, was an uprising of the Irish tenantry to protest against the unjust taxation imposed upon them in the time of George III, and its spirit was largely the inspiration of the American Revolution, a few years later. These patriots were unsuccessful; many were put to death; and some--as shown herein--escaped to the New World. Many of them also served, Scotch-Irish Patriots, in the land of their adoption.

The story of the escape of Samuel Blair is one of the most charming of all those we have found. Samuel and Mary, as we have said were twins. Mary had just borne her first child when the news was brought to her of the capture and condemnation of her brother. She rose from her bed, dressed, and mounted her horse, riding for her farewell visit with the best-loved brother. She was permitted but a short stay with him, but when she left the prison she was weeping so heart-brokenly that it was with difficulty she could mount her horse and ride away.

The execution was set for some two or three days later. When the victim was led onto the scaffold, and before the noose could be adjusted, he stepped forward and threw open his coat, and , says the fascinating record, "there were fair white breasts dripping with suck," One soldier, whose quick perception must always thrill us, cried instantly aloud; "We’ve been fooled! We’ve been fooled! Its a woman!

The brief visit of farewell had, of course, been spent in the exchange of clothing, and Samuel had ridden away---with full speed, as we may imagine, when once out of sight of the prison---and taken passage in a vessel happily ready to sail to the New World. Mary, runs the tale, was taken before the King, and there she told her story. The monarch "bowed his head and the tears ran heavy over his cheeks as he bade her go her way, back to her babe. And, said he as he watched her going, "Would to god that some one loved me so!"

Samuel, of necessity, left without farewells---other than to Mary. No chance was there even for a farewell to the sweetheart who, we feel, should have joined him later. He arrived in Philadelphia; later settled in Central Pennsylvania on the shores of the Susquehanna. About 1796 he removed to Crawford County, Pennsylvania (in the north-western part of the state), where he died, it is said, in 1820. He married a young widow, Mrs. Ann Young, and left a number of children. His grave is in Mt. Blair cemetery, near Meadville, Pennsylvania. His nephew, Patrick Blair, who came over in 1835, is buried near him.

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One might think that Sam's thirst for adventure had been quenched after the above experience but either out of natural taste for it or out of necessity his adventures continued in the New World. We believe he landed in Philadelphia in the years just prior to the start of the American Revolution. He was probably in the company of other banished rebels all with a deep grudge against the British. According to the Crawford County Veterans Office and a Revolutionary War marker on his grave he served as a Captain in Pennsylvania's 1st Regt., Continental Line from November 1775 to November 1776, but no confirming records have ever been located to substantiate this. Knowing his love of a good fight, however, it would be hard to believe he didn't take this fortuitous opportunity to do in a few British soldiers.

After his skirmishes with the British, Sam seems to have disappeared into the frontier of Pennsylvania for a few years. Records were few in the backwoods, but it is known that he settled somewhere on the banks of the Susquehanna River, which was at the edge of settled territory. The Scotch-Irish often led the way into the frontier as they were more accustomed to the hardships it brought. They were hearty souls on the order of Davy Crockett who could "leap the Ohio, ride upon a streak of lightning, and slip without a scratch down a honey locust; could whip his weight in wild cats- and if any gentleman pleases, for a ten dollar bill, he may throw in a panther--hug a bear too close for comfort, and eat any man opposed to Jackson!" As you can see they were also able to spin a good yarn. The Scotch-Irish women were just has hearty as described here by historian H. C. McCook:

Stalwart of frame no doubt they were, with muscles hardened under the strain of toil; hale and hearty, vigorous and strong, able to wield the axe against the trunk of a forest monarch or the head of an intruding savage; to aid their husbands and fathers to plow and plant, to reap and mow, to rake and bind and gather. They could wield the scutching knife or hackling comb upon flaxen stocks of fibers, as well as the rod of rebuke upon the back of a refractory child. They could work the treadle of a little spinning wheel, or swing the circumference of the great one. They could brew and bake, make and mend, sweep and scrub, rock the cradle and rule the household.

Sam married Mrs. Ann Young sometime before 1777 as that was the year their first child, Margaret, was born. Little is known about Ann Young, not even her maiden name, what is known is that she was a widow with a daughter by her first marriage and this daughter later married a gentleman by the name of Thomas Gilmore.

Sam and his nearly grown children moved on again in 1794, in search of yet another Frontier. They took title to land on French Creek in Northwestern Pennsylvania, later to become Woodcock township, Crawford County. This land had just recently been opened to settlers and Sam and his family were amongst the first of this daring breed of trail blazers to enter the land in that region. It is evident that other Scotch-Irish friends, family and neighbors came at nearly the same time or soon after. He carved out a home in this new wilderness and lived out the remainder of his days. He and Ann are buried in Mt. Blair cemetery near Woodcock, Pennsylvania. This was originally a family cemetery on Sam's farm which later became a public burial ground, even though most of those buried there are member's of Sam's family or close friends and neighbors. The cemetery sits aside a steep hill with Sam and Ann resting at its highest point.

Pictured on the left is the gravestone of Samuel Blair and on the right his wife, Ann's. Although difficult to read in this photograph, they are actually in remarkable condition today, especially Ann's. Part of the cemetery is pictured in the middle. Sam and Ann rest at the top of this hill with a remarkable view of the valley below. Both of these stones are large slabs that rest flat on the ground. Their stones read:

In memory of Samuel Blair
A native of Ireland
aged 82 years
He died Aug. 7th A.D. 1820
"Cease all from sorrowing and tears
Here I must lie till Christ appears
Then burst the tomb in sweet surprise
And in my Savior's image rise."
* Veteran of the Revolutionary War Marker at upper right of stone

In memory of Ann Blair
Consort of Samuel Blair
She departed this life April 16th A. D. 1823
Aged 73 years
"Her soul with sacred ardour fir'd
The glorius prize pursued
To meet with joy the high command
She bade this earth adieu."

1876 ATLAS, "HISTORY OF THE VILLAGES AND TOWNSHIPS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY."
WOODCOCK TOWNSHIP.
Initial settlement was made by James Humes in 1791, upon land one mile west of Woodcock Borough. Three men settled in 1794: Henry Rust and John H. Bossard, of Westmoreland County, and James Long, of Lancaster County. Long died in 1830, in his ninety-third year. The McGill brothers, Patrick and Arthur, moved in during 1795. The latter took up eight hundred acres, but later, gave the south half to his brother. Samuel Blair, of Ireland, and George Long came from Susquehanna County to this township in 1797. At about the same time, William Wykoff, accompanied by his son John, came in from New Jersey, and located on Gravel Run, and John Greenlee, from Susquehanna, located on the farm upon which his son William is a resident. Nathaniel Clark, from Armstrong County, removed to this township about 1801. George Peiffer, a soldier of the Revolution, in 1802 came to the County, and to the township in 1809; and Thomas Rice, of Allegheny, settled on the farm now owned by S. T. Rice, in 1810. Wild beasts gave the settlers much trouble. Wolves were destructive to sheep, and were known to attack the cows. The mother called in her children before dark, and the settler returning from his work or from a raising saw the wolves skulking around him, and night was made hideous by their dismal howls. Bears were known to tear down the pens and carry off the pigs, and reports of panthers heard or seen made night-travel no pleasant undertaking.
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1. Combination Atlas Map of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, Compiled, Drawn and Published From Personal Examinations and Surveys (Philadephia: Everts, Ensign & Everts, 1876), 24Ľ.

More About Samuel Blair:
Burial: Unknown, Mt. Blair Cemetary, Woodcock, Crawford, PA
Emigration: Abt. 1770, Fled Ireland to America, settling first in Philadelphia just prior to the Revolutionary War.
Military service: 1770, Captain in the Hearts of Steel Rebellion in Ireland

Notes for Mrs. Ann Young:
" Little is known about Ann Young, not even her maiden name, what is known is that she was a widow with a daughter by her first marriage and this daughter later married a gentleman by the name of Thomas Gilmore."... I wonder if her maiden name was Long, due to the fact that several of their descendants had the middle name Long, including their son Samuel Long Blair and great-grandson William Long Hunter.

In memory of Ann Blair
Consort of Samuel Blair
She departed this life April 16th A. D. 1823
Aged 73 years
"Her soul with sacred ardour fir'd
The glorius prize pursued
To meet with joy the high command
She bade this earth adieu."

More About Mrs. Ann Young:
Burial: Unknown, Mt. Blair Cemetary, Woodcock, Crawford, PA

Children of Samuel Blair and Ann Young are:

	2	i.	Mary Polly¹⁸ Blair, died 1867. She married David Phillips; born 1769; died 1866.
+	3	ii.	Margaret Blair, born 1777 in Pennsylvania; died 1862 in Crawford Co., PA.
	4	iii.	John Young Blair, born 18 Oct 1780; died 17 Mar 1823.

More About John Young Blair:
Burial: Unknown, Mt. Blair Cemetary, Woodcock, Crawford, PA

+	5	iv.	Samuel Long Blair, born 1783; died 1861.
	6	v.	Sarah Blair, born 1788; died 1859. She married John McKay; died Unknown.
+	7	vi.	Agnes Nancy Blair, born 08 Aug 1792 in Pennsylvania; died 31 Mar 1846 in Crawford Co., PA.

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