BLAIR, James M., b 1837; 1905 Bio, Delta County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/delta/bios/blairjm.txt --------------------------------------- Donated August 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- James M. Blair James M. Blair, of Delta, who as an active town and county official in several places has rendered valuable service to the community in which he lived in helping to subdue the lawless element and bring criminals to justice is justly entitled to be named in any record of the achievements of enterprising and progressive men of the section of his home, is now living retired from active pursuits at Delta after a long and varied career of usefulness in which he has fearlessly faced danger in peace and war and met every responsibility in life with a straightforward and manly spirit, whether it involved patience in endurance or courage in action. He is an Ohioan by nativity, born in 1837, the son of William and Phoebe (Atkins) Blair, natives of Kentucky who settled in Ohio soon after the close of the war of 1812, in which the father was a soldier and loyally served the cause of his country. They were married in Kentucky and when they settled in Ohio located in Logan county where they were engaged in farming for a few years, then moved to Champaign county, where they remained until the autumn of 1851, when they moved to Iowa and took up their residence in Wapello county. From there they removed in 1868 to Monroe county where they spent the rest of their lives, the father dying in 1874 aged eighty-eight, and the mother in 1876, aged eighty-four. They had twelve children, of whom James was the eighth. The first fourteen years of his life were passed in his native state. He then accompanied his parents to Iowa and there completed his education and grew to man's estate. At the age of twenty-one he started in life for himself, taking charge of the home farm and caring for his parents until the beginning of the Civil war. In 1862, on August 15th, he enlisted in Company D, Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry, and from then until August 25, 1865, he was in active service with his regiment and saw much of the hardship and suffering of the war. Being mustered out at Dubuque, he returned to his old home and there followed farming until 1869. In that year he came to Colorado, staging the route from Cheyenne to where Longmont now is. Here he stopped and remained until 1878, working at his trade as a plasterer, which he had previously acquired, and taking an active part in the affairs of the settlement. He served as town constable one term and was collector the third year. In his official position he was frequently called into service as an aid in upholding the peace and good order of the community, being one of the force that captured the outlaw William Dubois, who killed Deputy Postmaster Edward Kinney in 1871, and in many other hazardous and thrilling encounters with evil-doers, notably the capture of the man who committed a daring robbery of a jewelry store in Longmont, bringing him in within four days. He also helped to lay out the first road between Longmont and Evans, a distance of forty miles. He was not, however, without official experience before coming to this state, having been elected county clerk of Monroe county, Iowa, before leaving there. In 1879 he moved to Idaho Springs where he worked at his trade and followed mining until 1890, discovering and locating, along with other valuable properties, the Douglas group of mines. In 1890 he located at Salida and during the next three years was occupied with his trade and also in farming. He took up his residence at Delta in 1893, and until 1900 found plenty of profitable employment as a plasterer, his craft being in almost continual requisition in the progressive community in which he had located himself. In the year last named he determined to retire from active business and move into the spacious and attractive seventeen-room house which he owns and there spend the remainder of his days. He was married in 1874 to Miss Sarah E. Ainsworth, a native of Belvidere, Illinois, and they have had eight children, six of whom are living, Mabel (Mrs. Smith), Harry, Minnie W., Guy, Ernest and Hazel. A daughter named Cora died at Idaho Springs, and another named Josephine at Delta. Mr. Blair has lived a serviceable life in this community, and has been actively identified with many of the leading enterprises concerned in its development and improvement, as he has elsewhere where he has lived, and is highly respected by the whole people. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.