HABERSHAM CO., GA - BIOGRAPHIES - JAMES and ELIZABETH (POWELL) 
                                  BLAIR  

Submitted by Anita Newsom Nail (nail@tecinfo.com), [5th Great 
Granddaughter of James & Elizabeth (Powell) Blair, through 
their daughter Mahala] 303 Crittenden, Greenville, MS 38701.  
September 2000.

USE OF APPROPRIATE BYLINE CREDIT IS REQUESTED.

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James “Jimmy” Blair was born 06 March 1761 in (Augusta) Virginia to 
Colbert and Sarah (Morgan) Blair. In 1778, when James was 17, he 
enlisted in the American Revolution in (Burke) North Carolina. He 
served as an orderly, ensign, sergeant, and Indian scout. Among 
others, he fought in The Battle of Sumter’s Defeat, The Battle of 
Ramsour’s Mill, and served as a spy in The Raft Swamp Campaign. At 
19, he was badly wounded while serving as an “Express Rider”, 
alerting the patriots that Ferguson was approaching. The gathering 
of The Kings’ Mountain Men was made possible by sending these 
riders in all directions to notify patriots of the place of 
rendezvous. This seven stanza poem, “The Ride of the Rebel”, 
written by John Trotwood Moore, describes James as an historic 
horseback courier.

The Ride of the Rebel

The race of the rebel, wilderness run –
Hark to the time and when –
The race for a nation just begun
In the scattered homes of men,
You will find it not on the gilded page
To the pampered steed of fame,
You will find it not in this hireling age
Where they run for money and shame,
But on King’s Mountain’s starlit stage
‘Twill live in deathless name.

Over the border the British came,
Their jackets red as the sun,
City and hamlet had felt the flame
From the flash of the Red Coat’s gun.
Over the border Ferguson rode –
He never rode back again,
For Jimmy Blair his horse bestrode
And galloped with might and main.

To Cleveland and to Campbell’s tent,
O’er hill and o’er valley he sped,
And he roused the patriots as he went
As Gabriel will rouse the dead:
“Go!  For your country’s life!”  he said
And away like a ghost he was gone,
Riding from morn to midnight deep,
From midnight on to the morn –
O, never was a race like that,
Since gallant steed was born!

The moon rose up to see it,
And the great red-yellow eye
Of the morning star new lustre took
As the game boy galloped by.
The lurking savage hid in his path,
The Tory lay in his road –
He swam the river with a ball in his breast
And gained the fort* at the ford.

And Shelby came, and Williams,
And Cleveland, and Sevier,
Fifteen hundred rifles
In the morning answered – “Here!”
And Ferguson was routed
With all his Tory clan;
The rebels rushed their crested heights
And took them to a man,
They turned the tide of war that day,
Which, turning, swept the land
Of every British musket,
Of every Tory band.

The race of the rebel, wilderness run –
Hark to the time and when –
The race for a nation just begun
In the scattered homes of men,
For Fame that day rode horse of gray
And Glory guided the rein –
The purse?  Our glorious country – say,
Will it ever be run again?

- John Trotwood Moore

*Fort Defiance – The ruins of Fort Defiance are in Augusta County, 
Virginia.


After the war, James was appointed Indian agent for the Cherokee 
Nation. Also, as a surveyor, he was responsible for settling some 
boundary lines with the Indians; in The Treaty of July 8, 1817, he 
surveyed the line that separated (Habersham) from Indian Lands, 
which became known as “The Blair Line”. He was credited with 
helping settle and lay out (Union) Georgia, where the county seat 
of Blairsville is named for him.

He had moved first to (Rhea) Tennessee, then to the Pendleton 
District of South Carolina, then to (Franklin) Georgia, finally 
settling near Clarkesville (Habersham) Georgia, where he was a 
Senator and Representative in the Legislature for twenty-seven 
years in succession.

In about 1782, James married Elizabeth Blair, born 16 April 1765 in 
(Orange) North Carolina. She is said to be the daughter of Elias 
Powell. They moved to (Pickens) Alabama in 1838, where she died 26 
March 1839 and he, five days later, on 31 March 1839. She is buried 
in Old Mt. Moriah Cemetery in (Pickens) Alabama, but his gravesite 
has not been discovered. Devout Baptists, they raised a large 
family.

CLEVELAND, born about 1783, died in 1858.

ARGIN, born about 1784 in North Carolina, died 29 July 1867 in 
Mississippi. She was buried in Clarkesville (Habersham) Georgia. 
She married BENJAMIN CLEVELAND, II, grandson of Col. Benjamin 
Cleveland in (Franklin) Georgia in 1802.

MAHALA, born about 1791 in the Pendleton District of South 
Carolina, died about 1872 in (Gilmer) Georgia. She married LARKIN 
HOLT 23 April 1805 in (Franklin) Georgia. A veteran of The War of 
1812, he was born about 1786 in North Carolina, and died 22 January 
1855 in (Gilmer) Georgia. Their children were Lucy A., Elizabeth, 
Seaborn, Osborn B., Elijah, Mary, Martha Ann, William, James, and 
John L. Holt.

ANNE, born 15 March 1792 in the Pendleton District of South 
Carolina, died 19 October 1854 in Estaboga (Talladega) Alabama. She 
married JOSEPH TERRELL 02 October 1808, then married OLIVER ALLEN 
ELSTON 21 January 1813 in (Franklin) Georgia.

ELIZABETH, born about 1795, died after 14 Oct. 1839.  She married 
? WATSON.

JAMES, born 17 February 1796 in the Pendleton District of South 
Carolina, died 09 March 1859. He married ARSINA TRIMMIER 26 January 
1819.

JANE, born 31 March 1798, died after 25 October 1839. She married 
JAMES F. DRIVER.

POWELL, born 03 September 1800, died 07 April 1844 in (Habersham) 
Georgia. He married SARAH A. DICKSON 27 February 1825 in (Madison) 
Georgia.

MEEKIE, born about 1804 in (Franklin) Georgia, died about 1875 in 
(Yell) Arkansas. She married HENRY ALBRIGHT.

GEORGE, born about 1806, died after 25 October 1839. He married 
MARIA TRIMMIER

MARY died after 25 October 1839. She married ? DOBSON.