Biography of 	Blair, Joseph P. Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by 	Mike Miller November 1997

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    Joseph Paxton Blair, one of New Orleans' distinguished attorneys, is
a native of Mississippi, born at Columbus, December 5, 1859.  His
father, David Paxton Blair, was a native of Virginia, but moved to
Mississippi in his youth and became one of the first settlers at
Columbus.  The Blair family came to America from the north of Ireland
prior to the Revolutionary war and settled in Rockbridge county, Va.
The mother of our subject, Elizabeth Armstead Pope, was born in Alabama,
the daughter of Col. Willis Pope, a native of the same state.  The Pope
family were originally from Amsterdam, Holland, and after the Revolution
settled on Pope's creek, Virginia, where Col. Pope became an extensive
and successful planter.  Joseph P. Blair received his educational
training at the University of Virginia, graduating from that
institution, with the degree of A. M., in 1881.  During two years of his
college course he acted as editor of the "College Magazine," which
position he filled with credit.  Prior to his graduation he had been
instructor of Latin and Greek in the Shenandoah Valley academy,
Winchester, Va.  Following the completion of his course at the
University of Virginia he was tendered and accepted the chair of
mathematics in the University of Louisiana, which position he held for
two years.  During this time he had begun the reading of the law, and
attended the summer class under the instruction of John B. Minor at the
University of Virginia,  In the summer of 1883 he passed a successful
and highly commendable examination before the supreme court of Louisiana
and was admitted to the bar of that state.  In 1883 he began his
practice in New Orleans, where he soon distinguished himself.  In 1884
he associated himself with Henry J. Levoy, and in 1887 became a member
of the firm of Levoy & Blair, which partnership still continues.  This
firm have won distinction as commercial attorneys and are counsel for a
number of large corporations, including the Southern Pacific system of
railways.  Politically Mr. Blair is a democrat, taking an active
interest in political matters.  He is a member of the Municipal Reform
association, and, during its existence, of the Young Men's Democratic
association.  Socially he is a member of the Pickwick club.  April 16,
1890, he married Miss Eugenie V. Kruttschnitt, of New Orleans.  His
honorable straightforward manner and genial hospitality have won for him
hosts of friends and admirers.
     
 From Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, volume 2, p.
295. 
Submitted by Mike Miller