William F. Blair Biography This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography, including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 695-696 Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm WILLIAM F. BLAIR, a progressive agriculturist and valued citizen of Mellette township, makes his home on section 31, where he owns a valuable property, well improved, and adapted to diversified farming. Mr. Blair is a native of Ottawa Valley, Carleton county, Ontario, Canada, and was born October 2, 1847. He was the third in order of birth of a family of ten children born to James and Mary (McCallum) Blair, the father a native of Scotland and the mother born in Canada, of Scotch parentage. Our subject grew to maturity and received his education in his native county, and farmed there until 1876, when he went to Elgin county, Ontario. In May, 1881, he arrived at Watertown, Dakota territory, in search of a home for himself and family. He brought a team, and in June filed on the land he now owns, and began to clear it for crops. He has prospered, and believes the best way to make money and the most agreeable method of conducting a farm is not by devoting all a man's energies and lands to the raising of grain for an overstocked market. He keeps a number of milch cows, and supplies a high grade of butter for the market. He ships one load of hogs annually, and keeps a high grade of stock, registered Victorias predominating. His farm is supplied with water for stock and other purposes by a fine well forty- four feet in depth. He has always devoted a good share of his lands to meadow and pasture, and provides an ample supply of hay for his stock in winter. He is a conspicuous example of the successful farmer who uses his brain as well as his hands, and his success is of that substantial and permanent kind that always comes to a good business man and manager. Mr. Blair was married in 1886 to Miss Eliza A. Scott. Mrs. Blair is a native of Canada, and has been a valuable and able second to her husband's undertakings in the development of an estate in a new and undeveloped country. Mr. and Mrs. Blair are the parents of two children: Arthur S. and James D. The family attends the Presbyterian church. Notwithstanding the fact that he is non-partisan in political sentiment, he advocates generally the doctrines of the Populist party and is influential in his community, always lending his support to the cause of better government. He advocates state control of the liquor traffic and favors equal suffrage. He has held several local offices, having served three years as township clerk and five years as school district clerk, and his duties in these positions were discharged at all times with ability and satisfaction to all. No man in the community is accorded a higher degree of esteem and confidence.