Bourland in North Texas and Indian Territory During the Civil War: Fort Cobb, Fort Arbuckle & the Wichita Mountains
by Patricia Adkins-Rochette
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Blair DNA Project correspondence
My direct ancestor is Francis Harvey Blair (1832-1883)
Debbie Blair Owen Compilation of Blair research http://www.silverhillala.com/blair/
our Blairs belong to DNA Group 4 http://blairdna.com/group04.html
John A. Blair j_blair@blairdna.comGoffstown NH
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Francis Harvey Blair's ancestors Francis Harvey Blair, Frank Blair, b. June 19, 1832 in Missouri to Sarah ( ? Gray, Grey) and William Blair [d-bet 1840-1850 Lawrence Co AR], probably son of John Blair [d-1808 Cape Girardeau, MO], son of immigrant Thomas Blair. (1728-1796). ..... Frank Blair had 3 granddaughters with "Grey, Gray" as a middle name. He was a saddler, gunsmith, wagonwright, and a carpenter. He built the first business building in Mineral Wells, Palo Pinto Co., TX plus he owned a saddleshop next door to the courthouse. Frank died Nov 22, 1883 in Mineral Wells, TX, Beetham Funeral. Home. correspondence I'd strongly recommend having at least the 37-marker Y-DNA test done. The 67-marker test would also be fine, but that test is much more expensive, and the comparison pool for other Blairs is currently small. On the other hand, 25 or fewer markers wouldn't provide a sufficient basis for comparison, since some of the differences among the Blair descendants currently listed in Group 4 appear in the markers between #25 and #37. Unfortunately, there's a bit of a discrepancy on the application form about the cost of the test, so Jerry Blair will need to resolve that before he can apply. The drop-down box on the form says $149, but the check box on the list of agreements below this says $189. To add to the confusion, the Family Tree DNA web site (the company through which the Blair DNA Projects participants are tested) says that the 37-marker test costs $169. I'd suggest e-mailing the Blair DNA project coordinator for clarification of the current prices. If my hypothesis is correct, and your side of the family is dscended from emigrant ancestor Thomas Blair (Ancestor #0029) and his son John, then Jerry Blair's results should be identical or nearly identical to those of Participant Anc04, the hypothetical common ancestor to the Group 4 Blairs, since the results of Thomas Blair (#0029) and Participant Anc04 are identical at the 37-marker level. As for your question about the relationship between Ancestors #0110 and #0017, I'm afraid I don't have an answer. The likely father of #0110 was named Hiram Blair, which would at least suggest a connection with William Hiram Blair (#0017), but I don't have enough information about these families to say how likely it is that one is descended from the other. -Richard Carlson <<richard-j-carlson@uiowa.edu> > from Richard Carlson
Fri, Sep 19, 2008 01:56 AM
.... Hi All I’ve
been in contact with Debbie Blair Owen, daughter of Harvey Lenard Blair,
who’s a 37-for-37 match with Harold and Rick. (I wonder who the other 5
matches on Family Tree DNA are?) It looks like we really may be onto
something here. Between the DNA evidence and documentary evidence
generously supplied by Debbie and by many of you, I’ve formed a hypothesis
that we can test against written records, where possible.
Debbie has traced her line back to
Thomas Blair (ca. 1729-1796), who emigrated from Ireland to South Carolina
in 1767. Debbie is descended from Thomas’s oldest son James, who was
born ca. 1758 in Ireland. Thomas’s 1795 will lists several children,
including sons Thomas and John. They were not listed as part of
Thomas (Sr.)’s family in the 1767 emigration record, so both sons were
probably born in South Carolina in the 10 or 15 years following 1767
(probably not later, since Thomas’s wife Margaret was already 33 when she
emigrated). This is consistent with the birth dates in the 1770s
estimated for the ancestors of some of us here, Thomas Blair (died 1839)
and John Blair (died 1808) who died in Cape Girardeau Co., MO.
Nothing more seems to be known about two sons Thomas and John of the
immigrant Thomas Blair. In particular, they do not appear in the 1800 or
later census records of Chester County, SC, where the immigrant Thomas
Blair died in 1796. Again, this is consistent with information known
about the two Missouri Blairs, who had moved to Georgia before 1800. Thus
my current hypothesis is that the Thomas and John Blair who moved to
Missouri were the same as the sons of immigrant Thomas Blair of Chester
Co., SC. (A sub-hypothesis--perhaps “barely supported speculation” would
be more accurate--is that they were the Thomas and John Blair of Clarke
Co., GA, who entered the Georgia land lottery in 1805, and when they
didn’t win land in that lottery (both men drew blanks on both of their
draws), they moved on to Missouri.)
I’ve
ordered some books of abstracts of Chester Co., SC, records on
interlibrary loan. With any luck, these can help us sort out the
different Chester Co. Blair families and also help confirm or disprove
this hypothesis.
If
this hypothesis turns out to be correct (and bear in mind that it’ sonly a
guess at this point, though one consistent with the available evidence),
it would tie together definitely Debbie (descendant of James), Rick, Bob,
and myself (descendants of Thomas (Jr.)), and Shala and perhaps
Patricia [Adkins-Rochette] and Sandi [Vaught, desc of Wm. M. Blair's bro
of Francis Harvey Blair] (one known and two likely descendants of
John). It would not tie in Harold (though his John William Blair
could easily be an as yet unidentified grandson, or possibly
great-grandson, of the immigrant Thomas), and it would not tie in Mildred.
Mildred’s is the most difficult case, because her earliest known ancestor
was born ca. 1801 in Tennessee, and he doesn’t seem to have lived anywhere
else. This doesn’t fit what is known or hypothesized about the
children or migration patterns of any of the four sons of the immigrant
Thomas Blair named in his will (James, Thomas, John and William). Only
Thomas (Jr.) and John likely came through Tennessee, in their move from
Georgia to Missouri, and their sons named Thomas are both accounted for
(Thomas’s son Thomas Milligan Blair stayed in Missouri, and I believe,
though I haven’t yet established with certainty, that John’s son Thomas
moved to Lawrence Co., Arkansas). I haven’t yet looked carefully at
all the information I have to see if Mildred’s ancestor Thomas Blair might
fit in somewhere as a descendant of the immigrant Thomas, but right now it
appears that Mildred is a yet more distant cousin, descended not from the
immigrant Thomas but from one of his relatives.
Anyway, that’s where I am right now in my
research. As I learn more I’ll keep you all posted.
Richard Carlson
Fri, Sep 19, 2008 09:39 AM
Hello to everyone,
I am Debbie Blair Owen, daughter of Harvey Lenard Blair, who provided
the #8466 DNA for the test. First, I
would like to give Richard J. Carlson a great BIG thank you for
analyzing all this information and coming up with an intelligent
hypothesis. Keep in mind that he only has access to the DNA information
on this page http://blairdna.com/group04.html not any of the information
at http://www.familytreedna.com/ , since he is not a DNA contributing
member. This last site does provide everyone's name and email address
for each DNA sample, but not the participant number (#8466 in my case)
which makes it harder to compare the findings on the two sites. In my
case it lists my father's name with my email. I upgraded this summer to
the 37-marker test. Just last night, I was notified of another 37-marker
match with a genetic distance of 3. I am reluctant to give his name and
email address since this is private information. This site is updating
faster than the BlairDNA site, which still has not shown my father's
37-marker results. Second,
I would like to clear up any misunderstandings. I was not the person
that traced this line back to Thomas Blair (ca. 1729-1796). That person
was John Clyde Blair, Sr. (now deceased) who published his findings in
1977 in his book, "The Blair Families Originating in Ireland, South
Carolina, Georgia and Alabama". His brother George Elston Blair (now
deceased) updated the book in 1990, and provided the DNA sample which
#5502 represents. There is no email for this contact. I am not sure if
there is anyone left in this family that is still interested. Debbie Blair Owen Fri, Sep 19,
2008 10:56 AM..........Debbie,
thank you for clarifying who did the bulk of the research in tracing your
line back to Ireland. I certainly appreciate the efforts of John
Clyde Blair and his brother George, and I didn’t mean to slight them.
You mention two different editions of this family history, one from 1977
and one from 1990. Does the 1990 edition update anything in the
earliest section, on the immigrant Thomas and his children, or is it
limited to updates and corrections from later generations?
Mildred, I’m ordering a copy of this book through interlibrary loan. I’m
not sure if it’s possible to still buy a copy, since both authors are
deceased, but you could probably borrow a copy through a nearby library or
Mormon Family History Center.
For
anyone interested in this book, I should say that it concentrates almost
exclusively on the descendants of the immigrant Thomas Blair through his
son James (born ca. 1758). Debbie can correct me if I’m wrong, but based
on the first few pages (which Debbie kindly provided me copies of), it
appears that the book has nothing to say about Thomas Blair’s other
children after 1795, the date of his will. I’m hoping to find out more
about his other children through the Chester Co., SC, books I’m ordering
through interlibrary loan.
Richard Carlson Fri, Sep 19,
2008 08:43 PM
Sat, Sep 20, 2008 01:25 PM
.... Thanks Patti for copying me on your note to
Richard. He mentions his hypothesis that you may be a descendent of John
Blair, son of Immigrant Thomas Blair. Though my line is with Thomas Jr.,
son of Immigrant Thomas Blair, my grandmother Roberta Bramhall Blair said
there is an "Old" John Blair buried in the same graveyard (Laclede Co.
MO) as our ancestor Isaac Blair (son of Thomas Jr.) Rick Blair, Hiawassee, GA rbblair@appleorchard.org .
Mon, Sep 22, 2008 05:59 PM
Hello Everyone, I just noticed that the Blair
Society has the Blair Book to rent on microfilm. Of course, that
means you would have to take it to a library to read it. Here is the
link. Look at Roll #3207 - 19.
http://blairsociety.org/microfilm.htm
Debbie Owen
Tue, Sep 23, 2008 09:00 AM Hello Everyone, Below is the letter I received this morning from John A. Blair, the Blair DNA coordinator. It is an answer to the automated contact form I sent him from the Blair DNA web site, which is below his letter.About three months ago I had written to John, asking if he would consider using the Blair DNA Fund to upgrade George Elston Blair's DNA (#5502) to a 37-marker test. I also informed him that George was deceased. He said he could not upgrade a test without the donor's permission. In my letter three days ago I asked him, once again, if he would consider doing this. His response to this request is his last paragraph - and I think he must have accidentally left off the word "not" after his word "can".The Group 4 page is now updated: http://blairdna.com/group04.htmlDebbie Blair Owen
re: Blair DNA Project Adm:
BlairDNA@blairgenealogy.com
I'm afraid I've been a bit neglectful of the website lately. You email
was just the "kick in the butt" I needed to try any get it updated. I've
now updated the "Results" page and the "Group 02, 04, and 06 thru 09"
pages. I've still got to work on Groups 01, 03, and 05. Hopefully I'll
get them done this week. It going to get real busy soon. The sale that
FTDNA has going on has brought in ten new participants with results
pending. John A. Blair j_blair@blairdna.com Goffstown NH
Fri, Sep 26, 2008 02:45 PM.......Hello
Everyone, I have decided to collect information from everyone in our
Blair DNA Group 4 and place it on a web site:
http://www.silverhillala.com/blair/ If you have anything to add, please
send it to me. This would include web sites, family trees, scanned pages
from books, and any other useful information. If you know of someone that would like
to be included in this, please send me their name and email. If you
would like your name removed from this mail list, please let me know.
Debbie Blair Owen
Tue, Sep 30, 2008 07:32
AM....RE: Blair Research Web Site.......Hi
Debbie, Thanks again for creating this web site! I’ve
already learned some useful things about the land grant system in South
Carolina, and I plan to submit information of my own when I get a
chance. For now, let me just include a couple of links to Blair-related
web sites. |
Francis Harvey Blair (1832-1883) Patricia Adkins-Rochette's gg-gfather
F. H. Blair had fifteen CSA regimental return cards labeled "2nd Mounted Rifles" from March 1862 until May 1865 in Roark's Company H, Pyron's 2d Cavalry. Detailed as a saddler and a gunsmith. |
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