Blair Family Papers

Blair family

The Blairs were a prominent United States political family based in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. Along with members of the related Lee family, individuals in the Blair family were active in American politics, business, journalism, law, and philanthropy throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Francis Preston Blair Sr. (1791-1876) was an American newspaper editor, journalist, and politician. Blair was born in Virginia, raised in Kentucky, and later made a home at an estate he named Silver Spring in Montgomery County, Maryland, where his descendants lived after his death. He was a member of Andrew Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet and advised Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. From 1831 to 1845, Blair ran The Globe (Washington, D.C.), a newspaper that promoted the interests of the Democratic Party during the administrations of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. Blair married Eliza Violet Howard Gist (1794-1877), with whom he had five children, Montgomery Blair (1813–1883), Juliet Blair (1816-1819), Elizabeth Blair (1818-1906), James Lawrence Blair (1819-1852), and Francis Preston Blair Jr. (1821–1875). His son Frank P. (Francis Preston) Blair Jr. (1821–1875) was a politician, lawyer, and major general in the United States Army during the Civil War. He became a member of the Missouri House of Representatives from 1852 to 1856 and later represented Missouri in the United States House of Representatives (1857-1864) and Senate (1871-1873). He and his wife, the philanthropist and organizer Apolline Agatha Alexander Blair (1828–1908), had eight children, including chemist Andrew A. Blair (1848-1932), Christine Biddle Blair Graham (1852-1915), James Lawrence Blair (1854-1904), and Francis Preston Blair III (1856-1914). Elizabeth Blair Lee (1818-1906), who was also active in Washington, D. C., political and philanthropic circles, married Samuel Phillips Lee (1812-1897), a naval officer, in 1843. They had one son named Blair Lee (1857-1944), who became a lawyer, legislator and social reformer.

Alexander family

Archibald Alexander (1772–1851) was an American Presbyterian theologian and professor at the Princeton Theological Seminary. He served for twenty-seven years (1812-1840) as that institution's first principal. Joseph Addison Alexander (1809-1860) was an American biblical scholar, the third son of Archibald Alexander, brother to James Waddel Alexander was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.He graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1826, and later taught at the Princeton Theological Seminary, where he became chair of biblical and ecclesiastical history. His brother, James Waddel Alexander (1804-1859), born in Louisa County, Virginia, was a famous Presbyterian preacher. He graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1820.

Blair, Andrew Alexander (1848-1932)

Andrew Alexander Blair (1848-1932), son of Francis "Frank" Preston Blair, Jr., and grandson of Francis Preston Blair (1791-1876), graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1866, being the youngest graduate to complete the full course up until that time. He served in the navy for two years and then resigned because of illness. Blair then became an analytical chemist and was a founding member of the firm of Booth, Garrett and Blair. He was well-known in his field, publishing many papers and reports.

Blair, Apolline Alexander (1828-1908)

Apolline Alexander Blair (1828–1908) was a philanthropist who founded the St. Louis Children's Hospital in 1878 and served as the first president of its Board of Managers, which she led until 1883. After losing two of her own children to illness, Blair organized a group of twenty prominent women who raised money to purchase a building for a hospital that would serve children from poor families. The hospital opened in 1879, and Apolline Blair continued on its board until her death.

Blair, Francis Preston (1791-1876)

Francis Preston Blair Sr. (1791-1876) was an American newspaper editor, journalist, and politician. Blair was born in Virginia, raised in Kentucky, and later made a home at an estate he named Silver Spring in Montgomery County, Maryland. He was a member of Andrew Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet and advised Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. From 1831 to 1845, Blair ran The Globe (Washington, D.C.), a newspaper that promoted the interests of the Democratic Party during the administrations of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. Blair married Eliza Violet Howard Gist (1794-1877), with whom he had five children, Montgomery Blair (1813–1883), Juliet Blair (1816-1819), Elizabeth Blair (1818-1906), James Lawrence Blair (1819-1852), and Francis Preston Blair Jr. (1821–1875).

Blair, Francis Preston, III (1856-1914)

Francis Preston Blair III (1856-1914) graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1877 and served four years as a second lieutenant in the 3rd Artillery Regiment of the United States Army, first stationed at Fort Hamilton, New York. After graduating from Columbia Law School, Blair later taught cadets at the University of Missouri. He resigned from the Army in 1882 and went on to practice law in St. Louis and Chicago and participate in mining ventures in Alaska, New Mexico, and Arizona. He married Florence Price, the niece of Stirling Price (1809-1867).

Blair, Frank P., Jr. (Francis Preston) (1821-1875)

Frank P. (Francis Preston) Blair Jr. (1821–1875) was a politician, lawyer, and major general in the United States Army during the Civil War, serving with General Ulysses S. Grant at Vicksburg and General William Tecumseh Sherman in Georgia. During the Mexican-American War, Blair Jr. served briefly as the attorney general of the occupied New Mexico Territory. He became a member of the Missouri House of Representatives from 1852 to 1856 and later represented Missouri in the United States House of Representatives (1857-1864) and Senate (1871-1873). Blair Jr. was also the vice presidential candidate in the unsuccessful 1868 presidential campaign of Horatio Seymour. He became known for his advocacy of free soil politics, his plan to emancipate and deport enslaved Africans to colonize Latin America, and his role in preventing the secession of Missouri during the Civil War. He and his wife, Apolline Agatha Alexander Blair (1828–1908), had eight children, including chemist Andrew A. Blair (1848-1932), Christine Biddle Blair Graham (1852-1915), James Lawrence Blair (1854-1904), and Francis Preston Blair III (1856-1914).

Henrotin, Emily Blair (1883-1965)

Emily (Hockaday) Blair Henrotin (1883-1965) was the only child of Francis Preston Blair III and Florence Price. She married Edward Henrotin, the son of feminist social reformer Ellen Martin Henrotin (1847-1922) and Chicago businessman Charles Henrotin. Emily Blair Henrotin was a family historian who gathered papers of other Blair family members and conducted genealogical research.

The collection consists of a group of family papers and genealogical research pertaining to various Blair family members descended from Francis Preston Blair Sr. (1791-1876), the American newspaper editor, journalist, and politician. Family members represented include Francis Preston Blair Sr. (1791-1876); General Frank P. (Francis Preston) Blair Jr. (1821-1875), his wife Apolline Agatha Alexander Blair (1828-1908), and their children Francis Preston Blair III (1856-1914), Andrew A. Blair (1848-1932), and James L. Blair (1854-1904); Emily (Hockaday) Blair Henrotin (1883-1965), the daughter of Francis Preston Blair III; Gist Blair (1860-1940), the son of Montgomery Blair (1813-1883); along with others who are documented to a lesser extent, including Christine Biddle Blair Graham (1852-1915) and Violet Blair Janin (1848-1933). Materials include correspondence between family members and friends, personal and legal documents, military orders, photographs, printed materials and clippings, obituaries, family trees, genealogical charts and notes, and typewritten and published narratives detailing family history. Genealogical research files primarily pertain to the Blair family, but also include research on the Alexander, Cromwell, De la Porte, Hockaday, Madison, Price, Ceary (Cary), de Tuboeuf, Payson, Royall, Willis, Sterling, and Gist families.

Earlier materials in the collection shed light on the family's active role in 19th century American politics. Of note within the papers of General Frank P. Blair Jr. is a four-page letter, dated December 21, 1860, from Blair's father, Francis Preston Blair Sr., in which the elder Blair describes an exchange with United States Senator John J. Crittenden (1787-1863). Blair Sr. relates the advice he gave Crittenden regarding the Crittenden Compromise, the senator's ultimately unsuccessful proposal to resolve the secession crisis. In the same letter, Blair Sr. also discusses his attempts to find a position for his other son Montgomery Blair within the administration of Abraham Lincoln. Additionally, there is a small group of campaign materials from the 1968 Democratic presidential campaign of Horatio Seymour and General Frank P. Blair Jr.

The largest group of papers relate to Francis Preston Blair III. These mainly pertain to his time as a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point in the 1870s, and to a lesser extent, his first military assignment in the United States Army at Fort Hamilton, New York. Letters between Blair and his parents from his years at West Point reveal the high expectations the family set for their son. Supportive letters to Blair from notable figures such as General William Tecumseh Sherman, General Benjamin F. Butler, and General John Schofield show the reach of his family's connections.

Francis Preston Blair III was also in the same 1877 graduating class as Henry Ossian Flipper (1856-1940), the first African American man to graduate from West Point. One of General Frank P. Blair Jr.'s letters to his wife, Apolline Alexander Blair, mentions the admission of Henry O. Flipper and another African American cadet to West Point and indicates that Flipper passed the entrance exam with the highest score of any applicant. There are also newspaper clippings about Flipper filed with materials related to a centennial celebration for West Point's Class of 1877. Military orders from 1880 refer to an incident in which Johnson Chesnutt Whittaker (1858–1931), another African American cadet, was violently assaulted by his fellow cadets; Whittaker was ultimately expelled from West Point after being falsely accused and convicted of faking the incident.

Materials collected by Gist Blair (1860-1940) and others also document the family homes of the Blairs, including the Silver Spring estate in Montgomery County, Maryland, and the Blair House in Washington, D.C. Among other topics, Gist Blair's narratives include romanticized depictions of enslaved servants on his grandparents' estate. Another similar depiction of enslaved persons on a Virginia plantation can be found with genealogical research related to the Royall family.

While materials in this collection were accumulated and passed along by various Blair family members descended from Francis Preston Blair Sr., the primary family historians involved in assembling this group of materials were Emily Blair Henrotin, the daughter of Francis Preston Blair III and Florence Price Blair; and Henrotin's cousin Violet Blair Janin (1848-1933), the daughter of James L. Blair (1819-1852) and Mary Serena Eliza Jesup Blair (1825-1914). Janin appears to have passed her genealogical notes and collection of family papers onto Henrotin, whose annotations and explanatory notes can be found on a number of items. To a lesser extent, Gist Blair and Francis Preston Blair III were also involved in collecting genealogical materials related to the Blair family. One of the collectors, possibly Henrotin, was also invested in documenting African American history, as materials that relate to African Americans are often notated throughout the collection. There is also a file related to a 1916-1917 effort to create a memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring African American soldiers.

Arranged by family member, followed by a group of genealogical research materials and unassociated files.

Purchase, 2017 (AM 2017-163).

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This collection was processed by Kelly Bolding in July 2017. Finding aid written by Kelly Bolding in July-August 2017, with assistance from Julia English '19.

Blair and Lee Family Papers (C0614)

Blair Family Papers (Library of Congress, MSS12930)

No materials were separated during 2017 processing.

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Publisher

Manuscripts Division

Finding aids author

Kelly Bolding, Julia English '19

Date

2017

Creator

Blair family

Blair, Francis Preston (1791-1876)

Blair, Frank P., Jr. (Francis Preston) (1821-1875)

Blair, Apolline Alexander (1828-1908)

Blair, Francis Preston, III (1856-1914)

Blair, Andrew Alexander (1848-1932)

Blair, James L. (James Lawrence) (1854-1904)

Blair, Gist (1860-1940)

Henrotin, Emily Blair (1883-1965)

Subject

Slavery -- Extension to the territories -- United States -- Sources

Enslaved persons -- United States -- 19th century -- Sources

People

Carey family

Cromwell family

De la Porte family

De Tuboeuf family

Alexander family

Willis family

Sterling family

Royal family

Hockaday family

Gist family

Price family

Payson family

Madison family

Blair, Andrew Alexander (1848-1932)

Blair, Apolline Alexander (1828-1908)

Blair, Francis Preston (1791-1876)

Blair, Francis Preston, III (1856-1914)

Blair, Frank P., Jr. (Francis Preston) (1821-1875)

Blair, Gist (1860-1940)

Blair, James L. (James Lawrence) (1854-1904)

Blair, Violet (1848-1933)

Graham, Christine Biddle Blair (1852-1915)

Henrotin, Emily Blair (1883-1965)

Organization

United States Military Academy

Place

Fort Hamilton (N.Y.) -- 19th century -- Sources

Missouri -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Sources

Silver Spring (Md.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources

United States -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Sources

Occupation

African American military cadets -- United States -- 19th century -- Sources

Military cadets -- United States -- 19th century -- Correspondence

Politicians -- United States -- 19th century -- Sources

Language

English

Form

Card photographs. -- 19th century

Correspondence -- 19th century

Daguerreotypes (photographs) -- 19th century

Genealogical tables -- 19th century

Genealogies (histories) -- 19th century

orders (military records) -- 19th century

photographs -- 19th century