William Blair

Ancestors

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Biography

I was born in Murphy, Cherokee County, NC. My wife, Jean and I have two daughters and four grandchildren - two boys and two girls. We live on Lake Oconee, GA - about half-way between Atlanta and Augusta.

Possibly the most interesting fact about me is that my 4X great grandfather, Col. James Hayes Blair fought in the American Revolution, where, at the age of 17 was an express rider who warned Patriots at the Battle of Kings Mountain of the impending attack by British forces. He became known as the "Paul Revere of the South," and was the subject of a poem written about his ride called "The Ride of the Rebel." After the Revolution, he was an Indian Agent, and surveyed the boundary between Cherokee Indian lands and the State of Georgia for the state. That boundary became known as "The Blair Line." But the Colonel's family ties are most interesting.

In 1779, James Hayes married Mary Elizabeth Powell. They had 11 children. But meanwhile, he also partnered with a young Cherokee girl, Sal-Lie Sarah Watie, and over the next several years, together they had three, and possibly four or five children of their own. At least two of those three children, George Oo-di-qua-ne-si Blair and Jennie Blair Sweetwater were relocated in 1838 over the Trail of Tears to the new Cherokee Nation in what became Oklahoma.

Jennie Blair Sweetwater, her husband and four children all died on the Trail somewhere near Nashville. Their gravesites are unknown. George made it to Oklahoma, along with the children he had at the time. But, his first wife, Sarah Blythe Blair, died on the Trail somewhere near Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The location of her gravesite is also unknown.

In 1885, George purchased the original cabin home built by Sequoyah in the new Cherokee Nation from Sequoyah's widow. Sequoyah developed the first Cherokee language syllabary (alphabet) before he relocated to Oklahoma prior to the Trail of Tears. George died in 1887 at the age of 98, and is buried in the Blair Cemetery, along with many other family members, beside the historic Sequoyah property and Park.

Sources

• First-hand information. Entered by William Blair at registration.