Mary (Blair) Paxton (abt.1725-1821) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

Mary Paxton formerly Blair

Born about 1725 [location unknown]

Daughter of Robert Blair [uncertain] and [mother unknown]

[sibling(s) unknown]

Wife of John Paxton II — married after 1751 [location unknown]

Descendants

Mother of Elizabeth Blair (Paxton) Houston, Joseph Paxton and James Paxton

Died 12 Aug 1821 at about age 96 [location unknown]

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Profile last modified 28 May 2023 | Created 9 Mar 2020

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Biography

It seems that John Paxton's second wife is Mary Blair, who was the daughter of Rev. Robert Blair or a James Blair, and who was the niece of Martha Blair, according to the research of Arthur B. Broddus.

Mr. Broddus has writing an interesting hypothesis with a lot of details and arguments precisely about this Mary Blair vs Martha Blair situation.

Starting on page 46, on the link, then on page 49 he concludes that John Paxton married first Martha Blair, and then after Martha died, he married Mary Blair, Martha's niece.

He points out that both Martha and her niece Mary were living in the same place.

It appears that John and Martha had three children:

Captain John Paxton, who married Phoebe Alexander.

Isabelle Paxton, who married Capt. John Lyle, (son of Mathew Lyle and Ester Blair).

Capt. William Paxton, who married Elisabeth Stuart

And then when Martha Blair died, John married Martha's niece, Mary Blair and they had 3 children:

Joseph Paxton, who married Margaret Barclay

Elizabeth Paxton, who married Major Samuel Houston

James Paxton, who married Phoebe McClung

It seems Mary's death would be 12 Aug 1821, as it is John's second wife Mary who is mentioned in John's will.

As he states from the work of Judge W.P. Houston of Lexington, Rockbridge County, Virginia who has a 16 page work "The Rockbridge County, Virginia, Paxtons (see source) On page 4 " John Paxton, the eldest son of the widow, was born in Ireland in 1715. There or after he came to America, he married Mary Blair...." "John died Feb 13th. 1787, and is buried in the old Timber Ridge graveyard...." His widow survived him many years, and died August 1821, aged over 96 years"

This would put Mary's year of birth around 1725.

Mr. Broddus also speculates that a much older grave near Johns' might be Martha's, who might have died in the 1750s.

Note: he also points out the gap between the first three children:

Capt. John Paxton born 1743

Isabelle born 1746,

Capt. William born 1751,

and then the next child, Joseph, is born 1763, then Elizabeth, (between 1760-65) James 1762, Mary 1764, Hannah 1775.

In the 1810 census, for Rockbridge, John and Mary's daughter Hannah husband James Caruthers is likely living with Hannah and Mary. Hannah's age is estimated as 40-45, and Mary's is estimated as over 65. Also likely with the 1820 census.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5802c4d9414fb5e45ce4dc44/t/5998b4f9e58c62168cf18b43/1503180036888/Blair+Family+Magazine-Fall%2C+1997.pdf

Here is a book on the Paxtons which shows John's wife as Mary, daughter of Rev Robert Blair https://archive.org/details/paxtonstheirorig00paxt/page/n65/mode/2up/search/mary+blair

And a quote from this book: "...they were married in Lancaster Co. PA, about 1742 Mary was the daughter of Rev. Robert Blair"