William J. Blair

William J. Blair, farmer and magistrate of Hardeman County, is a native of South Carolina, born October 19, 1836, the second in a family of twelve children born to Thomas and Edith (Black) Blair. The parents were married in South Carolina about 1831 or 1832 and in 1836 immigrated to Tennessee and settled in Madison County, where they lived some time when they came to Hardeman County. William J. has made farming his principal occupation in life but at one time was engaged in school teaching. He was reared in Madison County but in 1855 moved to McNairy County where he lived four years, when he immigrated to Rusk County, Tex., where his wife died. He remained there one year and in 1860 returned to Tennessee and in 1863 enlisted in Company C, Seventh Tennessee Regiment Mounted Infantry, under Gen. Forrest’s command and remained with him until the fall of 1864, when he was severely wounded at Collierville, Tenn. He was left near Salem. Miss., with a family named Powell who tenderly cared for him until he recovered. After a partial recovery he returned home and was immediately captured by the Federal forces and was sent as a prisoner of war to Camp Chase, Ohio, but was finally paroled at Vicksburg in the spring of 1865. He then returned home and for eight years was engaged in teaching school. In 1870 he purchased the farm where he now lives and has been successful in acquiring a competency of this world’s goods, owning 500 acres of good land. Mr. Blair has been three times married. His first wife was Miss Nancy Suggs whom he married February 8, 1854. She was a native of North Carolina, a member of the Missionary Baptist Church and died July 18, 1860, the mother of two children. December 23, 1868, he married Miss Elizabeth Steward, a native of Madison County, and a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. She died in March, 1873. They were the parents of one daughter. October 11, the same year, Mr. Blair married Miss Minerva Steward, a sister of his second wife and to them has been born four children. He is a Democrat in politics and has served his county as deputy sheriff. Mr. and Mrs. Blair are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Source: “The Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee, 1886”