Blair, James

1832 - 1922  (90 years)

• Name	Blair, James
  Born	3 Feb 1832	Congleton, Sandbach, Cheshire, England
  	Congleton, Sandbach, Cheshire, England
  Gender	Male
  Emigration	1839	England
  	James sailed on the "Hero of London" with his parents
  _UID	13092B8D0C002C44B1117F90F0F128D3FD65
  Buried	Oct 1922	Port Macquarie Cemetery, Port Macquarie, Nsw
  Died	12 Oct 1922
  Person ID	I0190	Barton Family Tree
  Last Modified	17 Jul 2010

  
  

  Father	Blair, James Snr,   b. 1792, Scotland ,   d. 28 May 1852, Kooloonbung Creek, Port Macquarie, Nsw  (Age 60 years)
  Mother	Young, Mary,   b. Abt 1787,   d. 22 Jan 1861  (Age ~ 74 years)
  Family ID	F0074	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Warlters, Elizabeth,   b. 1839,   d. 23 Nov 1919  (Age 80 years)
  Married	1863
  Children	1. Blair, Laura Annie,   b. 27 Dec 1869, Port Macquarie, NSW ,   d. 19 Jun 1954  (Age 84 years)   2. Blair, Jane Mary,   b. 28 May 1854,   d. 19 Nov 1956  (Age 102 years)   3. Blair, James,   b. 13 Apr 1856,   d. 12 Nov 1928  (Age 72 years)   4. Blair, Alexander,   b. 22 Feb 1858,   d. 8 Feb 1930  (Age 71 years)   5. Blair, John,   d. Yes, date unknown   6. Blair, William Hill,   b. 2 Oct 1860,   d. Yes, date unknown   7. Blair, Robert,   b. 1862,   d. Yes, date unknown   8. Blair, Eleanor Eliza,   b. 5 Aug 1865,   d. Yes, date unknown   9. Blair, Thomas Young,   b. 24 Aug 1867,   d. 4 Oct 1949  (Age 82 years)   10. Blair, Herbert Henry,   b. 9 Oct 1872,   d. 27 Mar 1934  (Age 61 years)
  Last Modified	17 Jul 2010
  Family ID	F0065	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Emigration - 1839 - England Buried - Oct 1922 - Port Macquarie Cemetery, Port Macquarie, Nsw  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  Arrived in Austalia at age 8 years. James was a good horseman and was good at breaking horses. As a lad he took service under John Galagos at that time horse master at Major Innes Ten Mile Creek Station and from him received a practical training in the breeding and handling of stock. He became a thorough bushman and daring rider, able to muster the wildest cattle, and sit any buckjumper that was ever foaled. His services were in great request as a guide, stockman, drover or horse breaker. Wages were low in Blair's young days and on one occasion he was asked by a grazier to help muster cattle on the Ten Mile Creek. He agreed to do so for the modest remuneration of 1/6 per day for himself and horse, but to the proposal the cattle-owner strongly demurred. saying that 1/6 per day was all that he was paying his overseer. An offer of 6d. per day was flatly refused. He once rowed a boat loaded with provisions for the settlers at Kempsey to Boat Harbour, a distance of about 30 miles The journey there and back took three days and his employer Dr. R. D Benjamin a storekeeper here, rewarded him with the magnificent sum of 4/6 for the trip . . . hard earned money, indeed. In 1851 the gold discoveries effected a marvellous transformation in the conditions of things and Australia awoke from her lethargy to a new and wonderful life. The lure of gold was not strong enough to lure young Blair from pastoral pursuits and his only adventure in that line was when he acted as guide to a party of young Englishmen proceeding to the Hanging Rock (New England diggings) remaining only long enough to wash out enough gold to make a ring. In the early fifties John Breeze had the contract to carry the mails from Sydney to Port Macquarie, on horseback. Mr. M. Spence was here at the time and when there was any delay in delivery owing to floods to the southward he would enlist the services of young Blair to take the outward mail and meet the incoming mailman. The journey would be made on horse back and the route taken necessitated fording the Camden Haven River at Logans Crossing and the Manning at Lansdowne. The Taree Estate was then a wild brush with a bridle track leading through it. Much delay was sometimes experienced, owing to flooded creeks and rivers and the trip was not exactly a picnic. At times. Gloucester was reached before the incoming mailman was met when the change of loads was effected and the horses' heads were turned and the mailmen went their respective ways. In his time Blair bred horses of the Theovin blood and drove them over mountains and through rivers for sale in Sydney. In 1865 he was instrumental in locating some runaway prisoners and at the request of the Governor of the Gaol filled the position of one of the suspended warders for six rnonths. He acquired a knowledge of the saddlery business from his brother Alexander and carried on the trade in Port Macquarie for forty years after his brother left to open a saddlery business in Walcha. Cattle raising, however, was his pet hobby and engaged some of his attention throughout his life. He was a man of very genial disposition robust and healthy - with a cheery smile and ever ready greeting for all. He took a great interest in world affairs, buying every newspaper possible to keep himself well informed and was greatly interested in the projected restoration of St. Thomas' Church. He married Elizabeth, fourth daughter of Jeremiah Warlters, and his wife Jane. The couple took a property on Glebe Road "The Homestead'' in 1863. On his business property In Horton Street now occupied by Woolworths, the first sugar in Australia was manufactured. A local builder who found the heavy foundations of a previous building c. 1910 has verified this. The first sugar was also grown in Horton Street on the site now occupied by the Methodist Church. It was planted by a convict named Williams, under instruction from Captain Allman, the first Commandant to the settlement at Port Macquarie.