F Celtic origin, the family of Blair has been found in Scotland for many hundreds of years, dating back, it is thought, to the twelfth century. The Celtic meaning of the name is a cleared field, or a moss or heath, although some etymologists make the word signify a battlefield.
As english supremacy, through drastic civil and religious measures made Scottish life more and more difficult, opportunities for emigration on the part of the loayal and freedom-loving Celts, were accepted with the hope that great liberty would make life more endurable.
During the reign of James I, the conolization of the Northern Province of Ireland was pressed with considerable urge, and in facilitation of this measure James offered, in 1612, numerous small holdings to loyal British subjects exiling the native Irish to less fertile territory. Thousands of Scottish emigrants went from their native land to new homes in Ireland at that period, and among them was a company of young men from Argyleshire. Of these, several bore the name of Blair. They settled in Londonderry, and other parts of Ulster, where by industry and thrift they became prosperous. However, life for them was not easy since the Irish whom they had superseded, regarded them with bitter hatred, and the English, while under some regimes favorable, in others made every endeavor to supplement the staunch Scotch Presbyterianism of the settlers and make dominant the English Church.
Matters culminated in the reign of William and Mary, in the dreadful and historic siege of Londonderry, in 1688, when the forces of James II were held back by the valiant soldiers and citizens of Londonderry, stronghold of the Protestant forces. Among these brave men was one Thomas Blair, who, while he was a native of the nearby village of Glendarmot, so nobly aided the cause of Derry, finally dying as a result of his injuries, that the townsfolk of the latter place requested that he be buried with others of his comrades who fell in that memorable and harrowing siege.
James Blair, intimately connected with the Blairs of our interest, was with his family and his brother Abraham, a native of the lovely village of Aghadowey, County Antrim, Ireland. The brothers owned a bleach green for the use of the weavers whom they employed, for the work of weaving constituted a large part of the industry of the section so peacefully pursuing its life in 1688. But Abraham Blair went to Derry to aid the great cause, and his kindred suffered much at the hands of the soldiers of the deposed king. Rachel, the wife of his brother James, contrived to evade the soldiers and protect her children. The gravestone erected to her memory is still standing in Aghadowey Churchyard, giving her death as occurring March 10, 1700, when she was fifty-six years of age.
The times in Ireland were difficult. The villagers were surrounded by Roman Catholics, whose bitter enmity had been first aroused by the taking of their property by the Crown of England, and then through the generations, had been fed by religious prejudice. The natives of Aghadowey were in constant dread and added to this, while as dissenters, allowed religious liberty by the government, they were forced to pay tithes, ever a grievous burden; and an added anxiety was the fact that their land was held in lease from the Crown and not in their own right. Many sought refuge in the colonies of the new world. Among these were Abraham Blair, and Robert Blair, the son of James and Rachel (Boyd) Blair. It is conjectured that James Blair accompanied them when they sailed to New England, for he is not buried in Aghadowey Churchyard with his wife, and it is also believed that others of his sons were among the emigrants.
