Samuel Blair

SAMUEL BLAIR was born in 1667 and married MARTHA CAMPBELL LYLE who was born in 1695 and died May 2, 1729. Samuel's second marriage was to ANN GRAHAM. Samuel owned 400 acres of freehold land. When he first married, he built a home by the waterside near the flax mill built by his grandfather, Brice. He later abandoned it for a better home he built nearby on higher ground. This later house was still in good condition, even though much altered, as late as 1900. In the first house, his daughter Esther was born. She was living in the other house when she married Matthew Lyle in 1731. The ruins of the first house remain and mark her birthplace. Six of Samuel's children came to America about 1735. Samuel died March 20, 1754 at the age of 87. He is buried in the Raloo cemetery. The Blair Coat of Arms is on his tombstone: on a saltire five mascles, in the chief a mullet, in the base a garb, in the flanks each an increscent all within a tressure. Crest: a stag courant. Motto: Amos Probos (I Love the Virtuous). Samuel and Martha had nine children as follows: 1. WILLIAM. Born about 1715, he married MARY REA and died May 26, 1788. Buried in Raloo cemetery. 2. NANCY. Married DAVID ROBINSON, born about 1683 and died May 22, 1765. Several of her sons were Hearts of Steel boys and fled from Ireland to America. They settled in Pennsylvania. Nancy lived to exceed 100 years of age. 3. ESTHER. Born about 1712, married MATTHEW LYLE on September 18, 1731. Matthew was born in 1711 and died 1774 in Rockbridge County, Virginia. "The Lyle Genealogy" by Oscar Lyle deals mainly with the descendants of this family. 4. SAMUEL. (confusion abounds on who this is) 5. JAMES. (more confusion) 6. MARY. Married December 27, 1735 in Larne, County Antrim, n. Ireland to DAVID LYLE. They probably went to South Carolina? 7. JOHN. (yet more confusion) 8. MARTHA. Born about 1721 in n. Ireland and married JOHN PAXTON in 1742 in Rockbridge County, Virginia. John Paxton was a Captain in the military and died February 13, 1787 in Lexington, Augusta County, Virginia. Martha died August 12, 1821 at the same place. Martha is said to be the Grandmother of GEN. SAMUEL HOUSTON. 9. DANIEL.