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Brice Blair Sr (1600)

Brice Blair Sr
Born in Old Cumstock, Ayrshire, Scotlandmap
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married 1625 in Ayrshire, Scotlandmap
Descendants descendants
Died [date unknown] in Ballyvallough, Irelandmap
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Profile last modified | Created 25 Jul 2014
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Biography

Scottish flag
Brice Blair Sr was born in Scotland.

Brice is traditionally said to have fled Scotland due to religious persecution as Brice was a Covenanting Presbyterian. An old published genealogy by Ila May Fisher Maughan claimed this Brice Blair was a cousin to William Sr., "Baron" of Blair (sic) and a Rev. Brice Blair said to have founded the first Presbyterian church in Ireland, both said to have blood lines to the Royal Stewarts and other Scottish royalty.

However, Maughan's alleged genealogy of this Blair family was thoroughly debunked by William Campbell Blair in his article, "Corrected Lineage of the Blair of Blair Line in Scotland," published in Blair Family Magazine, Vol. XXVIII, No. 3 ( Fall 2010). Maughan conflated this Brice Blair with Bryce Blair of that Ilk who died 4 Feb. 1639, and also erroneously identified Brice as a son of John Blair, younger of that Ilk, who died in 1604. In fact John was the older brother, not father, of Bryce Blair of that Ilk -- a mistake that originated with Robert Douglas' initial research on the Blairs of that Ilk in the late 1700s. Furthermore, John Blair, younger of that Ilk, had only four daughters, no sons -- if he'd had a son, that son would have inherited as Laird of that Ilk rather than his younger brother Bryce. John Blair, younger of that Ilk, and his wife Isobel Boyd certainly were not the parents of this Brice Blair, Covenanter.

In his article which debunked Maughan's Blair genealogy, William Campbell Blair relied on the research of Hugh Peskett, who opined that this Blair family probably came from the Blairs of Dunskey in Scotland, whose connection to the Blairs of that Ilk (if any) is unknown.

He married Ester Peden in 1625.[1] They had issue:

  1. Ann Crawford
  2. Adam Blair
  3. Brice Blair Jr.
  4. Izabel Blair
  5. Rev. Robert Blair
  6. Daniel Blair
  7. John Blair
  8. James Blair
  9. Randal Blair

Brice, his wife, and daughter Nancy are said to have escaped Scotland in a coal sloop in the dead of night and landed in larn on the irish coast. He made his way to his cousin, Lord Edmonson at Carrickfergus at Redhall. He was granted 400 acres of land close to the village of Raloo where he built a small house and a flax mill next to a stream.

Research Notes

Maughan claimed that the ancestors of these Blairs were John Blair of that Ilk and Grissel Sempill[2], but if they were descended from them, it was not in the way Maughan proposed.

Sources

  1. Armstrong, Zella, "Notable Southern Families", Chattanooga, TN: Lookout Publishing Co., 1918, Vol. I, Archive.org, p. 133
  2. Douglas, Robert, "The Baronage of Scotland, Containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Gentry of that Kingdom. Collected from the Public Records and Chartularies of this Country, the Records and Private Writings of Families and the Works of Our Best Historians", Edinburgh: 1798, Google Books, p. 195, no. XIII

See also:

  • Peskett, Hugh. "Chiefship of Blair," 22 Aug. 1992, unpublished original research report on the Blairs of that Ilk addressed to William Campbell Blair.
  • Egerton's Genealogical Helper date1980/pg52, Lyle Family ; The Ancestry and Posterity of Mathew, John, Daniel and Samuel Lyle, 2nd para the children of Brice Blair, text images ; 40, 341, 348 .




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Rejected matches › Brice Blair (abt.1595-)

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Categories: Uncertain Family