The Blair Family of Blair Castle

Blair Castle, Ayrshire Scotland

It is relatively easy to trace the Blair family back to 1155 in Blair, Ayrshire  Scotland.  They were well-connected and many married into other noble Scottish families.  Blair Castle, itself provided hospitality to the likes of Mary, Queen of Scots, William Wallace and Robert the Bruce over its long and colourful history.   It would take a much larger volume to explore the adventures of these early Blairs so we will begin with the generation of the family who first came to North America.

This is how they are related to me:

James Blair & Rachel Boyd
  William Blair & Mary Gray
    Elizabeth Blair & Samuel Patterson
      Elizabeth Patterson & James Johnson
        Rachel Johnson & James Rogers
          Jane Rogers & John Bragg
            Charles Bragg & Matilda Swallow
              John Thomas Bragg & Julia West Gamble
                Rusty Bragg & Dorothy Harrigan
                  Me.

In the mid 1600s religious and political pressure were brought to bear on the family at Blair Castle.  Staunch Presbyterians, they were being strongly urged to join the Church of Scotland which was part of Henry VIII's Church of England. Rather than bowing to this pressure, they emigrated to the North of Ireland and settled in a town called Aghadowey in the County of Antrim.  The Laird who led them from Scotland was David, father of James Blair, our first ancestor to cross the sea to the Americas.

James was born in Agadowey about 1640 and married his childhood sweetheart, Rachel Boyd in 1660.  During the siege of Londonderry James fought with the British, while Rachel and her children hid in the nearby woods to stay safe from the fighting.  Later, in 1700, when Rachel died, James placed a large monument in her honour in the village square which stands today and is in remarkable condition.

James and Rachel had 3 sons, Robert, John and William who were partners in the town's bleaching greens.  Farmers who grew flax would bring their crops to be dipped in salt water and spread out over the course grass in the sunshine.  At the right time, the flax would be spun to thread by local farm women and then woven into linen and made into clothing and linens.

However, within a generation, the old political pressures again arose to make their lives difficult and so, once again, the family was on the move.

In 1718, along with their elderly father, William, Robert and John Blair set sail for Boston on one of the "Eagle Wing" or "Lady Sellerooke" for a three month journey across the Atlantic. The three families settled at Worcester, Massachusetts and promptly started building a new life.  They were prosperous businessmen and active in the affairs of the town, raising fine respectable families and supporting their neighbours.

In 1739, William's daughter, Elizabeth married Samuel Patterson who had come with them on the voyage from Ireland and with whom they maintained close ties even though the Pattersons had moved on to settle in Londonderry, New Hampshire.

Elizabeth and Samuel's  daughter, Elizabeth Patterson was one of the first women to settle near Truro in Nova Scotia after the expulsion of the Acadiens.  With promises of fertile soil, already cultivated, plenty of sunshine and water the families were convinced that this new land would be better than the inland and mountainous New Hampshire hills.  In 1761, along with her husband, James Johnson and her children Elizabeth and many of her neighbours moved to Land Grants provided them by the British Government.  They were known as the Cobequid Planters.  She was one of the first persons buried in the Robie Street Cemetery in Truro which just celebrated its 250th Anniversary.

Little Church at Oxford Junction
All Bragg Graves

James and Elizabeth had a daughter, Rachel who married a dashing young man from Londonderry township in Nova Scotia named James Rogers.  James and his brothers had just applied for a grant of land at Shepody which is now in New Brunswick and so that is where he and Rachel married and began their family.  Their oldest daughter, Sarah married a young man named Thomas Dobson Taylor who had a farm at Windham Hill in Cumberland County.  At one time, Sarah's younger sister, Jane came to visit and Jane was very taken with the Taylor's neighbour, John Bragg.  John was a vigorous young man, fresh from Somerset in England and busy with starting a farm in this picturesque part of the country.  Within a year, the two were married.  John was a man of superlatives.  Everything was done to its best.  He was a great believer in education, being uneducated himself, and so when his children came along, he started a school at his home and invited the neighbours to send their youngsters.  He was active in local politics and served as a Justice of the Peace for the County for many years.  It is said that he was the inspiration for a character in the Thomas Chandler Halliburton book, "Sam Slick, the Clockmaker".  John and Jane had 7 children, many of whom are buried in the little churchyard at Oxford Junction.  The church was built for the wedding of their daughter, Amy Ann with wood from John Bragg's woodlot.

Charles and Matilda Bragg's Home
Collingwood Corner

Their third child, Charles Bragg married a young widow, Matilda Swallow Vincent.  They had 7 children along with Matilda's daughter Eldora, from her first marriage.  Charles ran the store at Collingwood Corner and the family grew up in the gleeming white two story home next door.  The family is made up of 6 boys and a girl, Mary Jane who died at age 8.  Matilda died shortly before 1900 and two of her boys, Warren and John headed west to find adventure.  At the age of 14, John must have been one of the youngest homesteaders in all of southern Alberta.  It wasn't until years later that the boys were to learn that the little creek where they camped and where they provided hospitality for the Dominion Land Surveyors - had been named for them - Bragg Creek.  Not ready to settle down yet, Warren moved on to BC and worked on a large cattle ranch there, while John took the train and returned to Nova Scotia and home.

John Bragg

John found himself working at the Castlereagh Silica Mine around 1902.  Castlereagh was just over the mountain from his home in Collingwood but he boarded at the mining camp during the week.  Soon he was besotted with the lovely young lady who cooked their meals and kept the boarding house clean.  One evening after supper  he asked Julia to go picking blueberries.  When they returned they were engaged to be married and were planning their eminent move back to Alberta.

Julia Gamble climbed on a train in Truro to begin her cross country journey, having never been farther away from home than Portaupique which was 19 miles down the road.  John had gone on ahead to arrange for a place to live and a job for himself.  He had written to her every day, and now she was counting the hours until she stepped off the train in Gleichen and into his arms.  However, when she arrived and climbed down onto the platform there was no one there to meet her.  As the train chugged out of sight, Julia was able to look around.  A few small stores and buildings, the train station and miles and miles of rolling hills.  Fortunately, John appeared about then, with apologies for being late - he and his friends were celebrating his coming nuptials.  I wonder what she, a staunch Methodist, thought of that?

Julia and John were my grandparents, my father's parents and certainly a long way from Blair Castle in Ayrshire, Scotland.