Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1880-04-01

From the Pittsburg Gazette ]


Mr. Blaine came into public life, if not by
law of heredity, yet by strong association
in his immediate family. His great-grand-
father, Colonel Ephraim Blaine, of Carlisle,
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, was Com
missary- General of the Revolutionary Army
from ITS to the close of the struggle in 1888
The high esteem in which Colonel Blaine
was held by Washington and his great com.
patriot leaders in the Revolution is attested
by numerous letters from them, official and
unofficial, still in the possession of Colonel
Blaine's descendants in this State.
Mr.. Blaine's grandfather. for whom he is
named, intended originally to enter upon a
professional and political career, but some
what prolonged residence in Europe after he
had completed his studies, diverted him, as
it has so many young Americans, from fol.
lowing his first and better ambition. He re-
turned to his home in 1898, bringing with
him as special bearer of dispatches cele-
brated treaty with foreign government,
since become historic, and afterwards led
chiefly the life of private gentleman.
MIR. Blaine's father was born and reared IN
Carlisle, and after an extended tour in Eu-
rope, South America and the West Indies,
returned to spend the greater portion of his
life in the adjoining county of Washington,
WucTt u6 uIcu UClOlt LIS sui WdS iuily
grown. He came west about 1918, having
the largest landed possessions of any man OF
his age in Western Pennsylvania, owning an
estate which, had it been preserved, would
have amounted to day to many millions.
AS single item in that estate, it may inter-
est the present generation of Plttsburgers to
recall that in 1926 Mr. Ephraim L. Blaine
(the Senator's tather) decided to the Econo-
mites the splendid tract of land on which
their town with all its improvements and all
its wealth now stands. The price was $780,
600 for property whose value to-day, even
if unimproved, would be O princely fortune.
There were also timber tracts on the Alle-
gheny and coal tracts on the MonOngahela,
at that day of no special value, which now
represent large fortunes in the hands of those
lucky enough to hold them. Very near the
large tracts owned by his father and grand
father, Senator Blaine is now the possessor
of one of the most valuable coal properties
in the Monongahela Valley. In area it is
but fraction of that which. he might have
hoped to inherit, but in value it is manifold
greater than the whole landed estate of his fa-
ther fifty years ago.
II is not matter of much interest in polit-
ical annals, but there are some still living
who remember that Mr.. Blaine's father and
grandfather were especially and widely noted
as gentlemen of great elegance of manner
and culture. Both had travelled in foreign
lands in the early days when travelling abroad
was rare, both were highly educated, and
both had a great deal of that aristocracy of
bearing and pride of family from which the
Senator is robustly and cheerfully free.
Special pains were taken by Mr.. Blaines
father to give his son thorough intellectual
training. He was under the best tutorage in
his earliest years, and at the age of eleven
was sent to Lancaster, Ohio, to school, where
he lived in the family of his relative, the
Hon. Thomas Ewing, at that time Secretary
of the Treasury. General Thomas EWING
at present in Congress, his cousin, and of
the same age, was his classmate under the
tuition of an Englishman named William Ly-
ons, brother of the elder Lord Lyons. and
uncle of the late British Minister at Wash
ington.
In November, 1843, Mr.. Blaine entered
the Freshman class of Washington College,
and graduated in September, 1S47, at the
age of seventeen years and eight months.
In class of thirty three members, Mr..
Blaine shared the first honor with John Q.
Hervey, now superintendent of Public In
struction at Wheeling He was diligent,
ambitious student, specially excelled in math-
ematics and Latin, and was marked also for
his proficiency in Logic and Political Econ
omy. His college guardian was his uncle,
the Hon. John II. Ewing, at that time Repre-
sentative in Congress from the Washington
District, and who still lives at an advanced
age, with very lively interest in the fortunes
of his nephew.