Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1899-12-02

WAS OWNER OF MILLIONS.
Assisted In the Projection aud Pro.
motion of Thousands of MILES
OF Line guiiding.

Word was received here today that
John !. Blair. OF Blaifstown, N. j..
millionaire many times over. and one
OF the oldest railroad builders and own
ors In the country. died at o'clock this
Saturday morning.
John lnslcy Blair was born In War
ron county. ". j.. August %. iso2. and
was dlrcctly descended from John Blair.
who came to this country from Scot
land la 1870. The education received
by the boy was limited to n few months
OF schooling during the winter. and
even this ceased when he reached the
age Of II year.. About 1918 h. entered
the store OF a relative In HOPE. n. j.,
for the purpose OF learning business.
and remained 10 occupied until 1891.
when he settled In Blairstown. y. J.
Here. with his relative John Blair. he
established a general country store. but
two years later the partnership was
dissolved and the business conducted
Independently by John !. Blair before
he was Of age. For forty years he re-
manned In this place. constantly extend.
Ing his business and acquiring branches
at MARLBOROUGH. pauiinn, Huntsville,
y. j., and Johnsonburgh, n. v. Ia
which his brothers and brothcra-in-law
were associated with him ns partners.
During these years Mr.. Blair was also
Developing business Interests IN other
lines. such as Hour mills. the manufac-
turn ~ cotton. and the marketing 81 tho
produce or the country round about,
and also In wholesaiing many goods to
other HtorcH, lie iikowise niicd the Of
ice OF postmaster In Hlairstown for %
a.. a
with others In the development OF iron
mines In tho vicinity Of oxford Fur
mace. "a forge that had been In opera
ton In pre-rcvoluntionnry times. Sue
cess In this venture led, ia 1876. To Als
being connected with the organization
OF the lackawanna Coal aud Iron Co.
Ills ownership and interest In tho
building Of railroads for the transpor.
tntion Of the outputs from the mines.
OF which he was a part owner, followed
rs a matter " course. The road from
owego 20 Ithica. n. Y. was bought
and rebuilt by him and his associates
during 1919, Later. the Lcgget's Gap
road, from scranton 10 Great Bend, was
constructed and thrown open Ia 1851.
In 1879, by consolidation. the corpora
ton known ~ the Delaware. Lackn-
wanna a Western railroad came into
existence. In the development OF this
road he was actively Interested and
was one Of It's largest stockholders. He
has been engaged In railroad building
In Iowa. Wisconsin. Kansas. Nebraska,
Dakotn, Missouri and Texas. He was
the vgKnnixcr of the railroad system Of
Iowa. having built the first railroad
across that State from the MiasissiJpl
10 the Missouri rivers and subsequently,
more than ? 900 miles In Iowa aud Ne
brnska He was one ot the original di-
rectors OF the Union Pacific and was at
one time director In seventeen con-
nervativc companies, aa well az prcsi-
dent OF three. Mr.. Blair was also con-
trolling owner OF large number Of
other wealthy corporations In the east
ANA west MIR Blair has given In his
career $4,000 Co Princeton. 81 which he
was a trustee In 1866. ssl 200 To- I.afny-
cite college. and 100000 to the blair
Presbyterian academy. over one hun
drcd churches which have risen In
towns In which he was interested In the
west have been built largely through
his llhcrality, ReligiouSly Mr. Hair
was Presbyterian and In politics a
Republican. one OF Mr.. Binlr's daugh-
tcrs married Mt. Charles scribner.
founder Of the great publishing house
In New York,
John I. Blair of Blair a CO. said
today that the banking firm OF which
John !. Blair was the senior member
VIII not be impaired. The partnerahip
continues ~ before, his interest remain
Ing In the firm. The partnership ngrco-
mcnt, particularly on account Of MIR.
Blair's advanced age. carefully provid-
ed for such u contingency In order that
the business OF the firm should contlnuy
undisturbed by the death OF any menf-
herr