Daniel Blair was born January 12, 1821 in
Raloo, County Antrim, northern Ireland. He was the eldest
son of Patrick Blair and his first wife, Janet Drummond.
Daniel came to America with his family in 1835 and lived in Crawford County,
Pennsylvania until the
discovery of
gold in California. Daniel was among thousands of people who raced
to California after gold was discovered there in 1849. He arrived there in 1850 and
it's not known how he did in the mining business but he eventually became a
successful rancher in Colusa County, California. He was killed in 1871 in a
train accident with his sister, Nancy Blair
White, in Pennsylvania. Daniel was in Pennsylvania to attend the funeral of his
brother-in-law, Henry Bole, and the accident occurred while returning from
the funeral. The deaths occurred October 14, 1871 and both were buried in Mt. Blair
cemetery in Crawford County, PA. Daniel never married so his estate was divided up among
both his half and full siblings and the surviving children of those siblings who had died
before him. The estate was worth about $32,000, quite a healthy sum for those
days. His brother, James Drummond Blair, who also lived in California, served as
executor of the will.
A newspaper account of the train accident
appears on Nancy Blair White's page.
