Mary “Polly” Hanna Blain
BIRTH 1772
USA
DEATH 28 Nov 1824 (aged 51–52)
USA
BURIAL
Old Stone Presbyterian Church Cemetery
Lewisburg, Greenbrier County, West Virginia, US
Mary "Polly" Hanna was the daughter of Matthew Hanna and Martha Montgomery. She married Rev Daniel Blain on 3rd Jun 1799, in Lexington, Virginia. In 1814, she became a widow, yet she remained at their Lexington home another 20 years. She then moved in with her children in Lewisburg, where she died. Lewisburg, was then in Virginia, later becoming West Virginia.
She was her husband's "helper in all his cares, industrious, neat and careful, but finding time for the cultivation of her mind." He believed there were about 21 Presbyterian ministers decended from this family. Lots of data in this source on the Blains: 5 Jan 1898 issue of the Lexington Gazette, article written by A.R., Central Presbyterian.
See a lovely article in the 5 Jan 1898 issue of the Lexington Gazette, published every Wednesday by Barclay (Maj Elihu H Barclay editor) and Company, on page 2. It was titled An Old House and a Noble Family. The first 3 columns describe Matthew Hanna and family, including Rev. Daniel Blain and his kin. It was written by "A.R., Central Presbyterian." The eldest (daughter) of these because the wife of Rev. Daniel Blain, so long Professor of Languages at Washington College, and an acceptable and useful minister in the congregations to which he preached in Rockbridge. He supplied Oxford, and I think for some years Timber Ridge also, though still finding his place in the college. This wife was his helper in all his cares, industrious, neat and careful, but finding time for the cultivation of her mind. Mr. and Mrs. Blain were married in the spring of 1799. For some time Mr Blain had been assistant teacher in the New London Academy. When in April, 1799, Mr. Baxter, the principal removed to Lexington, Mr. Blain with his bride, took their places in the in the nearest house, and Mr Blain continued the school for some months longer. But in the fall of 1799 being appointed Professor of Languages in Washington Academy, he left New London and rejoined his former colleague in Lexington......
Sources were Rev. J.A.M. Hanna's book Hanna of Castle Sorbie, page 317. My copy says Mary was born in "1778" and the 2nd source is an "Unknown writer "Handwritten note in the files of the Rev, James Stanton Forman Blain," Ancestor Box #1, Daniel file." No other details were given. BS believes she was born on 15 Dec 1772 in Lexington, VA, which I haven't been able to verify as yet.
There is a sketch of her from an old etching in Hanna of Castle Sorbie, Scotland, and Descendants," by Rev. James Arthur M. Hanna, Edwards Bros., Ann Arbor, MI, 1959, p. 318.
Married - On Thursday last by Rev. Baxter, John A. North, Esq., of Greenbrier County, to Miss Charlotte Blain, daughter of the late Rev. Daniel Blain, professor of languages in Washington College, Lexington (The 17 Jul 1819 issue of the Lexington News-Letter. p. 3, c. 1).
Rev. Daniel Blain's daughter Martha Blain, married widower John H Myers, the son of John Myers and Charlotte Miller in 1834. They had children: Mary Miller, 10 Oct 1837 - 11 Jan 1863, wife of Rev. Henry M White, no kids; Louisa Libbey, 5 Nov 1839 - 7 Aug 1859; John D, 4 Sep 1841; Henry H, 1 Aug 1843 - 14 Aug 1901, husband of Mary E Nelson, had kids; Charlotte North, 12 Aug 1844 - 15 Jul 1871; Susan Harrison, 26 Sep 1847 - 19 May 1904, wife of REv. W H F Wallace, had kids; Elizabeth Preston, 12 Mar 1850, wife of Judge John A Lacey, had kids and Samuel Blain, 5 Oct 1852 - 1853.
T.C. Miller's West Virginia and Its People, Volume 1, p 289-291.
Her marker says:
SACRED
to the memory of
MARY,
Wife of Rev. D. Blain,
Prof. Law in W. College, Virginia,
who closed a life of exemplary piety
& usefulness on the 28th of
November, 1834, aged 62.
The fame that pious virtue gives
All sumptuous Monuments outlives,
Reader, would you secure such praise
to learn religion’s pleasant ways.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60341295/mary-blain
