J.E. BLAIR, merchant and farmer, Bradford, is a native of Worcester county, Mass., born March 28, 1818, a sou of Artemus and Sally (Easterbrook) Blair, who were also natives of Massachusetts, of Scotch-Irish descent. J. E. is the second of nine children. In his boyhood his parents moved to the State of New York, where he was reared on a farm and was given good educational advantages. In December 1840, he came to Bradford, Penn., where there was but one log house on the present site of the town. He embarked in the lumber business, and later clerked in a store for a time. He invested in land, which he cleared of a heavy growth of timber, and has since devoted the greater part of his attention to farming. He owns 155 acres, on which are twenty-seven oil wells. In 1861 Mr. Blair was elected by the Republican party sheriff of McKean county, and at the expiration of his term was elected treasurer, being required to give bonds for $100,000. While serving as sheriff he helped to organize the regiment known as the Pennsylvania Bucktails.
Mr. Blair was married in Chautauqua county, N.Y., to Miss Calista Tozer, daughter of Richard and Polly (Fitch) Tozer, natives of Otsego county, N.Y., of English ancestry. To Mr. and Mrs. Blair have been born nine children:
Albert R., of Bradford;
Laura I., wife of James Broder;
Sarah J., wife of Corydon Emerson;
Emma, at home;
Effie, wife of A. B. Walker;
Josephine, wife of T. H. Steele, of Findlay, Ohio;
Frank P., who died, aged three years;
Elmer E., in his father's store at Bradford, and
Henry.
Mrs. Blair is a member of the Universalist Church.
