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- General James Blair was of Scots-Irish descent. In 1771, his grandfather, James Blair, Sr. with his wife Mary Harper Blair and their four sons: John (born about 1757); William (father of General James); Thomas (born 1764), and James (born 1768), came to America from County Antrim, Ulster, landing in or near Philadelphia.
They then traveled down the Great Wagon Road to South Carolina to the Waxhaw settlement to join Mary Harper's family who had arrived three years earlier. The Harper's traveled from County Antrim to Charleston on the ship Earl of Donegal, arriving December 1767. Mary Harper's parents, William and Margaret Harper, her brothers, Dr. Daniel, a physician, and Ben, all received land grants on Wild Cat Creek, Craven County (now Lancaster County). Later some of the Harpers moved to land near the Catawba River.
The immigrant, James Blair, Sr., and his family purchased land in 1778 and 1782 on the east side of the Catawba River at Lands Ford, a shallow area where there was a road crossing the river. There they built a log cabin home, developed a farm with a grist mill called the Blair River Mill Plantation, and raised their family. Their home was burned during the Revolutionary .War.
James, Sr., was deceased by 1789 and, dying without a will, his land and mill were inherited by his eldest son, John Blair, by right of primogenture, who then sold the land to his younger brothers, Thomas and James. By that time, John and William had purchased rich farmland in the Waxhaw Settlement from Mr. McKelheney, who had obtained the original land grant for it. Their farms were adjacent to each other.Because the land was so Eden like, it was called the "Garden of the Waxhaws."
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