Jacob Beeson Blair Highway Historical Marker

Jacob Beeson Blair was born on April 11, 1821 in Parkersburg, Wood County, Virginia (now West Virginia). While still a young boy, his parents died, leaving him orphaned. He received some formal education before he began an apprenticeship with a master carpenter. In 1842, however, he decided to leave his apprenticeship and began reading law under his uncle, attorney and statesman John Jay Jackson, Sr. Two years later, Blair was admitted to the bar and entered into private practice. A skilled and hard-working lawyer, he witnessed his law practice flourish. More significantly, however, Blair built a stellar reputation and vast network of contacts within his congressional district, both of which would serve him well in the near future. 

Blair’s stint in private practice, however, did not last long. Soon after, his lengthy career as a public servant began when he was elected prosecuting attorney of Ritchie County. During the secession crisis, he made his strong views against secession heard, doing all he could to keep western Virginia in the Union. In late 1861, running as a Unionist, Blair won a special election to fill the seat in the U.S. House of Representatives vacated by John S. Carlile, who represented Virginia’s Eleventh Congressional District. While in Congress, he supported the Restored (or Reorganized) Government of Virginia and was an outspoken advocate of West Virginia statehood. On New Year’s Eve 1862, Blair, along with his two congressional colleagues from Virginia, met with President Lincoln to discuss West Virginia statehood. On the president’s desk was the West Virginia statehood bill, which had been passed by both houses of Congress. The next morning, anxious to learn of the president’s decision, he climbed through an open window of the White House to obtain an answer. Lincoln informed Blair, to the latter’s delight, that he had signed the statehood bill. In late 1863, Blair won election again to the U.S. House of Representatives, this time representing West Virginia’s First Congressional District. 

Following his two terms in Congress, Blair continued his career as a public servant, first abroad and then later out west. In 1868, he was appointed minister to Costa Rica. He would serve in the position until 1873. After his time in Central America, Blair returned to the United States and moved out west to Wyoming, where he served as an associate justice on the state’s supreme court from 1876 to 1888. He then relocated to neighboring Utah, where he served as a probate judge for Salt Lake City from 1892 to 1895 and then as surveyor general of the state from 1897 to 1901. 

On February 12, 1901, Blair died suddenly at his residence in Salt Lake City at the age of seventy-nine. His remains are buried in the city’s Mount Olive Cemetery. 

In 2016, as part of its Civil War sesquicentennial project, the West Virginia Highway Historical Marker Program of the West Virginia Archives and History installed a marker dedicated to Jacob Beeson Blair. It stands near the intersection of West Virginia Route 68 and Third Street in Parkersburg, Wood County.  

Allen, Bernard L. "Jacob Beeson Blair." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. Web. 23 September 2020 <https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/print/Article/525>.

Atkinson, George Wesley and Alvaro Franklin Gibbens. Prominent Men of West Virginia. Wheeling, WV: W.L. Callin: 1890.

"Blair, Jacob Beeson." Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present. United States Congress. Web. 23 September 2020 <https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=B000525>.

"Famous Man in the Early Days of West Virginia, Was Judge Beese Blair, Who Has Passed Away." Parkersburg Daily State Journal, February 13, 1901.