SAMUEL FRANKLIN BLAIR, M. D., has been identified with the practice of medicine at Cooper, Texas, for only a few years, but long enough to prove his professional ability and gain recognition as a citizen of first rank. Doctor Blair was born in Penola county, Mississippi, and is of Irish descent. James A. Blair, his grandfather, brought the family from Belfast, Ireland, to this country in 1831 and settled at Blakely, Georgia. In Ireland he had been engaged in the wholesale drug business, but after coming to this country he embarked in the hotel and merchandise business. He was twice married. His first wife, Jane (Scott) Blair, a Scotch lady, passed away before the departure of the family for America. In their family were seven sons and two daughters. Among the sons were William, John, Samuel and Charles. One of the daughters, Belle, died unmarried, and the other, Mary, died in Philadelphia as the wife of a Mr. Livingston. After a few years spent in Georgia, the Blair family moved westward to Panola county, Mississippi, where the father passed away in 1841. He fell into the ways of the people of the South, and kept a teacher in his home for the education of his children. William Blair, the eldest son, was born in 1827. In addition to the training he received at home, he attended a school at Atlanta, Georgia, where he further prepared himself for American citizenship. At the age of twenty-one years, he went to the gold fields of California. This trip was made across the plains and he reached his destination, Sacramento, when that now prosperous city was a canvas town. He engaged in mining successfully, but abandoned the mines at the end of two years, on receipt of a message from an uncle in Belfast, requesting his presence there to aid in the settlement of a family estate. Responding to the call of his Irish relative, he cashed his several thousand dollars worth of dust and sailed from San Francisco for the Emerald Isle. He made the journey without delay, found his share of the estate ready for him whenever he should decide to remain Irish and enjoy it under the laws to which the property was subject. He told his uncle that a gift of all Ireland to him wouldn't induce him to remain in the country. So he forsook his legacy, permitting it to be enjoyed by his kin under the British Crown, while he rejoined his family in the United States and resumed citizenship under the banner of liberty. From 1850 to 1861, Doctor Blair's father was a planter in Panola county, Mississippi. The outbreak of the war in 1861 found him siding with his neighbors, and he was given a mail contract by the Confederate government, the execution of which constituted his share in the war. The "bullet department," as he termed the battlefield and the firing line, was not his department of the war, and at the end of the conflict he felt no regrets at having carried the mail rather than the gun for the "lost cause." In 1878, he left Mississippi and came to Texas. He settled near Paris,TEXAS where he farmed until 1882. That year he went to Tarrant county TEXAS and engaged in the cattle business, with which he was identified until 1893, when he turned his attention to merchandising at Fort Worth TEXAS. This last named business he abandoned after a few years, but he lived in Fort Worth TEXAS up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1911. He was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church and the Masonic order. He had married Miss Ellena Shankle, daughter of Jesse Shankle, of Irish blood and a resident of Alabama. Mrs. Blair died in 1885. She was the mother of the following family: Elizabeth, wife of T. J. Selby, of Roxton, Texas; Anna, widow of Mr. Johnson, of Fort Worth; William and John, twin brothers, of Fort Worth; Mary, who died unmarried; Doctor Charles, of Percilla, Texas; Jessie, wife of Jeff Davis, of Tarrant county, Texas; Samuel Franklin, whose name introduces this biographical review; Sallie, wife of William McCarty, of Tecumseh, Oklahoma, and James E., of Fort Worth. Samuel F. Blair received his literary education in the
Fort Worth High School and the University at that
place. After his school days were over, he was for
several years employed in clerical work, and gained
some experience in his father's store, in this way drifting
around for some time before choosing a definite
course for life. Having decided on a medical profession,
he began the study of medicine in the office of Doctors
Chambers and Whitehead of Fort Worth TEXAS and subsequently
entered the medical department of the University
of Fort Worth TEXAS. After a year in college at Fort Worth,
he went to the Louisville Medical College and spent one
year in that institution. He began the practice of his
profession, upon certificate, at Klondike, Texas, before
he finished his senior year, and remained there from
year to year, delaying his graduation for ten years, and
thus it was not until 1909 that he received his diploma,
which he did from the Fort Worth Medical School. In
January, 1911, he took up his residence at Cooper,
where he has since resided and successfully conducted the
practice of medicine.
Doctor Blair belongs to the regular school of medicine
and affiliates with its various societies, including
the North Texas, State and American Medical Associations.
He has been president of the county society and
at this time is its vice president.
In a business way, Doctor Blair has shown himself
interested in local affairs to the extent of being a subscriber
to the stock of the bank organized in Klondike,
Tex., and to the building of the residence which he and
his family occupy.
January 6, 1901, at Sulphur Springs, Texas, Doctor
Blair was married to Miss Conrad Hackleman, daughter
of Conrad and Lou (Willis) Hackleman. Mr. Hackleman
is a German farmer, and he and his wife are the
parents of five children, the others being William, James,
Charles and Herman. The Doctor and Mrs. Blair have
one child, Madeline.
Fraternally, Doctor Blair is a Master Mason, and,
religiously, he conforms to the Baptist faith.