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Post by pancho on Dec 13, 2010 20:59:24 GMT -5
I wonder if someone can help to get me on the right track concerning my ancestor, Alamo defender John Blair. It appears by all accounts that it's fairly certain that he was one of the dead. I'm just trying to get him from his registration as a married man for one league of land in Zavala's Colony on the February 19, 1835 to the Alamo where Louis Rose testified he left him on March 3, 1836. There is a J.C. Blair listed on a muster roll for Parrott's artillery company who may be John Blair. I don't know when Parrott's battery arrived in Bexar or if they came with Bowie (some references say John Blair came to Bexar with Bowie). John Blair (sometimes abbreviated as Jno.) voted for Maverick and Badgett at the Alamo on February 1, 1836 and is 37th on a hand written list of the dead (Last name with Jno. penciled in) right below a Rose with no first name. I think that handwritten list is the one made for a newspaper later in 1836 but I'm not certain. It has been speculated in "Traces" that John was a late reinforcement having left for some reason after the vote and returning on March 3d.....seems a stretch to me, but... Any help with John's time line would be greatly appreciated.
In the past there has been some confusion with the other defender, Samuel C. Blair who was a CPT of artillery, I believe. It has been incorrectly reported that John and Samuel were brothers......they were not. They may have known each other but there is no apparent family connection.
Thank you for your kind assistance.
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Post by sloanrodgers on Dec 13, 2010 23:54:03 GMT -5
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Post by pancho on Dec 14, 2010 12:07:03 GMT -5
Thank you sir. I did not have those two references.
Bob Blair
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Post by sloanrodgers on Dec 15, 2010 0:38:24 GMT -5
Thank you sir. I did not have those two references. Bob Blair You're welcome Pancho. Have you seen the bounty and donation grants mentioned above? They would probably reveal a lot more on this person. Later.
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Post by sloanrodgers on Dec 15, 2010 22:43:56 GMT -5
Pancho here are various land grants for the numerous John Blairs although I don't know which are connected to your ancestor. Some have PDF documents that may be helpful in making a connection. There seems to be trouble with two donation grants. One, file #000687 for a John Blair was approved in 1858, but was sent to the Court of Claims and the other, file #000585 for L.J. Blair (widow for a John Blair) was sent in 1881 to the Board of Veterans. In these two cases the acreage apparently was not patented and the grant was lost. Maybe the Milam Donation (file #001276, patented for a 160 ac.) and various bounty land grants will be more fruitful. Sometimes Texas research ain't easy. Texas General Land Office, Land Grant Database http://www. Deleted.
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Post by sloanrodgers on Dec 16, 2010 16:50:38 GMT -5
Oops! For some reason the link above turned whacky. If anyone is still interested, go to the the GLO grant link below, type John Blair in the original grantee box and rather obviously hit search. www.glo.texas.gov/cf/land-grant-search/index.cfm
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Post by Hollowhorn on Dec 15, 2011 15:16:35 GMT -5
I came across a reference to a Kevin Brown who had recorded a self penned song called ‘Lancashire Blood On a Texas Floor’ about Alamo defenders who hailed from Preston, Lancashire. I mailed him to ask for further information & he replied with the following;
“This info came to light as I was digging around the Travis county library in Austin Texas amidst some very 'dusty' journals after first hearing about them during a visit to the Alamo itself. It was in that book ( no info ) that the town of Preston was mentioned ( unconfirmed ) Whilst that fact is unconfirmed there were men from Lancashire listed among the defenders. They hailed from Lancaster, this can be confirmed I believe”
Anyone here know if there is any truth to this?
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Post by Allen Wiener on Dec 15, 2011 17:38:25 GMT -5
Do not recall now, but a few years ago when I was researching this it seems I did find some info that confirmed this.
****** SHAMELSS SELF PROMOTION ALERT!! *******
From that classic contribution to the body of Alamo literature, Music of the Alamo: From 19th Century Ballads to Big-Screen Soundtracks, by William Chemerka and that other guy, I offer the following info on this recording:
(Released in 2005) CD Tin Church - Kevin Brown (Doodah Records DD04). Includes the blues number "Lancashire Blood on a Texas Floor," which honors Alamo defenders who came from Lancashire, Brown’s home county in England.
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Post by Hiram on Dec 16, 2011 13:59:13 GMT -5
I can't claim any in-depth personal research on the subject of European-born defenders, but I will say what I have done in terms of research has found sparingly little about the original whereabouts of these men. It's quite natural that folks would want to link locals to historic events, so my advice would be to "approach with caution" a source which claims to have specific information about birthplaces of defenders without collaborative evidence.
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Post by Hollowhorn on Jan 11, 2012 16:50:03 GMT -5
I have recently seen Anthony Wolf's sons named as 'Benjamin' & 'Michael' Does anyone know where & when this information surfaced?
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Post by Hollowhorn on Apr 6, 2012 16:53:33 GMT -5
No takers for the above question? OK. Onwards & upwards.............. I was reading Tom Lindley's review of the 2004 Alamo movie, he says in part:
Can anyone here shed any further light on this?
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Post by Allen Wiener on Apr 6, 2012 23:05:12 GMT -5
Joe apparently recalled other blacks being in the Alamo, including a woman "who was found dead lying between two guns," a cook named Bettie and a man named Charlie, who is said to have saved her life, and his, in the Alamo kitchen.
I cannot locate a source with names of Wolf's sons.
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Post by Hollowhorn on Apr 7, 2012 5:09:39 GMT -5
a woman "who was found dead lying between two guns," I wonder how TRL managed to identifiy her as Herndon's girlfriend? Perhaps he was joking. It's from 'The Alamo Book of Days': I see they have an F/B page, I'll ask over there.
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Post by Hollowhorn on Apr 7, 2012 7:38:45 GMT -5
I found this reference for the boy's surnames in the book 'Pioneer Jewish Texans' by Natalie Ornish, Sara Alpern-Tarlow. On-line book hereBottom of page. And a reference to Herndon: In the Alamo's Shadow
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Post by Allen Wiener on Apr 7, 2012 9:12:19 GMT -5
I found this reference for the boy's surnames in the book 'Pioneer Jewish Texans' by Natalie Ornish, Sara Alpern-Tarlow. On-line book hereBottom of page. Too bad the sources (footnotes 37 & 38) aren't available in the book preview. I'd like to know the source of their names. Interesting sources; thanks for posting.
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