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JAMES BLAIR (1656`1743)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 34 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JAMES See also:BLAIR (1656`1743)  , See also:American divine and educationalist, was See also:born in See also:Scotland, probably at See also:Edinburgh, in 1656 . He graduated M.A. at Edinburgh University in 1673, was beneficed in the Episcopal See also:Church in Scotland, and for a See also:time was See also:rector of See also:Cranston See also:Parish in the See also:diocese of Edinburgh . In 1682 he See also:left Scotland for See also:England, and three years later was sent by the See also:bishop of See also:London, See also:Henry See also:Compton, as a missionary to See also:Virginia . He soon gained See also:great See also:influence over the colonists both in ecclesiastical and in See also:civil affairs, and, according to Prof . See also:Moses Coit See also:Tyler, " probably no other See also:man in the colonial time did so much for the intellectual See also:life of Virginia." He was the See also:minister of Henrico parish from 1685 until 1694, of the See also:Jamestown church from 1694 until 1710, and of Bruton church at See also:Williamsburg from 1710 until his See also:death . From 1689 until his death he was the See also:commissary of the bishop of London for Virginia, the highest ecclesiastical position in the See also:colony, his duties consisting " in visiting the parishes, correcting the lives of the See also:clergy, and keeping them orderly." In 1693, by the See also:appointment of See also:King See also:William III., he became a member of the See also:council of Virginia, of which he was for many years the See also:president . Largely because of charges brought against them by See also:Blair, See also:Governor See also:Sir See also:Edmund See also:Andros, See also:Lieutenant-governor See also:Francis See also:Nicholson, and Lieutenant-governor See also:Alexander See also:Spotswood were removed in 1698, 1705 and 1722 respectively . Blair's greatest service to the colony was rendered as the founder, and the president from 1693 until his death, of the See also:College of William and See also:Mary, for which he himself secured a See also:charter in England . " Thus, See also:James Blair may be called," says Tyler, " the creator of the healthiest and most extensive intellectual influence that was See also:felt in the See also:Southern See also:group of colonies before the Revolution." He died on the 18th of See also:April 1743, and was buried at Jamestown, Va . He published a collection of 117 discourses under the See also:title Our Saviour's Divine See also:Sermon on the See also:Mount (4 vols., 1722; second edition, 1732), and, in collaboration with Henry Hartwell and See also:Edward Chilton, a See also:work entitled The See also:Present See also:State of Virginia and the College (1727; written in 1693), probably the best See also:account of the Virginia of that time . See See also:Daniel E . See also:Motley's Life of Commissary James Blair (See also:Baltimore, 1901; See also:series xix .

No . 10, of the Johns See also:

Hopkins University Studies in See also:Historical and See also:Political See also:Science), and, for a See also:short See also:sketch and an estimate, M . C . Tyler's A See also:History of American Literature, 1607—1765 (New See also:York, 1878) .

End of Article: JAMES BLAIR (1656`1743)
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