BlairAndCernyFamilie..

In l!08 the firm idea existed within himself to quit farming
and rellsys himself of the hard and heavy work on the farme
and in 1909 he and his family retired frorn farming and moved
to Springflelde Illlnois and they made their home at 309 f{est
Edwards street. The home farm was rented to l,lr and Hrs Frank H.
l{elch and they farmed the land. He also o*'ned another farm that
consisted of 100 acres. It was located west of Illiopolis and
was rented and farmed by Hr and Hrs Payne.
Hany years after the family nnved to Springfieldl Illinois he
was hit by an automobile at Sixth and Jefferson streets at ten
orclock in the morning. The car that hit him was driven by
Fred Shuster, manager of the Illinois Dairy Conpany. He had a
broken left leg below the knee and suffered a number of other
bruises. This accident happened in 1924.
Fh ouned and drove a Graham Paige automobile. This was a touring
car and many trips were made to Illiopolis to oversee the farms.
In the later years of his life his daughter, Hayme would always
do the driving. These trips were uaually made on the Fourth of
July and in the early fall of the year but never in the winter.
In 1928 he deeded the farm horne place of 140 acres to his son,
John Thomas Blair, the Payne farh as it was called to his
daughterr Hayme Blair and the residence in Springfield to his
daughter, Kathryn Bl ai r l.loss.
Grandfather Blair died Novenber 4, 1935 at his horne in Springfi'eld.
He had been to early Mass at 6:J0 A.H. at St. Agnes church and
walked home and rested for a fen minutes nfiile his daughterl Hayme
prepared his breakfast. He died suddenly of a heart attack.
He surely was a courag@us and fearless person and his thought
mlst have been that genius does wtrat it must and talent does what
it can since he had the hindsight to know nhere he had been, the
foresight to know where he was going and the insight to know when
he had gone far enough.