Thursday, November 29, 2018
Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: George H. Blair
George H. Blair was January 1863, in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada. The birth date is from the 1900 U.S. Federal Census and the birthplace was revealed in the Boston Herald, January 11, 1941, which also said Blair “was a graduate of Dalhousie College, Halifax, Nova Scotia.” The census said Blair emigrated to the U.S. in 1884.
Information regarding Blair’s art training has not been found.
Yesterday in Old Fall River: A Lizzie Borden Companion (2000) said “Blair was a staff artist for the Boston Herald. As such, he covered the Borden trial along with reporters Warren T. Billings and George H. Brennan. Blair was also a popular cartoon artist for the Boston Sunday Herald.” The trial of Lizzie Borden began June 5, 1893. She was acquitted on June 20.
Eight days later Blair got married. The Massachusetts, Marriage Records, at Ancestry.com, recorded Blair’s marriage to Marion L. Graham as June 28, 1893 in Boston.
Blair and two other Boston artists were mentioned in Profitable Advertising, August 15, 1894.
American Newspaper Comics (2012) said Blair produced seven series for the Boston Globe. The Herald said Blair joined the Globe at the turn of the century. Blair’s series, in chronological order, were Mr. Dusenbury (1900), Percy and the Hoobley Family (1901), Absent-Minded Abner (1902), Notes from an Ancestral Diary, (1903), The Great Football Game (1905), Evening Stars (1906) and Hay Fever—Harold Has It Horrid (1910).
The 1900 census said Blair, his wife and son, John, lived at 9 Montrose Street in Boston. Blair was an artist. The same address was published in Clark’s Boston Blue Book for the years 1902, 1908 and 1909. Blair was at that address in the 1910 census.
Blair and his family were Boston residents at 62 Copeland Street in the 1920 census.
Blair’a address in the 1930 and 1940 censuses was 10 Aspen Street in Boston. He was a newspaper artist. The 1940 census said Blair had three years of college.
Blair passed away January 10, 1941, at his home in Roxbury, Massachusetts, according to the Herald. He was survived by his wife and son.
—Alex Jay
Labels: Ink-Slinger Profiles
