1873, he was also an investor in the Green Bay and Minnesota Railroad, and namesake Blair, Wisconsin. Personal life On September 20, 1826, Blair married Nancy Ann Locke (1804–1888); they were the parents of four children: Emma Elizabeth Blair (1827–1869), who married prominent publisher Charles Scribner I (1821–1871). Marcus Laurence Blair (1830–1874), who died unmarried. DeWitt Clinton Blair (1833–1915), who continued businesses and expanded his father's philanthropy and had as his son, C. Ledyard Blair. Aurelia Ann Blair (1838–1865), who married Clarence Green Mitchell. He died in Blairstown, New Jersey on December 2, 1899. Philanthropy, honors and legacy His great-grandson, Episcopal bishop John Insley Blair Larned, was named after him. He founded Blair Academy in 1848, and helped to found Lafayette College (in Easton, Pennsylvania) and Grinnell College (in Grinnell, Iowa). At Princeton University, in Princeton, New Jersey, he endowed a geology professorship, first held by Arnold Henry Guyot. The endowed chair is the second oldest at the school; as of the start of the 2000–01 school year there were 172 such endowed chairs. He also served as trustee from 1866 until his death. In remarks at his installation as trustee, Blair noted that he had received little formal education and had spent most of his life as a businessman learning addition but that now "I have come to Princeton to learn subtraction." Blair provided funds to build Blair Hall, which was constructed in 1897 by Cope & Stewardson. References External links Blair Society Papers of John Insley Blair 1802 births 1899 deaths Grinnell College people New Jersey Republicans People from Blairstown, New Jersey People from Hope Township, New Jersey American people of Scottish descent 19th-century American politicians