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In the early fourteenth century , Lihou may have become the origin of a local legend about a wealthy Bailiff of Guernsey who attempted to have an innocent peasant executed on false charges of theft of silver cups . In either 1302 or 1304 , a priory servant called Thomas le Roer was alleged to have murdered one of the monks . The Bailiff and several assistants attempted to apprehend Le Roer but he did not surrender and was subsequently killed by Ranulph Gautier , one of the Bailiffs assistants . Gautier tried to find sanctuary in a nearby church and eventually fled to England , before returning to Guernsey when the king pardoned him . However , some years later Gautier was tortured to death in Castle Cornet , but it is not known why .
The priory was seized in 1414 by King Henry V of England along with a number of alien priories . In the first three centuries , there were several Priors appointed , sometimes with short tenures , but in 1500 Ralph Leonard was installed as Prior for life . However , within decades the Priory was abandoned , with evidence of Thomas de <unk> being the final Prior around 1560 . There is also evidence that the priory was allocated to John After in 1566 , who had also been appointed as the Dean of Guernsey .
In 1759 the Governor of Guernsey , John West , had the priory destroyed to prevent French forces from capturing the island during the Seven Years ' War . In the early nineteenth century , a farmhouse was built on Lihou , and the island was listed as being owned by Eleazar le Marchant , who held the post of lieutenant bailiff of Guernsey . Eleazar made an ultimately unsuccessful attempt , in 1815 , to suppress the seaweed industry based around Lihou . In a book published in the same year , William Berry noted the presence of an " iron hook of a gate hinge " on some rocks , approximately three miles out at sea from Lihou , along with the remains of old roads , and surmised that Lihou may have been significantly larger in the past but that the sea had eroded a considerable portion . Through the remainder of the nineteenth century and the start of the twentieth century , the island changed hands between a succession of owners including James <unk> in 1863 , Arthur <unk> in 1883 , and Colonel Hubert de Lancey Walters in 1906 .
During World War II , the Channel Islands were occupied by the Germans from 1940 @-@ 1945 , and Lihou was used for target practice by the German artillery , causing the farmhouse to collapse completely . During the summer of 1952 , the ruins of the priory were studied in some detail by John and Jean le <unk> . In 1961 , Lieutenant @-@ Colonel Patrick Wootton purchased Lihou . Wootton had plans to develop the island , beginning in the following year first by clearing the area of the old farmhouse , in preparation for the building of a new farmhouse , with construction work continuing into 1963 . He organized summer camps for young adults on the island and imported sheep from the Orkneys which could consume seaweed . In 1983 Wootton decided to emigrate to Prince Edward Island , in Canada , and the island was sold to Robin and Patricia Borwick . In 1995 the island was bought by the States of Guernsey . The ruins of the priory are possibly the most extensive religious relic in Guernsey . There have been several studies and excavations of the ruins , including archaeological investigations in 1996 , and in 1998 , when several twelfth @-@ fourteenth century graves were unearthed .
= = Economy = =
Historically , Lihou was an important location for a commercially significant industry based around the harvesting of seaweed ( or <unk> in the local language , <unk> ) . Records suggest considerable activity as early as the beginning of the nineteenth century . The value of the seaweed as a fertiliser was so great that in 1815 <unk> Le Marchant , lieutenant bailiff of Guernsey and owner of Lihou , initiated a court case to prevent islanders from drying seaweed on the beaches of Lihou . The case eventually led to new regulations issued in 1818 by the Bailiwick legislature , known as the Chief Pleas at the time , based on a review of ancient royal decrees . However , the Royal Court of Guernsey ruled in favour of the islanders in 1821 , with the effect that permission to harvest seaweed on Lihou was granted to inhabitants of the parishes of St Peters and St <unk> . More than a century later , in 1927 , a factory was established on the island to produce iodine from the seaweed .
The economic mainstay of the island is now ecological tourism , based around the farmhouse , which is operated by the Lihou Charitable Trust , although overall responsibility for the island remains with the Environment Department of the States of Guernsey . Lihou and several other small Channel Islands such as Herm and Sark , issued their own stamps until 1969 , when the States of Guernsey assumed responsibility for postal services in the Bailiwick , which had previously been provided by the UK Government .
= Jennifer Blow =
Jennifer Blow ( born 10 January 1991 ) is an Australian goalball player and is classified as a B3 competitor . Having only started playing the sport in 2009 , she has several goalball scholarships . She plays for the New South Wales women 's goalball team in the Australian national championships , where she has won three silver medals . As a member of the national team , she has competed in the 2010 World Championships , 2011 IBSA Goalball World Cup and the 2011 African @-@ Oceania regional Paralympic qualifying competition . She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in goalball .
= = Personal life = =
Nicknamed " Awesome " by her goalball teammates , Blow was born in <unk> , New South Wales , on 10 January 1992 . She has the visual disability of <unk> albinism , a congenital vision impairment , and is 165 centimetres ( 65 in ) . As of 2012 , Blow is attending the University of Sydney and double majoring in Arts and Education , which would enable her to become an English and drama teacher . In 2009 , she was awarded a New South Wales Department of Education and Training Teacher Education Scholarship . In 2011 , she earned the NSW Institute of Sport Academic Excellence Award .
= = Goalball = =
Blow is a goalball player , and is classified as a B3 competitor . She started playing the sport in 2009 . She has a goalball scholarship with the New South Wales Institute of Sport , and the Sydney University Elite Athlete Program . In 2011 / 2012 , the Australian Sports Commission gave her a A $ 7 @,@ 000 grant as part of their Direct Athlete Support ( DAS ) program . Blow plays for the New South Wales women 's goalball team , making her debut in 2009 . As a member of the team , she has earned three total silver medals at the national championships , including one in 2010 .
Blow made her national team debut in 2010 , less than a year after taking up the sport , when she represented Australia at the 2010 World Championships , where her team finished eighth . As a member of the 2011 team , she finished sixth at the IBSA Goalball World Cup . During the tournament , she found " a rock shaped like the lucky egg from the film Cool Runnings . The rock has since become integrated into her team 's pre @-@ <unk> ritual where she " must hold the rock and quote from the movie before every big game . " Her team made it the quarter finals before losing to Russia 3 @-@ 6 . It then met the Spain women 's national goalball team to try to earn a spot in the fifth / sixth place match . Australia walked away 8 @-@ 7 victors , but in the fifth / sixth place match , it lost to the Israel women 's national goalball team 6 @-@ 8 . She played in the 2011 African @-@ Oceania regional Paralympic qualifying competition . She played in the gold medal game against the New Zealand women 's national goalball team . Australia won the game . The Manly Daily described her play in the series as " instrumental " to the team 's success .
Blow was a named a member of the Aussie Belles that was going to the 2012 Summer Paralympics . That the team qualified for the Games came as a surprise , as the Australian Paralympic Committee had been working on player development with the idea of qualifying for the 2016 Summer Paralympics . An Australian team had not participated since the 2000 Summer Paralympics , when they earned an automatic selection as hosts , and the team finished last in the competition . The country has not medalled in the event since 1976 . Going into the Paralympics , the team was ranked eighth in the world . She was 21 years old at the Games . In the 2012 Summer Paralympics tournament , the Belles played games against Japan , Canada , the United States and Sweden . They lost every game , and did not advance to the finals .
= Silverplate =
Silverplate was the code reference for the United States Army Air Forces ' participation in the Manhattan Project during World War II . Originally the name for the aircraft modification project for the B @-@ 29 Superfortress bomber to enable it to drop an atomic weapon , Silverplate eventually came to identify the training and operational aspects of the program as well . The original directive for the project had as its subject line " Silver Plated Project " but continued usage of the term shortened it to " Silverplate " .
Testing began with scale models at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren , Virginia , in August 1943 . Modifications began on a prototype Silverplate B @-@ 29 known as the " Pullman " in November 1943 , and it was used for bomb flight testing at Muroc Army Air Field in California commencing in March 1944 . The testing resulted in further modifications to both the bombs and the aircraft .
Seventeen production Silverplate aircraft were ordered in August 1944 to allow the 509th Composite Group to train with the type of aircraft they would have to fly in combat , and for the 216th Army Air Forces Base Unit to test bomb configurations . These were followed by 28 more aircraft that were ordered in February 1945 for operational use by the 509th Composite Group . This batch included the aircraft which carried out the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 . Including the Pullman B @-@ 29 , a total of 46 Silverplate B @-@ 29s were produced during and after World War II . An additional 19 Silverplate B @-@ 29s were ordered in July 1945 , which were delivered between the end of the war and the end of 1947 . Thus , a total of 65 Silverplate B @-@ 29s were made .
The use of the Silverplate codename was discontinued after the war , but modifications continued under a new codename , Saddletree . Another 80 aircraft were modified under this program . A last group of B @-@ 29s was modified in 1953 , but never saw further service .
= = Origin = =
The Silverplate project was initiated in June 1943 when Dr. Norman F. Ramsey from the Los Alamos Laboratory 's E @-@ 7 Group identified the Boeing B @-@ 29 Superfortress as the only airplane in the United States inventory capable of carrying either type of the proposed weapons shapes : the tubular shape of the Thin Man , and the oval shape of the Fat Man .
Prior to the decision to use the B @-@ 29 , serious consideration had been given to using the British Avro Lancaster with its cavernous 33 @-@ foot ( 10 m ) bomb bay to deliver the weapon . This would have required much less modification , but would have required additional crew training for the USAAF crews . Major General Leslie R. Groves , Jr . , the director of the Manhattan Project , and General Henry H. Arnold , the Chief of United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF ) , wished to use an American plane , if this was at all possible .
The first B @-@ 29 was delivered to the USAAF on 1 July 1943 , and Groves met with Arnold later that month . Groves briefed Arnold on the Manhattan Project , and asked for his help in testing the ballistics of the Project 's proposed bomb shapes . Arnold and the head of the Ordnance Division at Los Alamos , Captain William S. Parsons , arranged for tests to be carried out at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren , Virginia in August 1943 . No aircraft was available that could carry the 17 @-@ foot ( 5 @.@ 2 m ) long Thin Man , so a 9 @-@ foot ( 2 @.@ 7 m ) scale model was used . The results were disappointing – the bomb fell in a flat spin – but the need for a thorough test program was demonstrated .
Groves met with Arnold again in September 1943 . He informed Arnold that there was now a second bomb shape under consideration , the Fat Man , and formally requested that further tests be carried out , that not more than three B @-@ 29s be modified to carry the weapons , and that the USAAF form and train a special unit to deliver the bombs . Arnold delegated responsibility for this to Major General Oliver P. Echols . In turn , Echols designated Colonel Roscoe C. Wilson as the Project Officer .
= = Codename = =
Originally the name for the aircraft modification project for the B @-@ 29 to enable it to drop a nuclear weapon , Silverplate eventually came to identify the training and operational aspects of the program as well . The airplane modification project fell under the purview of the Manhattan Project 's Project Alberta after March 1945 . The original codename for the project was " Silver Plated " but continued usage of the term shortened it to the one word " Silverplate " . For security reasons , the codename " Silverplate " was not officially registered . Confusion then resulted when the War Department allocated " Silverplate " to another project . Arnold 's office had to order the other agency to discontinue its use of the codename .
Los Alamos 's Thin Man and Fat Man code names were adopted by the USAAF for the weapons . A cover story was devised that Silverplate was about modifying a Pullman car for use by President Franklin Roosevelt ( Thin Man ) and Prime Minister Winston Churchill ( Fat Man ) on a secret tour of the United States .
= = Initial phase = =
The USAAF sent instructions to its Army Air Forces Materiel Command at Wright Field , Ohio , on 30 November 1943 , for a highly classified B @-@ 29 modification project . The Manhattan Project would deliver full @-@ sized mockups of the weapons shapes to Wright Field by mid @-@ December , where Army Air Forces Materiel Command would modify an aircraft and deliver it for use in bomb flight testing at Muroc Army Air Field in California . B @-@ 29 @-@ 5 @-@ BW 42 @-@ <unk> ( referred to as the " Pullman airplane " from an internal code name assigned it by the Engineering Division of Army Air Forces Materiel Command ) was delivered to the 468th Bombardment Group at Smoky Hill AAB , Kansas , on 30 November 1943 , and flown to Wright Field , Ohio , on 2 December .
Modifications to the bomb bays were extensive and time @-@ consuming . Its four 12 @-@ foot ( 3 @.@ 7 m ) bomb bay doors and the fuselage section between the bays were removed and a single 33 @-@ foot ( 10 m ) bomb bay configured . The length of the gun @-@ type shape was approximately 17 feet ( 5 @.@ 2 m ) . New bomb suspensions and bracing were attached for both shape types , with the gun @-@ type suspension anchored in the aft bomb bay ( although its length protruded into the forward bay ) and the implosion type mounted in the forward bay . Separate twin @-@ release mechanisms were mounted in each bay , using modified glider tow @-@ cable attach @-@ and @-@ release mechanisms .
= = Testing of bomb shapes = =
The Pullman B @-@ 29 flew in to Muroc on 20 February 1944 , and testing began on 28 February . Twenty @-@ four drops were carried out before tests were discontinued so that improvements could be made to Thin Man . The bombs failed to release immediately , frustrating calibration tests . In what turned out to be the last test flight of the series on 16 March , a Thin Man was prematurely released while the B @-@ 29 was still en route to the test range and fell onto the bomb bay doors , severely damaging the aircraft . The modified glider mechanisms had apparently caused all four malfunctions , because of the weight of the bombs , and were replaced with British Type G single @-@ point attachments and Type F releases used on the Lancaster to carry the 12 @,@ 000 @-@ pound ( 5 @,@ 400 kg ) Tallboy bomb .
After repair of the Pullman B @-@ 29 at Wright Field , testing resumed with three Thin Man and nine Fat Man shapes dropped in the last two weeks of June 1944 . High speed photographs revealed that the tail fins folded under the pressure , resulting in an erratic descent . Various combinations of stabilizer boxes and fins were tested on the Fat Man shape to eliminate its persistent wobble until an arrangement dubbed a " California Parachute " , a cubical tail box with fins angled at 45 ° to the line of fall , was approved .
The Thin Man gun @-@ type design was at that time based on the <unk> of the very pure plutonium 239 isotope so far only produced in microgram quantities by the Berkeley cyclotron . When the Hanford production reactors came on @-@ line in early 1944 , the mix of plutonium 239 and plutonium 240 obtained was found to have a high rate of spontaneous fission . To avoid pre @-@ detonation , the muzzle velocity of the gun @-@ type design would need to be greatly raised , making it impractically long .
Thin Man as a plutonium @-@ based design was therefore abandoned and the weapon was re @-@ designed to use uranium 235 . The muzzle velocity required was much lower , reducing the barrel length of the resulting bomb , now code @-@ named Little Boy , to less than 10 feet ( 3 @.@ 0 m ) . This allowed the device to fit into a standard B @-@ 29 bomb bay , so the Pullman was modified to its original configuration with the rear bomb bay a standard B @-@ 29 design . All subsequent Silverplates were also configured in this manner . The Pullman B @-@ 29 was flown to Wendover Army Air Field in Utah in September 1944 . It carried out further drop testing with the 216th Army Air Forces Base Unit until it was damaged in a landing accident in December .
= = Wartime production versions = =
On 22 August 1944 , to meet the requirements of the USAAF group about to be formed to train in the atomic mission , a production phase of Silverplate B @-@ 29s was ordered from the Glenn L. Martin Company 's modification center at Omaha , Nebraska under the designation Project <unk> @-@ S. The first three of these second increment Silverplate B @-@ 29s were delivered to the USAAF in mid @-@ October , and flown to Wendover . They were fitted with British single @-@ point bomb releases mounted on a re @-@ designed H @-@ frame suspension rack fitted in the forward bomb bay , so that additional fuel tanks could be carried in the aft bay . A new crew position , called the " weaponeer station " , was created in the cockpit with a panel to monitor the release and detonation of the bomb during the actual combat drops . Fourteen production aircraft were assigned to the 393d Bombardment Squadron for training , and three to the 216th Army Air Force Base Unit for bomb drop testing .
By February 1945 the seventeen aircraft of the second increment were themselves in need of upgrades , particularly those of the 216th Army Air Force Base Unit . Four of the planes assigned to the 393d Bombardment Squadron ( now part of the 509th Composite Group ) were transferred to the 216th to meet an increase in its testing tempo . Rather than attempt to modify the existing aircraft a few at a time , a decision was made to start a new production series . The first five of this third increment , known as Project <unk> @-@ S , also went to the test unit . The order totaled an additional 28 aircraft , with delivery of 15 designated combat models for the 393d beginning in April . The final eight were not delivered until after the two atomic bomb missions in August . Two were given to the 216th while the remaining six were assigned to the 509th at Wendover as replacements for any bombers lost while operating from Tinian . Ironically , no bombers were lost during operations from Tinian , but five of these six were lost in crashes over the next few years .
The final wartime Silverplates incorporated all technical improvements to B @-@ 29 aircraft , as well as the final series of Silverplate modifications that included Curtiss Electric reversible @-@ pitch propellers , and pneumatic actuators for rapid opening and closing of bomb bay doors . The British F @-@ type bomb release and G @-@ type attachment were installed , along with dual electrical and mechanical bomb release mechanisms . Early model B @-@ 29s were plagued by a host of engine problems , and the early Silverplate bombers were no exception . One was written off after being badly damaged as a result of an engine fire in February 1945 . The fuel @-@ injected Wright R @-@ 3350 @-@ 41 engines in the later model bombers delivered in July and August 1945 were greatly improved and far more reliable . This was an important factor in the success of the 509th Composite Group 's operations .
The Fat Man and Pumpkin bombs weighed over 10 @,@ 000 pounds ( 4 @,@ 500 kg ) , so weight was a concern , even with the more powerful engines . Weight reduction was accomplished by removal of all gun turrets and armor plating . This work was done by the 509th Composite Group for the early Silverplate aircraft , but later models were delivered without them . These B @-@ 29s represented a significant increase in performance over the standard variants .
Flying at 30 @,@ 000 feet ( 9 @,@ 100 m ) put the B @-@ 29s above the effective range of Japanese flak . Each Pumpkin bomb mission was conducted by a formation of three aircraft in the hope of convincing the Japanese military that small groups of B @-@ 29s did not justify a strong response . This strategy proved successful , and Japanese fighters only occasionally attempted to intercept the 509th Composite Group 's aircraft . One B @-@ 29 incurred minor battle damage in operations .
= = Silverplate operational units = =
Including the Pullman B @-@ 29 , a total of 46 Silverplate B @-@ 29s were produced during World War II . Of these , 29 were assigned to the 509th Composite Group during World War II , with 15 used to carry out the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki . An additional 19 Silverplate B @-@ 29s were ordered in July 1945 , which were delivered between the end of the war , and the end of 1947 . By this time only 13 of the original 46 were still operational . Thus , a total of 65 Silverplate B @-@ 29s were made , of which 32 were operational at the start of 1948 . Martin @-@ Omaha produced 57 Silverplate B @-@ 29s . The other 8 were built by Boeing @-@ Wichita . Of these 65 bombers , 31 were eventually converted to other configurations , 16 were placed in storage and later scrapped , and 12 were lost in accidents ( including four of the Tinian bombers ) . The pair of historic , weapons delivery aircraft , named Enola Gay and Bockscar , are today displayed in museums .
The only other United States Air Force combat unit to use the Silverplate B @-@ 29 was the 97th Bombardment Wing at Biggs Air Force Base in El Paso , Texas . In mid @-@ 1949 it received 27 of the aircraft from the 509th Bombardment Wing when the latter transitioned to B @-@ 50D bombers . The re @-@ equipment of the 97th Bombardment Wing was part of an expansion of the atomic strike force to ten wings during 1949 . Within a year all were converted to TB @-@ 29 trainers . One other Silverplate B @-@ 29 , on temporary assignment in the United Kingdom , was converted into a weather reconnaissance aircraft ( WB @-@ 29 ) and transferred to the 9th Bombardment Wing at Travis Air Force Base in California . The last Silverplate B @-@ 29 in service as a nuclear weapons carrier was reassigned to another role in November 1951 , ending Silverplate after nearly eight years .
= = Follow @-@ up programs = =
Use of the codename Silverplate was discontinued in May 1947 . It was superseded by a new codename , " Saddletree " . This was applied to aircraft modifications only . Initially it was intended that Saddletree would refer only to modifications to the B @-@ 29s , but it came to be used for modifications to B @-@ 50 and B @-@ 36 bombers as well . Saddletree modifications included a new bomb bay frame and hoist , and replacing the British FG bomb release with the newly developed U @-@ 1 pneumatic bomb release mechanism . Due to delays in the delivery of the B @-@ 50s , Saddletree commenced in February 1948 . In all , 6 @,@ 000 hours of work was carried out on each of the 36 B @-@ 50s by Sacramento Air Materiel Area .
The Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a directive in January 1948 for the modification of 225 B @-@ 29 , B @-@ 50 , and B @-@ 36 bombers to carry nuclear weapons , along with eight C @-@ 97 Stratofreighter aircraft to carry bomb assembly teams . There were already 32 Silverplate B @-@ 29s in service with the Strategic Air Command , so the Air Materiel Command was directed to carry out Saddletree modifications on a further 80 B @-@ 29s , 36 B @-@ <unk> , 23 B @-@ <unk> and 18 B @-@ <unk> . The B @-@ 36A could not carry nuclear weapons without major modifications .
As the anticipated enemy was the Soviet Union , the aircraft also required " <unk> " to allow them to operate from Arctic bases . The project included 36 B @-@ 29s , and the modification of 36 others to have an air refueling capability . With the addition of the 80 Saddletree B @-@ 29s , a total of 145 B @-@ 29s were modified to carry nuclear weapons , and 117 of these were assigned to operational units .
In October 1951 , in anticipation of a major build @-@ up of the USAF to 95 groups , and of delays in the B @-@ 47 program , the Air Materiel Command was ordered to modify a further 180 B @-@ 29s then in storage to carry the Mark 4 , Mark 5 , Mark 6 , and Mark 8 nuclear bombs . Modifications were carried out in Oklahoma City and Sacramento . By the time the aircraft were all delivered in September 1953 , the B @-@ 29 was being phased out , and the modified aircraft went back into storage without seeing further service .
= = Costs = =
In 1945 , a B @-@ 29 bomber cost $ 782 @,@ 000 . It cost $ 32 @,@ 000 to upgrade an aircraft to Silverplate configuration , so the total cost of a Silverplate bomber was $ 814 @,@ 000 . The total cost of the 65 wartime Silverplate B @-@ 29s was therefore $ 53 million . Adding $ 7 million for logistics , this put the estimated cost of the Silverplate project at around $ 60 million .
= James G. Blaine =
James Gillespie Blaine ( January 31 , 1830 – January 27 , 1893 ) was an American statesman and Republican politician who represented Maine in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1863 to 1876 , serving as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1869 to 1875 , and then in the United States Senate from 1876 to 1881 . He twice served as Secretary of State ( 1881 , 1889 – 1892 ) , one of only two persons to hold the position under three separate presidents ( the other being Daniel Webster ) , and unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for President in 1876 and 1880 before being nominated in 1884 . In the general election , he was narrowly defeated by Democrat Grover Cleveland . Blaine was one of the late 19th century 's leading Republicans and champion of the moderate reformist faction of the party known as the " Half @-@ Breeds " .
Blaine was born in the western Pennsylvania town of West Brownsville and after college moved to Maine where he became a newspaper editor . Nicknamed " the Magnetic Man " , he was a charismatic speaker in an era that prized oratory . He began his political career as an early supporter of Abraham Lincoln and the Union war effort in the American Civil War . In Reconstruction , Blaine was a supporter of black suffrage , but opposed some of the more coercive measures of the Radical Republicans . Initially a protectionist , he later worked for a reduction in the tariff and an expansion of American trade with foreign countries . Railroad promotion and construction were important issues in his time , and as a result of his interest and support Blaine was widely suspected of corruption in the awarding of railroad charters ; these allegations plagued his 1884 presidential candidacy .
As Secretary of State , Blaine was a transitional figure , marking the end of an isolationist era in foreign policy and foreshadowing the rise of the American Century that would begin with the Spanish – American War . His efforts at expanding the United States ' trade and influence began the shift to a more active American foreign policy . Blaine was a pioneer of tariff reciprocity and urged greater involvement in Latin American affairs . An expansionist , Blaine 's policies would lead in less than a decade to the establishment of the United States ' acquisition of Pacific colonies and dominance of the Caribbean .
= = Early life = =
= = = Family and childhood = = =
James Gillespie Blaine was born January 31 , 1830 in West Brownsville , Pennsylvania , the third child of Ephraim Lyon Blaine and his wife Maria ( Gillespie ) Blaine . Blaine 's father was a western Pennsylvania businessman and landowner , and the family lived in relative comfort . On his father 's side , Blaine was descended from Scotch @-@ Irish settlers who first emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1745 . His great @-@ grandfather , Ephraim Blaine , served as a Commissary @-@ General under George Washington in the American Revolutionary War . Blaine 's mother and her forebears were Irish Catholics who emigrated to Pennsylvania in the 1780s . Blaine 's parents were married in 1820 in a Roman Catholic ceremony , although Blaine 's father remained a Presbyterian . Following a common compromise of the era , the <unk> agreed that their daughters would be raised in their mother 's Catholic faith while their sons would be brought up in their father 's religion . In politics , Blaine 's father supported the Whig party .
Blaine 's biographers describe his childhood as " harmonious " , and note that the boy took an early interest in history and literature . At the age of thirteen , Blaine enrolled in his father 's alma mater , Washington College ( now Washington & Jefferson College ) , in nearby Washington , Pennsylvania . There , he was a member of the Washington Literary Society , one of the college 's debating societies . Blaine succeeded academically , graduating near the top of his class and delivering the <unk> address in June 1847 . After graduation , Blaine considered attending law school at Yale Law School , but ultimately decided against it , instead moving west to find a job .
= = = Teacher and publisher = = =
In 1848 , Blaine was hired as a professor of mathematics and ancient languages at the Western Military Institute in Georgetown , Kentucky . Although he was only eighteen years old and younger than many of his students , Blaine adapted well to his new profession . Blaine grew to enjoy life in his adopted state and became an admirer of Kentucky Senator Henry Clay . He also made the acquaintance of Harriet Stanwood , a teacher at the nearby Millersburg Female College and native of Maine . On June 30 , 1850 , the two were married . Blaine once again considered taking up the study of law , but instead took his new bride to visit his family in Pennsylvania . They next lived with Harriet Blaine 's family in Augusta , Maine for several months , where their first child , Stanwood Blaine , was born in 1851 . The young family soon moved again , this time to Philadelphia where Blaine took a job at the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind ( now Overbrook School for the Blind ) in 1852 , teaching science and literature .
Philadelphia 's law libraries gave Blaine the chance to at last begin to study the law , but in 1853 he received a more tempting offer : to become editor and co @-@ owner of the Kennebec Journal . Blaine had spent several vacations in his wife 's native state of Maine and had become friendly with the Journal 's editors . When the newspaper 's founder , Luther Severance , retired , Blaine was invited to purchase the publication along with co @-@ editor Joseph Baker . He quickly accepted , borrowing the purchase price from his wife 's brothers . Baker soon sold his share to John L. Stevens , a local minister , in 1854 . The Journal had been a staunchly Whig newspaper , which coincided with Blaine 's and Stevens 's political opinions . The decision to become a newspaperman , unexpected as it was , started Blaine on the road to a lifelong career in politics . Blaine 's purchase of the Journal coincided with the demise of the Whig party and birth of the Republican party , and Blaine and Stevens actively promoted the new party in their newspaper . The newspaper was financially successful , and Blaine was soon able to invest his profits in coal mines in Pennsylvania and Virginia , forming the basis of his future wealth .