 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 . 
