Austin Blair

Austin Blair (February 8, 1818 – August 6, 1894), also known as the Civil War Governor, was a politician who served as the 13th governor of Michigan and in Michigan's House of Representatives and Senate as well as the U.S. Senate. He was known as a strong opponent of slavery and secession. He also led efforts to provide women and black citizens the right to vote. He simultaneously sought to ban capital punishment. Early life in New York Blair was born in Caroline, New York, in a log cabin built by his father George Blair of Scottish ancestry. It was reportedly the first cabin in Tompkins County, New York and Blair lived there until age 17, helping his father farm the land. He attended the common schools, Cazenovia Seminary and Hamilton College, before transferring to Union College in the middle of his junior year, graduating in 1839. Blair studied law in Owego, New York and was admitted to the bar in Tioga County, New York in 1841. He moved to Michigan in that year, residing first in Jackson before moving to Eaton Rapids. Politics in Michigan He began his political career in Eaton Rapids, where he was elected the clerk of Eaton County in 1842. He moved back to Jackson in 1844 and was a Whig member of the Michigan State House of Representatives from Jackson County in 1846. He served on the House Judiciary Committee and was the leading proponent of the successful 1846 effort to abolish capital punishment in Michigan. He also introduced legislation to allow black citizens the right to vote. He left the Whig Party because they did not take a strong anti-slavery stance, and was a delegate to the Free Soil Party National Convention in Buffalo, New York in 1848 which nominated Martin Van Buren. In February 1849, Blair married Sarah L. Ford, of Seneca County New York. Together they had four sons; George who became a postal clerk in the railway mail service; Charles who became a partner with his father; the other two were Fred and Austin.