Robert Smith Blair was born in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, on February 4, 1847, a son of James Hunter and Sarah (Smith) Blair. (James Blair come to the United States from Edinborough, Scotland, in boyhood, and his wife was brought to this country as a young girl from Ireland. Landing in New York City, James Blair found employment there, and while engaged in the construction work of the old Croton aqueduct he met with an accident which resulted in the loss of a leg. This necessitated his changing his occupation. He went to Wayne county, Pennsylvania, taking with him the wife he had married in New York City, and bought 100 acres of land, on which he was engaged in farming for thirty years. At the expiration of that period he came to Ohio and bought eighty acres of land in Clinton Township, which he conducted until he retired, moved to Wauseon and there died in 1904. He had eleven children, of whom Robert S. Blair was the eldest.)

Robert S. Blair attended school in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, until he was seventeen years of age, at which time he left school and devoted himself to helping his father on the farm until he reached his majority. Mr. Blair then went into the lumber woods for two years, and for the subsequent four years was in the pine woods of northwestern Pennsylvama. Having been attracted to Fulton county, Ohio, Mr. Blair came here and in partnership with his brother, Frank Thompson Blair, bought 160 acres of land in York Township and they farmed it for six years.

In 1879 Mr. Blair was married to Elizabeth Tedrow, a daughter of Jeremiah Tedrow of Clinton Township, and member of one of the old and prominent families of Fulton county, and they became the parents of ten children, all of whom are living.

Following his marriage Mr. Blair sold his interest to his brother and rented 160 acres of land at Tedrow, Fulton, Ohio, on which he spent eleven years, he then rented another farm for two years. In the spring of 1909 he bought sixty-four acres of his present farm, to which he later added sixteen acres and has made it a valuable, well improved property.

Mr. Blair ran on the republican ticket for township commissioner and was only defeated by fifteen votes, and then he was again the nominee of his party for the same office; although once more defeated, he made a very creditable showing. He has been township trustee and is a dependable man and official. The Evangelical Church holds his membership and benefits by his generosity. A man of great energy, he has known how to make his work yield him a reasonable profit, and as he is thrifty, he has acquired a comfortable competency. Mr. Blair is a man of considerable importance in his community where he is well and favorably known.