US Congressman, Judge. He was a United States Representative from the State of Virginia and West Virginia. He was born as Jacob Beeson Blair in Parkersburg, Virginia, (now Parkersburg, West Virginia), to David Blair and Elizabeth Beeson Blair on April 11, 1821. He was educated locally and later studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1844. He opened up a private practice of law and then served as the Prosecuting Attorney for Ritchie County, Virginia, (now Ritchie County, West Virginia). He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of the outgoing United States Representative John Snyder Carlile (1817-1878). A Member of the Unionist Party, he then served Virginia's 11th District (Thirty-Seventh Congress), in the United States House of Representatives from December 2, 1861, to March 3, 1863. After his first term in the United States Congress expired for the 11th District (Thirty-Seventh Congress), on March 3, 1863, the 11th District (Thirty-Seventh Congress), was abolished and it was not reinstated until January 3, 1993, when United States Representative Leslie Larkin Beck Byrne (1946-), took office. He then ran for another seat in the United States Congress and was again elected. A Member of the Unconditional Unionist Party, he then served West Virginia's 1st District (Thirty-Eighth Congress), in the United States House of Representatives from December 7, 1863, to March 3, 1865. After his second term in the United States Congress expired he was succeeded in office by the incoming United States Representative Chester Dorman Hubbard (1814-1891), on March 4, 1865. In total, he was elected in 1861, and again in 1863. He also served as a Member of the West Virginia State House of Delegates representing the 1st District in 1868, and as United States Minister to Costa Rica from October 6, 1868, to June 30, 1873. While serving as United States Minister to Costa Rica from October 6, 1873, to June 30, 1873, he served in that position under then-President of the United States Andrew Johnson (1808-1875), was preceded in that post by the outgoing Albert Gallatin Lawrence (1836-1887), a diplomat and soldier. and was succeeded in that post by the incoming George McWillie Williamson (1829-1882), an American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Guatemala, under the administration of President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885). He also served as an Associate Justice of the Wyoming Territorial Supreme Court in 1876. He later moved to the State of Utah and served as a Probate Circuit Court Judge for Salt Lake County, Utah, from 1892 to 1895. He lastly served as Surveyor-General of the State of Utah from 1897 to 1901. He then resumed his private practice of law until his death on February 12, 1901, at the age of 79. He passed away suddenly from heart failure in his room at the Alta Club in Salt Lake City, Utah, on February 12, 1901, at the age of 79. Following his death, his funeral services were held at his residence at the Alta Club in Salt Lake City, Utah, and at St. Mark's Church in Salt Lake City, Utah, with Dean Eddie officiating the Episcopal service and with over 200 friends, family, and colleagues in attendance. His good friend Judge Charles Carroll Goodwin (1832-1917), sent his friend to his final rest with an impressive eulogy which read, "Some friends have thought it right for me to speak a farewell word over this, the tabernacle that but yesterday held the soul of the who was very dear to us all. They thought maybe he would hear. "The machinery of his body worked without friction or jar until it suddenly ran down and stopped and the measure of his life here was filled. "It was, we suspect, as he himself would have had it, and if, as we believe, the spark received from the Infinite is immortal and does not die, and if he hears us today and could speak, our thought is that he would tell us not to be sad; that his soul has thrown off its earthly suit that lasted until it was out of fashion and it was time to cast it aside. "But we may today recall the truths of his life. "First, that he was in the highest sense the noblest work of God, an honest man. We may tell that through all his four score years he never cherished a base or unmanly thought; that he never had a thought for his fellow men save that he might be made better by being made happier; that he loved native land with as loyal a heart as ever throbbed. "More, as he was called from one duty to another, as one trust after another was placed in his hands, as God gave him to see the right he performed his duty and executed the trusts, in such a way that when the burden fell from him there was not one stain on his white hands. So living he wound his heart-strings into the hearts around him, and our souls are deeply stirred as we extend to him the all hails and the farewells today, for poor human affection will have its way. "This is not a funeral for tears, rather we can say our all hails and farewells, with a thought that it is but that it should be so, and that our brother, if he had his way, would not have it different." Following the funeral services, he was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was married to Josephine A. Jackson Blair (1834-1856), in Ritchie County, Virginia, (now Ritchie County, West Virginia), on November 21, 1850. His wife Josephine passed away on July 13, 1856, at the age of 22, and she was buried in the Harrisville IOOF Cemetery in Harrisville, West Virginia. The couple had three children together, Elizabeth Jackson Blair Bell (1851-1933), Harriet Wilson Blair Moss (1851-1933), and Sterrett Blair (1855-1856). He was a longtime friend of President of the United States Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), and a member of the Alta Club for many years. On his death members of the Alta Club told The Salt Lake Tribune Newspaper of Salt Lake City, Utah, dated February 13, 1901, that they would remember him as, "His wit was always the keenest and the best and his jokes the most original. He delighted to twit the older members about their age, and although he was the oldest member of the club, one of his favorite requests was to ask some of the older members to remember him in their wills." He was the grandfather of United States Representative Hunter Holmes Moss Jr. (1874-1916), who served the State of West Virginia's 4th District (Sixty-Third Congress and Sixty-Fourth Congress), in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1913, to July 15, 1916.