John Blair

Owner of East and West Prospect estate in Jamaica. Died c. 1742. His property was inherited by his son (either infant or posthumous) Charles Blair senior.

1. John Blair, deceased was listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 150 acres of land in St Catherine, 930 acres in St Thomas-in-the-East, 500 acres in St Ann, 300 acres in Clarendon and 1020 acres in St Thomas-in-the-Vale, total 2900 acres.

2. John Blair of St Catherine, Esquire. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1743. Slave-ownership at probate: 392 of whom 211 were listed as male and 181 as female. 0 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £20342.91 Jamaican currency of which £12269 currency was the value of enslaved people. Estate valuation included £0 currency cash, £0 currency debts and £478.28 currency plate.

3. No will for this John Blair has yet been found. Vere Langford Oliver showed wills for men of the same name proved in Jamaica in 1737, 1740 and 1741; John Blair of St Catherine whose will was proved 07/11/1763 and who also had a son Charles was presumably connected in some way to the Blair family of East and West Prospect.

1. 'A List of landholders in the Island of Jamaica together with the number of acres each person possessed taken from the quit rent books in the year 1754', TNA CO 142/31 transcribed at http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples2/1754lead.htm.

2. Trevor Burnard, Database of Jamaican inventories, 1674-1784.

3. Vere Langford Oliver, Caribbeana being miscellaneous papers relating to the history, genealogy, topography, and antiquities of the British West Indies (6 vols., London, Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1910-1919) vol. 2 p. 116; PROB 11/893/109.