C. Ledyard Blair

Blair was born in Belvidere, New Jersey, on July 16, 1867. He was the son of DeWitt Clinton Blair, a philanthropist and industrialist, and Mary Anna (née Kimball) Blair. His paternal grandfather was John Insley Blair, one of the wealthiest men of the 19th century.

He attended the Lawrenceville School and then Princeton University, graduating in 1890 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.{{cite web|title=From Princeton's vault: A young millionaire's scrapbook|url=https://paw.princeton.edu/article/princetons-vault-young-millionaires-scrapbook|website=princeton.edu|publisher=Princeton Alumni Weekly|accessdate=May 16, 2017|language=en|date=January 21, 2016}}

While still a senior at Princeton, Blair joined his father and grandfather in founding the banking firm of Blair & Company, primarily to manage railroad interests linked to the Gould family. The firm underwrote a $50 million bond issue of the Western Pacific Railroad and helped in the financial management of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and the Western Maryland Railroad.{{cite news |title=C. LEDYARD BLAIR; Co-Founder of Blair & Co. Here Was Yachtsman and Former- Stock Exchange Governor |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/02/08/96615913.pdf |accessdate=October 8, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=February 8, 1949}}

After Blair & Company merged with the firm of William Salomon & Co. in April 1920 (under the name of Blair & Co., Inc.), Ledyard Blair was named chairman of the board of directors.{{cite news |title=BANKING HOUSE MERGER.; Blair & Co. and William Salomon & Co. to Unite. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/01/14/96872128.pdf |accessdate=October 14, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=January 14, 1920}} He was also the director of several railway companies, including the Clinchfield Railroad, the Sussex Railroad, and the Green Bay and Western Railroad.

Blair & Co. was active in assisting with the mergers of oil companies.{{cite book|last=Swaine|first=Robert T.|title=The Cravath Firm And Its Predecessors: 1819-1947 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p8jmmSwD9KEC&pg=RA1-PA433|accessdate=July 25, 2013 |year=1946|publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-58477-713-7|page=433}} In 1924-1925, the firm arranged a deal in which Standard Oil of Indiana obtained control of the Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company and Lago Petroleum Company in Venezuela.{{sfn|Swaine|1946|p=433}}

File:Blairsden 1.png]]

An avid yachtsman, Blair was named Commodore of the New York Yacht Club in 1910. During World War I, he turned over his 254-foot steel yacht, Diana, to the U.S. government and gave up yachting. At the outbreak of the war in 1914, Blair was on the SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie, a North German Lloyd ocean liner, sailing from New York City to Plymouth, England. Nearing Plymouth, news of hostilities forced the ship to turn back. Blair took the helm and safely piloted the ship to Bar Harbor, Maine, where his family had a summer home. The ship was carrying $10 million in gold and $3.5 million in silver.{{cite book |last1=Schleicher |first1=William A. |last2=Winter |first2=Susan |title=In the Somerset Hills: The Landed Gentry |date=1997 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=9780752408996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pl6JF54vnRIC |accessdate=October 8, 2019 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Putnam |first1=William Lowell |title=The Kaiser's Merchant Ships in World War I |date=2001 |publisher=Light Technology Publishing |isbn=9781622336999 |page=108 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LSSdeU-W7OEC&pg=PT108 |accessdate=October 8, 2019 |language=en}}

Blairsden, Ledyard Blair's opulent 38-room mansion in Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey, was built between 1898 and 1903.[http://www.historicalsocietyofsomersethills.org/blairsden.php Blairsden] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627171725/http://www.historicalsocietyofsomersethills.org/blairsden.php |date=June 27, 2008 }} from Historical Society of Sommerset Hills Blair threw lavish weddings for each of the Blair daughters, all held at Blairsden. He also owned a mansion in New York City, now known as C. Ledyard Blair House. In addition to Blairsden, he had residences in Newport, Rhode Island, "Honeysuckle Lodge," and Bermuda, "Deepdene."

On October 1, 1891, he married Florence Osborne Jennings (1869–1931) and they had four daughters:[https://books.google.com/books?id=vVQDAAAAYAAJ Scannell's New Jersey First Citizens, 1917-1918]. J.J. Scannell, 1918.{{cite book|last1=Leonard|first1=John William|last2=Mohr|first2=William Frederick|last3=Holmes|first3=Frank R.|last4=Knox|first4=Herman Warren|last5=Downs|first5=0infield Scott|title=Who's who in New York City and State|date=1907|publisher=L.R. Hamersly Company|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_0V1IAAAAYAAJ|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_0V1IAAAAYAAJ/page/n151 141]|accessdate=May 16, 2017|language=en}}

• Marjory Bruce Blair (1892–1975), who married William Clark (1891–1957) in 1913.
• Florence Ledyard Blair (1893–1982), who married Herbert Rivington Pyne (1892–1952), son of Percy Rivington Pyne II, in 1917.
• Edith Dodd Blair (1896–1988), who married Richard Gambrill (1890–1952) in 1917.
• Marie Louise Blair (1899–1994), who married Maj. Gen. Pierpont Morgan Hamilton (1898–1982) in 1919.{{cite news |title=MISS BLAIR, BRIDE OF P.M. HAMILTON; Youngest Daughter of C. Ledyard Blair Weds Grandson of Late J. Pierpont Morgan. NUPTIAL IN BERNARDSVILLE Bishop Rhinelander Officiates in St.John's Chapel-on-the-Mountain--Reception at Blairsden. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1919/09/12/118158635.pdf |accessdate=October 8, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=September 12, 1919}}[https://www.nytimes.com/1919/09/12/archives/miss-blair-bride-of-pm-hamilton-youngest-daughter-of-c-ledyard.html "Miss Blair, Bride of P.M. Hamilton"] The New York Times, September 12, 1919. Accessed March 12, 2008. She later married Washington Everardus Bogardus (1896–1931){{cite news|title=W.E. BOGARDUS DEAD; FORMERLY A BANKER; Descendant of a Famous Dutch Family Had Lived Eleven Years in Honolulu.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/12/25/archives/we-bogardus-dead-formerly-a-banker-descendant-of-a-famous-dutch.html|accessdate=May 16, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=December 25, 1931}} and James Bethune Campbell (1909–1983).{{cite news|last1=Waggoner|first1=Walter H.|title=P.M. HAMILTON, 83, DIES ON THE COAST|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/16/obituaries/pm-hamilton-83-dies-on-the-coast.html|accessdate=May 16, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=March 16, 1982}}{{cite book|last1=Backhouse|first1=Constance|last2=Backhouse|first2=Nancy L.|title=The Heiress vs the Establishment: Mrs. Campbell's Campaign for Legal Justice|date=January 31, 2005|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=9780774850735|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a5qIAgAAQBAJ&q=James+Bethune+Campbell&pg=PR19|accessdate=May 16, 2017|language=en}}

Blair's first wife Florence died on November 15, 1931. In 1936, he married Harriet Stewart Brown (1884–1953), the widow of Thomas Suffern Tailer (who died in 1928), and daughter of Baltimore banker Alexander Brown. The Browns were members of the family which founded investment bank Alex. Brown & Sons.

Blair died on February 7, 1949, in Manhattan and was buried in Saint Bernards Cemetery, beside his first wife Florence.

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Category:1867 births

Category:1949 deaths

Category:People from Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey

Category:People from Belvidere, New Jersey

Category:Lawrenceville School alumni

Category:Princeton University alumni

Category:Members of the New York Yacht Club