PROMINENT PERSONS
185
mercantile office for a time, then in the light
house service of the United States on the
Great Lakes. When he left this branch of
public service it was to establish himself in
business, a fact that he had scarcely accom-
plished when the outbreak of the civil war
interrupted his plans, and, fired by loyalty
to the South, he enlisted in the Confederate
army and served from 1862 to 1865. Re-
turning to Richmond after the war, Mr.
Blair again became identified with business
interests, and his progressive, yet to a cer-
tain extent conservative, methods, have been
the means of building up the business im-
portance of the city. For many years he
devoted his entire business time to the gro-
cery trade, but subsequently associated him-
self with the late Stephen Putney, in the
manufacture and sale of shoes, the head-
quarters of this industr)' being located in
Richmond, with affiliations in various other
places. Mr. Blair has earned considerable
reputation as an author. His first book,
published by the Putnams in 1888, was
"Unwise Laws," and contained the expres-
sion of his opinions on many questions of
national import. To quote from a more
recent expression of them: "I believe in the
civil equality of every man, regardless of
race or previous condition, and that every
man should have a voice in the government
under which he lives, and which, when call-
ed upon he must defend at the hazard of his
life. I believe that laws should bear equally
upon all. and that there should be no favori-
tism or discrimination against the negro be-
cause he is a negro. I condemn protection
in every guise, even incidental protection,
because incidental protection gives away
the whole question of protection ; for it is
a far cry from part protection, which is in-
cidental protection, to protection in full."
In his second book, "The Prosperity of the
South Dependent upon the Elevation of the
Negro," Mr. Blair utters views that in all
probability will never achieve popularity
south of the Potomac. He has also very
decided opinions in religious matters, opin-
ions which differ radically from those of the
majority of his friends and neighbors, but
he has the courage of his convictions, and
founds his creed upon the "school of Adam
Smith, Herbert Spencer and Haeckel." Mr.
Blair married (first ) Alice Wayles Harri-
son, of Amelia county, Virginia, (second)
Mattie Rufifin Feild, of Mecklenburg county,
Virginia. There were seven children by the
first marriage, four by the second.
Mcllwaine, Richard, horn at Petersburg, Virginia, May 20, 1834, of Scotch-Irish de- scent. He was graduated from Hampden- Sidney College in 1853, and was afterward a student at the University of Virginia, Union Theological Seminary and the Free Church College, Edinburgh, Scotland. He was a licentiate of the East Hanover (Vir- ginia) presbytery in 1857, and until 1872 pastor at Farmville and Lynchburg. In 1872 he was elected secretary and treasurer of the home and foreign missions commit- tee of the Southern Presbyterian church, and in 1882-83 was secretary of home mis- sions, which position he resigned to enter upon the presidency of Hampden-Sidney College. He increased the student body from seventy-four to one hundred and fifty-four in 1891-92; the endowment was also largely increased, and a memorial building erected. In 1874 he received from the Southwestern Presbyterian University the degree of Doc- tor of Divinity. In 1902 he was a member
