William M. Blair (May 25, 1836 – June 17, 1919) was a farmer and political figure in Nova Scotia, Canada. He represented Colchester County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1878 to 1886 as a Liberal-Conservative member.
He was born in Onslow, Nova Scotia and educated there. In 1864, he married Harriet Blair. He was lieutenant-colonel in the militia, commanding a Highlanders battalion from Picto, Hants and Colchester. Blair was an arent promoter of modern farming, and was deeply involved in agricultural reform efforts in Nova Scotia. He was president of the Onslow Agricultural Society and chairman of the Agricultural Exhibition Committee, was a prominent member of the Nova Scotia Farmers' Association from its inception in 1895 until his death, and participated in lobbying the provincial government for the creation of a provincial School of Agriculture in 1885 (which became the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in 1905). Most substantivly, Blair was the first supervisor of the federally funded Experimental Farm in Nappan, Nova Scotia, heading it from its creation in 1887 until his retirment in 1896.
His son was William Saxby Blair who followed in his father's footsteps in agricultural promotion, being the first supervisor of the Experimental Farm in Kentville, Nova Scotia from its creation in 1912 until his retirement. He died in 1919.
Famous quotes containing the words william and/or blair:
“The Heavens. Once an object of superstition, awe and fear. Now a vast region for growing knowledge. The distance of Venus, the atmosphere of Mars, the size of Jupiter, and the speed of Mercury. All this and more we know. But their greatest mystery the heavens have kept a secret. What sort of life, if any, inhabits these other planets? Human life, like ours? Or life extremely lower in the scale. Or dangerously higher.”
—Richard Blake, and William Cameron Menzies. Narrator, Invaders from Mars, at the opening of the movie (1953)
“The Sound of battle fell upon my ear & heart all day yesterday—even after dark the cannon’s insatiate roar continued ...”
—Elizabeth Blair Lee (1818–?)