This well known and enterprising young business man of Ilo is esteemed not only for the ability and energy displayed in his business career, but also because he is a man of integrity and withal of a genial and affable nature and possessed of sound principles. William M. Blair was born in Lee County, Iowa, on May 14, 1870, being the son of Charles F. and Elizabeth A. (Lyen) Blair. His father was a merchant, born in Cattaraugus County, New York, on August 14, 1836. He was a soldier in the Civil War, enlisting in Company B. Thirteenth Iowa Infantry, under Colonel Rankin. The paternal grandparents of our subject were pioneers in Jefferson County, Iowa, in 1840. The mother of William M. was born in Washington County, Iowa, in 1839, her parents being pioneers there in 1837. The family remained in Iowa until our subject was fourteen and there he attended school. Then they removed to Wellington and later to Pratt County, Kansas, where the father took land and farmed. William remained there four years and then returned to his old Iowa home and worked for Carson & Rand, lumbermen of Keokuk, where two years were spent. Then two years were spent in Pratt county, Kansas. In 1893 he went to the Cherokee strip and gained land as it opened. Two years later he went to Hope, Kansas, and there operated a short order house for two years. He then spent two years driving teams for stock companies in different portions of that country, then returned to Pratt County and later went to the opening of the Arapahoe and Cheyenne lands, but failing to get lands that suited him, he carried thence to Ilo, and here erected a house and livery barn. He has devoted his attention to this business since and is having a good trade. He has a good stable and is an accommodating man, ever looking for the comfort and safety of his patrons. Mr. Blair has the following named brothers and sisters: George R., in Pratt County. Kansas; Mary S. Miller, in Kansas City, Missouri; Annie B. Balner, in Pontiac, Illinois: John R., in Sawyer, Kansas. He is a member of the M. W. A., and in political matters he is active and interested, always supporting the principles of the Republican Party. Mr. Blair is a bachelor, preferring the quiet of the celibatarian life to the cares of the connubial relation. His mother is living with him at the present time.
Source: An Illustrated History of North Idaho: Embracing Nez Perce, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho; Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903