I'm seeking information on the Blairs who were in the Hazelton, Luzerne Co.,Pennsylvania area in the 1800's and perhaps even earlier. They were also at some point in Baltimore,Maryland and in New Jersey. Specifically I'm looking for Janet Blair who married Robert Gilmore Russel I.Their son Robert Gilmore Russel II was born in Oct. 1842 in Baltimore,MD (and died May 15, 1907 in Beaver Brook,PA. Janet Blair Russel was born in Baltimore,MD Family oral history states that she was from the Blair family for which Blairtown,New Jersey is named. (Blairtown is a few miles north of Route # 80 near the Pennsylvania border.) Janet was supposably the grand daugfhter of ,John Blair who immigrated from Aryshire,Scotland around 1730- 1740.John was born in 1714 and died in 1798.He lived in Scots Mountian,near Oxford Furnace ( later Blairstown) and married Mary Kline of Greenwich,N.J. They had 5 sons; John,Samuel,James,William & Robert. James was the father of John Insley Blair (for whom Blairstown was named). Family oral history relates that Janet was a sister of John Insley Blair however this hasn't been fully proven yet.( Some articles written about the family or about John seem to indicate that he had no sisters.) Janet may instead have been a cousin or even perhaps a neice of John Insley Blair. John Insley Blair was born Belvidere, Warren Co.,N.J. on August 22, 1802. He was developed an interest in the mines of Oxford Furnace, and in 1846 helped found Lackawanna Coal and Iron Company in Pennsylvania. Soon after his interests turned to the enterprise that would eventually make his fortune: railroads. His first railroad was built in 1849 and ran from Owego to Ithaca, New York. The following year he built a line from Scranton to the Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania. In 1852 JIB organized--and named--the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. He was its principal stockholder and maintained the position of director until his death. 1860 JIB was inspired by railroad development in the western United States, and within two years he founded, in collaboration with Oakes Ames, the Union Pacific Railroad beginning in Omaha, Nebraska. Eventually JIB's railroads were located throughout the west in Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota, Missouri, and Texas. He was concu! rrently the president of 16 railroads, as well as the largest private owner in the world of rail miles.In 1848 he constructed a building for Blair Presbyterian Academy in Blairstown, since renamed Blair Academy.He also built over 100 Presbyterian churches in the towns through which his rail lines passed. Other beneficiaries included Lafayette College (Easton, Pennsylvania), Grinnell College (Grinnell, Iowa), and Princeton University (at the time know as Princeton College). In 1864 he endowed a geology professorship at Princeton, and served as a trustee for 13 years (1886-1899). He later gave funds to Princeton to construct the Blair Hall dormitory (1897) Robert Gilmore Russel II is buried in Fairview Cemetery,Slatington,PA He married Rebecca Dorothy Betzenberger in Tamaqua,PA in 1865.) Robert Gilmore Russel II and Rebecca Betzenberger had 10 children,one of whom was George Dore Russel. Goerge was born Jan.1,1882 in Beaver Brook,PA and died July 23,1970 in Hazelton,PA His first wife was Mary Hitchens,born Apr. 16,1882 and died March 15,1932 in Hazelton. George's 2nd wife was Edith Terrill Williams.George & Mary's daughter,Rebecca Russel was born Dec.5,1905 in Beaver Brook, Audenried,PA She married Walter Hohman Scheffley in Hazelton in Feb. 1928. Rebecca passed away recently (on March 30,2006) at the age of 100.Her son Walter II (Jr.) is my stepfather. I've been researching my biological parents families for years now and recently decided,as a gift to my half siblings and their children,to reseach my stepfather's family.Any information and or advise anyone can give me is greatly appreciated. Noreen Maloney LaTour Burlington,Vermont