This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: JKC837 Surnames: Blair, Dodson, Lujan, Moore, Stubblefield, Wyatt Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.blair/3642.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: There are enough similarities between what the message board poster states in this and other posts about her great-grandfather William Blair (May 1863 - 1920) in Arizona, and what is known about Joseph Stubblefield, Jr. (10 May 1862 - 21 Oct 1920), of Grainger County, Tennessee, to make the case that they are the same person. Joseph Stubblefield, Jr., of Grainger County, Tennessee, was born 10 May 1862, according to his death certificate and tombstone. He was the son of Joseph Stubblefield, Sr., (b. c.1831 in Tennessee - d. bef. 1869) and Nancy Blair (b. c.1835 - d. bef. 1900 in Tennessee), who were married in Grainger County, Tennessee, in 1853. The father, Joseph Stubblefield, Sr., died or disappeared before 1869, when his widow Nancy Blair Stubblefield married her cousin Richard F. Wyatt in Grainger County. Joseph Jr. and his older brother J. Rufus, along with two other Stubblefield siblings, appear in the 1870 census in the household of their mother and stepfather in Grainger County, but their surname is incorrectly recorded as their stepfather's name, "Wyatt." I have been unable to locate Joseph Jr. and J. Rufus Stubblefield in the 1880 census. Perhaps this is when they went to Kentucky and Joseph got in trouble with the law and changed his name to his mother's maiden name, Blair. A deed is recorded in Grainger County in which Rufus and Joseph Stubblefield jointly purchase land from Samuel Moore and wife in 1884. (This Samuel Moore is an uncle of Joseph's future wife, Cordelia Moore.) Then in 1886 Rufus sells his half-interest in the land to Joseph. In this second deed, recorded in Deed Book 22, page 419, Rufus and Joseph Stubblefield are "both of the County of Graham Arizona." In December 1889 Joseph sells the land back to Rufus. This third deed is recorded in Deed Book 24, page 358. At that time Joseph was "of Arizona Territory" and Rufus was living in Tennessee. These deeds are proof that Joseph Stubblefield, Jr., as well as his brother Rufus, lived in Arizona. In November 1889, Joseph's brother, J. Rufus Stubblefield, married Martha Eliza Dodson in neighboring Hawkins County, Tennessee. They had three children before Martha died before 1900. The children are living with Dodson relatives in Hawkins County in 1900. By the 1910 census they are living with Dodson relatives in Hill County, Texas, and later in Tarrant County, Texas. In 1897, Joseph Stubblefield, Jr., married Cordelia "Cordie" Moore (niece of the Samuel Moore from whom Joseph and Rufus Stubblefield purchased land in 1884) in neighboring Hamblen County, Tennessee. Joseph and Cordelia are not found in the 1900 and 1910 censuses, when William Blair shows up in the census in Arizona. In the 1900 census, "William Blair" and his wife "Corlie" are enumerated in Graham County, Arizona, with two of his children from his earlier (1888) marriage in Arizona to Beatrice Lujan. According to the census, William and his wife have been married three years. William states he was born May 1863 and that he and his parents were born in Tennessee. In 1901, Joseph's brother, J. Rufus Stubblefield, marries his second cousin Jane "Jennie" Wyatt in Grainger County, Tennessee. They had three children, but only two daughters lived to maturity. In the 1910 census, William and Cordelia Blair are again enumerated in Graham County, Arizona. The census shows William and Cordelia have been married twelve years. Again William states that he and his parents were born in Tennessee. Joseph's brother, J. Rufus Stubblefield, also appears in the 1910 census of Graham County, Arizona, listed as "Reafus Blair." So it seems that when Joseph's brother, J. Rufus Stubblefield, is in Arizona, he also goes by the surname "Blair." There is an Arizona death certificate for nine-month-old Richard Blair, who died in Graham County in December 1910. His parents are listed as Rufus Blair and Jennie Wyatt, both born in East Tennessee. This Richard Blair must be Richard Stubblefield, child of J. Rufus and Jennie Wyatt Stubblefield. Proof of this is found in a County Court case in Grainger County, settling the estate of J. Rufus Stubblefield following his death there in 1923. In the court case, H. R. Wyatt, administrator, vs. Jennie Stubblefield, et al, the following testimony is given regarding the children of J. Rufus Stubblefield: "J. R. Stubblefield had six children, as follows: Richard, who is dead and who died in infancy and without issue . . ." The above-mentioned Arizona death certificate of Richard "Blair" is another proof of Joseph's brother, J. Rufus Stubblefield's going by the surname "Blair" when he is in Arizona. In the 1920 census, when William Blair is no longer found in Arizona, Joseph and Cordelia Stubblefield are in Hamblen County, Tennessee. Joseph died 21 October 1920 in Hamblen County. His death certificate states that the cause of death was "trauma from being thrown from a wagon, runaway team." Census records and Arizona birth records give proof that other Grainger County, Tennessee, relatives of Joseph and Rufus Stubblefield were living in Arizona about the same time. Their first cousin Reese Blair is in neighboring Pinal County, Arizona, in the 1910 census. After marrying in Grainger County in 1915, Reese returned to Arizona where his son Hubert was born in 1917. Reese's brother Robert Blair is in neighboring Gila County, Arizona, in 1920, and there are Arizona birth certificates for three of his children born in 1915, 1916, and 1921. Rufus' and Joseph's first cousin once removed Newton Stubblefield is in Graham County, Arizona, in 1910. Newton's brother J. Frank Stubblefield's son Kenneth was born in Arizona in 1928 and J. Frank's family appears in the 1930 census in Gila County, Arizona. Other cousins James Arthur and Leslie Howard Stubblefield register for the World War I draft in Greenlee County, Arizona. Though the message board post states that William Blair was born in Scotland, William disputes this when he states that he was born in Tennessee in the 1900 and 1910 censuses. His children by Beatrice Lujan also give his birth as being in Tennessee in later censuses: Rufino "Rufus" Blair in 1920; Mildred Blair Ornales Barrera in 1910 and 1920; and Louise Blair in 1910, 1920, and 1930. Some of the message board poster's assertions about William Blair cannot be answered at this time. No marriage record is found for Joseph Stubblefield, Jr., prior to his 1888 marriage to Beatrice Lujan in Arizona, although it is certainly possible that he was married before that. Joseph Stubblefield had no known relatives in Florida, although it is possible that the people William Blair visited there were relatives of Cordelia's or of his first(?) wife. Finding a photo of Joseph Stubblefield, Jr., to compare to the poster's photo of William Blair, is not likely, as Joseph Stubblefield had no known children living in Tennessee, and his widow Cordelia remarried in 1931 and died childless in 1954. What happened to her personal property is unknown. However, the many similarities between Joseph Stubblefield, Jr., and what the message board poster states about William Blair in this and other posts, lead to the theory that they are the same person: the age, father a Stubblefield, mother's maiden name Blair, lived in Arizona, death in 1920 from a fall from a horse, and the fact that Joseph had a brother J. Rufus Stubblefield, who also went by the surname "Blair" while in Arizona. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.