Archives West Finding Aid

The Philip T. Blair family papers (1836-1968) contain pertinent information concerning the early development of the Mormon church as well as covering an important epoch in early Utah history. It describes the social, religious, economic, and political development of the state through correspondence, documents, and memorabilia. Spanning a period of four generations of a family, it commences in 1836 with some of the earliest known personal correspondence of Brigham Young and his wife Mary Ann Angell Young. Traveling throughout the mid-eastern states, Young performs missionary work for the newly organized Mormon church and writes loving letters home, expressing his concern for the welfare of Mary Ann and their small family. This correspondence gives an insight to the personal love and feeling Brigham had for his family as well as being informative about the early turbulent years of the Mormon church. In January 1838, a letter from Mary Ann in Kirtland, Ohio, to Brigham Young in Dublin, Indiana, tells of the hardships and financial problems she is enduring, and she warns him not to return home at this time for his life is in danger. She quotes from a revelation prophesying of the dreadful times to come. Brigham Young later writes from England (1840) where he labors for twenty-two months proselyting and printing Mormon publications, including the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, the Millennial Star, and a hymn book. These long letters home tell of his great faith and describe his work, his dreams, and the sorrow he feels at being deprived of the comfort of his family.

After a lapse of several years, personal letters between members of Brigham Young's large family in Utah tell of family relationships and describe life in Salt Lake City. As president of the church, governor of the territory for a seven-year period (1851-1858), and superintendent of Indian affairs, Brigham Young's business correspondence, appointments, invitations, land deeds, and documents shed light on the affairs of church and state. One very descriptive letter from Delegate John M. Bernhisel, April 23, 1850, from Washington, D. C., informs Young of the happenings in the United States Senate. He tells of a long, animated debate that ended in violence between senators when a revolver was drawn on the senate floor.

Correspondence between Brigham Young and his sons attending schools in the East describe early college life at Ann Arbor, Michigan; the military school at West Point; and also the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in Maryland, as well as showing the relationships between father and sons.

The second generation in the collection begins when Luna Young, daughter of Mary Ann Angell and Brigham, marries George W. Thatcher, son of Hezekiah and Alena Kitchen Thatcher of Logan. Their married life sees many periods of separation while George pursues employment as superintendent in the building of the Utah and Northern Railroad, while on a mission for the Mormon church in England, and as he travels away from home. They correspond frequently on these occasions and one learns of their love and devotion for each other and family, their living conditions and finances, social life around the Lion House and the Bee Hive House, and of their attitudes and feelings. It tells of the heartbreak Luna feels when George takes another wife in polygamy, her half-sister Fanny Young. Luna is never reconciled to a shared love and husband. George and Luna later move to Logan, Utah, where they raise a family of ten children; are active in church, civic, and political affairs; and George becomes mayor of Logan (1888), president of Brigham Young College Board in Logan for twenty years, and is appointed a member of the Utah Commission (1894). He is a prominent and successful businessman. His children are given the advantages of education and training in music and the arts and develop talents in these areas. At one time Logan contained the Thatcher Opera House, a Thatcher Bank, and the Thatcher Milling and Elevator Company.

A daughter of George and Luna Thatcher, Nellie May, is courted and marries George Elias Blair, son of Seth Millington and Sarah Jane Foster Blair, also of Logan, and thus begins the third generation of the collection. As early as 1881 there are invitations, notes, and letters between George and Nellie as they develop a courtship that lasted seven years. During most of this time George is in Salt Lake or "on the road" with different work, trying to become financially able to ask Nellie to marry him. He was a great lover of the arts, writing poetry and plays. He writes about the Salt Lake Theater where he is a constant patron and tells of productions and actors playing there. These love letters to Nellie are personal, but they contain stories of the early social and economic life in Salt Lake and Logan. George works in real estate and as an agent for Luna Y. Thatcher, his mother-in-law, collecting rentals for her, noting on June 8, 1888, that she owns the schoolhouse. George and Nellie built a home at 183 Canyon Road, Salt Lake City, on property given Nellie by her parents. The house still stands. Here their five children are born: Virginia, Millington, Philip, Kathryn, and George. George and Nellie's subsequent correspondence is carried on while Nellie spends months at a time with her children in Logan at the home of her parents, or from George as he travels, working on mining and oil developments or other employment. Blair studied law for a period in his youth and he held a variety of positions at different times: clerk of the Utah Commission in territorial days, deputy county clerk of Salt Lake, manager of the Salt Lake Herald, insurance agent, and he had interests in the Esmeralda, Gold-field, and Bullfrog gold mines in Nevada. He writes about the Twenty-eighth Session of the Utah Legislature in 1888 and is elected justice of the peace, Fourth Precinct, Salt Lake City, in 1890. Blair becomes intensely interested in a play titled Corianton which, it is said, he helped write. He makes several trips to New York and becomes the producer of the show, having costumes and scenery made and shipped to Utah. Extravagant plans are made as he hires famous actors and books engagements in several cities. Although he had high hopes for the success of the play, it proves to be a miserable failure and a financial fiasco from which he never fully recovers. George Blair passed away at an early age in 1905.

The fourth generation of the collection begins with Virginia Blair (1890-1973). Some years after George's death, Nellie and her family move to Hollywood, California, to be with Virginia who is trying to make "the big time" in the movie industry. Virginia evidently inherited her father's love for the theater, and is gifted in writing, music, and art. She fails to become the Hollywood starlet she dreamed of, but has bit parts and extra work and apparently is acquainted with many of the "movie people." Her health is never the strongest and she suffers periods of serious illness. She and her mother later become the closest of friends and companions and when Nellie passes away on October 23, 1941, Virginia is left desolate. Virginia is never successful enough to support herself fully, and she lives most of her adult life with her brother, Millington, who, with her other brothers, support her. Neither Virginia nor Millington ever marry. Virginia writes her intimate thoughts, poetry, and events of the day in a collection of thirteen notebooks--writing sporadically from 1918-1962. They tell of life in California during this time, especially through the years of the second world war. In the latter years she and Millington move back to Logan, Utah, where their remaining days are spent in a trouble some relationship. Virginia is responsible for saving and assembling most of this collection. The family genealogy is recorded in her "Book of Remembrance," and there is other genealogical material in the papers.

Included in the collection is a very beautiful group of greeting cards for different occasions, wedding announcements, invitations, and "at home" cards dating from 1882 to 1907.