Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Sallie Peirce Blair Friendship Book, Mss. Collection 2001.8, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College, Wytheville, VA

Acquisition Information

Donated by Ruth Ann Chitwood in 2001 as part of the W. Randolph Chitwood Collection.

Biographical Information

The daughter of Alexander Peirce and his third wife, Elizabeth F. Bell, Sallie K. Peirce was born on 14 February 1838. She married Francis S. Blair (1839-1899) on 15 November 1865. He served in the Confederate Army and as Virginia Attorney General from 1881 to 1885. They had six children including Alexander Peirce Blair (1866-1891), John Chester Blair (1868-1907), Francis Joseph Blair, Robert William Blair (1873-1924), David Sullins Blair (1875-1960), and Florence Bell Blair who married Thomas Wilson Preston.

Francis S. Blair died on 14 January 1899 in Wytheville, Virginia. Sallie K. Peirce Blair died on 17 April 1921 in Bristol, Virginia. Both are buried in East End Cemetery in Wytheville, Virginia.

Scope and Content

Judging from notes by W. Randolph Chitwood and newspaper clippings found with the book, this friendship book probably belonged to Sallie K. Peirce Blair of Wythe County, Virginia. On the front cover board is inscribed "Germa from Flora, Illustrated" with elaborate decorations in gold leaf. Scattered throughout the book are color illustrations of flowers, poems, and greetings by various people. Names included (with date greeting written) in the book include Sophronia Hill (1892), Carrie V. Hall of Red Bluff, Va. (1889), Mary C. Mays (1888), Alice K. Mays, Gladys Blair (1934), L. S. Brown, Maggie Gray (1889), and M. L. Blair.