It was reportedly the first cabin in Tompkins County, New York and Blair lived there until age 17, helping his father farm the land.

[1] He served on the House Judiciary Committee and was the leading proponent of the successful 1846 effort to abolish capital punishment in Michigan.

Together they had four sons; George who became a postal clerk in the railway mail service; Charles who became a partner with his father; the other two were Fred and Austin.

In his first inaugural address in January 1861, Blair recommended that the state offer its entire military resources to Lincoln for maintaining the supremacy of the U.S. Constitution.

Within days of the outbreak of the American Civil War in April, Blair responded by calling for ten companies of volunteers.

Blair decided to disregard these instructions and continued to establish the fifth, sixth, and seventh regiments, all of which had been deployed by mid-September.

At the outset of the war, Michigan had a total population of approximately 800,000 and an estimated 110,000 able-bodied men capable of bearing arms.

During this time of conflict, Governor Blair ran the state government from his hometown of Jackson, making that community a hub of Michigan's war effort.

Two years after leaving the Governor's seat, Austin Blair was elected to the U.S. House representing Michigan's 3rd congressional district from 1867 to 1873, serving in the 40th, 41st and 42nd Congresses.