Blair Banister, a New York insurance broker, was born at Huntsville, Alabama, July 24, 1866. He was the son of John Monro and Mary Louisa (Brodnax) Banister, daughter of General William Brodnax, of "Kingston," Dinwiddie county, Virginia, whose wife was Ann (Withers) Brodnax, also of Virginia.
Blair was educated at private schools at Huntsville, Alabama, and at the University School, at Petersburg, Virginia. He was an insurance agent at Lynchburg, Virginia, for several years, afterwards traveling extensively in the insurance business. He went to New York in 1911, and engaged in business there as an insurance broker. His brothers and sisters are as follows : Robert Bolling Banister, born at Greensboro, Alabama, August 17, 1854, died in 1889; Dr. John Monro Banister Jr., a graduate of Washington and Lee University with the degree of A. B. in 1874, and of the University of Virginia with the degree of M. D. in 1878, colonel in the United States army, member of the Army and Navy Club of New York, and hereditary member of the Society of the Cincinnati ; Lieutenant-Colonel William Brodnax Banister, of the United States army ; Reginal Heber Banister, of Birmingham, Alabama ; Anne Withers Banister of Lynchburg, Virginia; Mary Louisa Banister, who married Sterling Sidney Lanier, of Birmingham, Alabama ; Augusta Bolling Banister, who married Robert Slaughter, of Lynchburg, Virginia; Ellen Gordon Banister, who married Gustav Stalling, also of Lynchburg.
Blair was a member of the Empire State Society and the Sons of the American Revolution. He was also a member of the "Virginians" of New York, and of the "New York Southern Society." In politics he was an independent Democrat, and in religion he was affiliated with the Protestant Episcopal church.
March 2, 1893, Blair married Marion Langhorne Glass (1868-1951) , daughter of Major Robert Henry Glass, of Lynchburg, Virginia, and Meta (Sandford) Glass, of Fayetteville, North Carolina. There was born one daughter of the marriage, Margaret Sandford Banister (1894-1977, the author of "Tears Are For The Living" and "Burn Then, Little Lamp").
Blair's' father, John Monro Banister, was born at "Battersea," Petersburg, Dinwiddie county, Virginia, March 14, 1818. He was an Episcopal clergyman, and was graduated from Princeton University with the degree of A. B. in 1840. He received the degree of LL. D. from the Fredericksburg Law School in 1842. and was later a graduate of the Virginia Theological Seminary. He became a Doctor of Divinity of William and Mary College in 1869, and from 1868 to 1907 was a trustee of the University of the South, at Sewanee, Tennessee. He died March 25, 1907
The Banister family is English in origin, and the name has been variously written Banester, Banaster, Bannister, and Banister. The name in the form of Banaster occurs in Holinshed's Roll of Battle Abbey. Camden derives it from Balneator, the keeper uf a bath. It also resembles a term used in the parish accounts of Chudleigh, county Devon, and supposed to mean a traveler in distress.
Distinguished among the ancestors of Blair Banister was John Banister, botanist and naturalist, who was born in England, and died in Virginia in 1692. He was an English clergyman who, after spending some years in the West Indies, emigrated to America, and settled near Williamsburg, Virginia. Later, he patented seventeen hundred and thirty acres of land on the south side of the Appomattox river, at Hatcher's Run. where he established his home. Here he devoted himself almost exclusively to botanical pursuits, and wrote a natural history of Virginia. He was killed by a fall from a bluff near the falls of the Roanoke river while on a botanical expedition. To the second volume of Ray's "History of Plants" he contributed a catalogue of plants discovered by him in Virginia. Among his other publications are : "Observations on the Natural Productions of Jamaica", "The Insects of Virginia" (published 1700), "Curiosities of Virginia", "Observations on the Musca lupus", "On Several Sorts of Snails", and "A Description of the Snakeroot, Pisto- lochia, or Serpentaria Virginiania." Copies of many of his articles were made for Congress, and are in the Congressional Library. As a naturalist John Banister was esteemed the equal of Bertram. At his death (according to Allibone's "Dictionary of Authors") he left his large collection of manuscripts and curios to his friend, Sir Hans Sloane, celebrated naturalist, of Chelsea, London. It is a matter of record that when Sir Hans Sloan died his wonderful collection of manuscripts, curiosities and objects of natural history became, by his will, the nucleus of what is now the British Museum. Thus the final disposition of John Banister's collection has been authentically accounted for.
The first John Banister had a son, also named John Banister, who was born and died in Virginia, and who is several times spoken of in Bristol parish register as Captain John Banister. He was a vestryman of Bristol parish, 1735-40, and of Bath parish, 1742. He married and had a daughter, Martha, born 1732, and a son, John (3), born 1734-
This son, John Banister (3), built and lived at "Battersea," at Petersburg, Virginia, where he died in 1787. He received a classical education in England, studying law also at Temple Bar, London. Before the breaking out of the revolutionary war he was a member of the Virginia house of Burgesses. Early in the revolution he was a member of the state assembly, and of the Continental Congress, from March 16, 1778, to September 24, 1779, in both New York and Philadelphia ; and was also one of the framers of the Articles of Confederation in 1781. As a Lieutenant-Colonel of Virginia cavalry, under General Lawson, he took an active part in repelling the British from his state. It is said that on one occasion he supplied a regiment of soldiers with blankets at his own expense. Several of his letters are preserved in the Bland papers, Petersburg, Virginia, 1840. In his later years he was the proprietor of a large estate.
He married Anne Blair, daughter of John Blair, president of the Virginia council (who was a son of Dr. Archibald Blair, and nephew of James Blair, D. D., founder of William and Mary College) and Mary Monro, daughter of Rev. John Monro, of Williamsburg, Virginia. By this union there was a son, John Monro Banister, who married Mary Burton Augusta Bolling, daughter of Colonel Robert Bolling (IV), of "Centre Hill", Petersburg, Virginia, and had several children of whom John Monro Banister, D. D., of Huntsville, Alabama, father of Blair Banister, was one. A descendant of John Banister (1), who was also an uncle of Blair Banister, was William C. Banister, who was killed at the battle before Petersburg, Virginia, June 9, 1864, in the "Old Men's Brigade", which went out to defend the city against the Union army.
Blair was living at 1025 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC at the time of his death.
Blair Banister, a New York insurance broker, was born at Huntsville, Alabama, July 24, 1866. He was the son of John Monro and Mary Louisa (Brodnax) Banister, daughter of General William Brodnax, of "Kingston," Dinwiddie county, Virginia, whose wife was Ann (Withers) Brodnax, also of Virginia.
Blair was educated at private schools at Huntsville, Alabama, and at the University School, at Petersburg, Virginia. He was an insurance agent at Lynchburg, Virginia, for several years, afterwards traveling extensively in the insurance business. He went to New York in 1911, and engaged in business there as an insurance broker. His brothers and sisters are as follows : Robert Bolling Banister, born at Greensboro, Alabama, August 17, 1854, died in 1889; Dr. John Monro Banister Jr., a graduate of Washington and Lee University with the degree of A. B. in 1874, and of the University of Virginia with the degree of M. D. in 1878, colonel in the United States army, member of the Army and Navy Club of New York, and hereditary member of the Society of the Cincinnati ; Lieutenant-Colonel William Brodnax Banister, of the United States army ; Reginal Heber Banister, of Birmingham, Alabama ; Anne Withers Banister of Lynchburg, Virginia; Mary Louisa Banister, who married Sterling Sidney Lanier, of Birmingham, Alabama ; Augusta Bolling Banister, who married Robert Slaughter, of Lynchburg, Virginia; Ellen Gordon Banister, who married Gustav Stalling, also of Lynchburg.
Blair was a member of the Empire State Society and the Sons of the American Revolution. He was also a member of the "Virginians" of New York, and of the "New York Southern Society." In politics he was an independent Democrat, and in religion he was affiliated with the Protestant Episcopal church.
March 2, 1893, Blair married Marion Langhorne Glass (1868-1951) , daughter of Major Robert Henry Glass, of Lynchburg, Virginia, and Meta (Sandford) Glass, of Fayetteville, North Carolina. There was born one daughter of the marriage, Margaret Sandford Banister (1894-1977, the author of "Tears Are For The Living" and "Burn Then, Little Lamp").
Blair's' father, John Monro Banister, was born at "Battersea," Petersburg, Dinwiddie county, Virginia, March 14, 1818. He was an Episcopal clergyman, and was graduated from Princeton University with the degree of A. B. in 1840. He received the degree of LL. D. from the Fredericksburg Law School in 1842. and was later a graduate of the Virginia Theological Seminary. He became a Doctor of Divinity of William and Mary College in 1869, and from 1868 to 1907 was a trustee of the University of the South, at Sewanee, Tennessee. He died March 25, 1907
The Banister family is English in origin, and the name has been variously written Banester, Banaster, Bannister, and Banister. The name in the form of Banaster occurs in Holinshed's Roll of Battle Abbey. Camden derives it from Balneator, the keeper uf a bath. It also resembles a term used in the parish accounts of Chudleigh, county Devon, and supposed to mean a traveler in distress.
Distinguished among the ancestors of Blair Banister was John Banister, botanist and naturalist, who was born in England, and died in Virginia in 1692. He was an English clergyman who, after spending some years in the West Indies, emigrated to America, and settled near Williamsburg, Virginia. Later, he patented seventeen hundred and thirty acres of land on the south side of the Appomattox river, at Hatcher's Run. where he established his home. Here he devoted himself almost exclusively to botanical pursuits, and wrote a natural history of Virginia. He was killed by a fall from a bluff near the falls of the Roanoke river while on a botanical expedition. To the second volume of Ray's "History of Plants" he contributed a catalogue of plants discovered by him in Virginia. Among his other publications are : "Observations on the Natural Productions of Jamaica", "The Insects of Virginia" (published 1700), "Curiosities of Virginia", "Observations on the Musca lupus", "On Several Sorts of Snails", and "A Description of the Snakeroot, Pisto- lochia, or Serpentaria Virginiania." Copies of many of his articles were made for Congress, and are in the Congressional Library. As a naturalist John Banister was esteemed the equal of Bertram. At his death (according to Allibone's "Dictionary of Authors") he left his large collection of manuscripts and curios to his friend, Sir Hans Sloane, celebrated naturalist, of Chelsea, London. It is a matter of record that when Sir Hans Sloan died his wonderful collection of manuscripts, curiosities and objects of natural history became, by his will, the nucleus of what is now the British Museum. Thus the final disposition of John Banister's collection has been authentically accounted for.
The first John Banister had a son, also named John Banister, who was born and died in Virginia, and who is several times spoken of in Bristol parish register as Captain John Banister. He was a vestryman of Bristol parish, 1735-40, and of Bath parish, 1742. He married and had a daughter, Martha, born 1732, and a son, John (3), born 1734-
This son, John Banister (3), built and lived at "Battersea," at Petersburg, Virginia, where he died in 1787. He received a classical education in England, studying law also at Temple Bar, London. Before the breaking out of the revolutionary war he was a member of the Virginia house of Burgesses. Early in the revolution he was a member of the state assembly, and of the Continental Congress, from March 16, 1778, to September 24, 1779, in both New York and Philadelphia ; and was also one of the framers of the Articles of Confederation in 1781. As a Lieutenant-Colonel of Virginia cavalry, under General Lawson, he took an active part in repelling the British from his state. It is said that on one occasion he supplied a regiment of soldiers with blankets at his own expense. Several of his letters are preserved in the Bland papers, Petersburg, Virginia, 1840. In his later years he was the proprietor of a large estate.
He married Anne Blair, daughter of John Blair, president of the Virginia council (who was a son of Dr. Archibald Blair, and nephew of James Blair, D. D., founder of William and Mary College) and Mary Monro, daughter of Rev. John Monro, of Williamsburg, Virginia. By this union there was a son, John Monro Banister, who married Mary Burton Augusta Bolling, daughter of Colonel Robert Bolling (IV), of "Centre Hill", Petersburg, Virginia, and had several children of whom John Monro Banister, D. D., of Huntsville, Alabama, father of Blair Banister, was one. A descendant of John Banister (1), who was also an uncle of Blair Banister, was William C. Banister, who was killed at the battle before Petersburg, Virginia, June 9, 1864, in the "Old Men's Brigade", which went out to defend the city against the Union army.
Blair was living at 1025 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC at the time of his death.
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