Andrew's father died when Andrew was only 2 years old. His two older siblings were placed under the care of their grandfather in Carlisle and Andrew and his younger brother Henry Cowen, lived with their mother at the home of her father, Andrew Holmes, about two miles south of Carlisle.

At nine years of age he walked two miles to and from Carlisle each day to attend school, getting three months schooling each year until he was 12.

At 13 he was put to the plough and other farm work until at 15 he was apprenticed to Robert Irvine of Carlisle to learn the tanning a currying trade.

Andrew married Elizabeth Hays, 31 Mar 1812. Together they had 9 children, the last 3 not surviving their first year.

Children:
-Joseph Holmes Blair (1813-1882)
-William Blair (1815-1896)
-Henry Cowen Blair (1816-1862)
-Ann Hays Blair (1819-1875)
-Andrew Holmes Blair (1823-1876)
-John Hays Blair (1826-1847)
-Sarah Blair (1827-1827)
-George Duffield Blair (1829-1829)
-George Duffield Blair (1831-1832)

Andrew was a soldier in the war of 1812. When the call was made for troops for the defense of Philadelphia, he marched promptly with Capt. Halbert's Company to that city, leaving his wife and small infant, but, as he states, with her full consent. The company was kept in service only 6 weeks. He was granted lands by the government for his services.

Andrew was the first president of the Board of Directors of the Public Schools of Carlisle, PA, serving for 25 years until his death.

Andrew was one of the originators of the movement which resulted in the organization of the Second Presbyterian Church of Carlisle in 1832 and was one of the first elders of the church. He was also ordained Deacon of the First Presbyterian Church, 4 Jan 1829, in Carlisle, PA.

Andrew passed away after months of intense physical suffering. He died from cancer of the throat.
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Excerpt from "Biographical annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania"

Andrew Blair was of stately form and commanding presence; a bulwark within himself and a natural leader of men. He possessed a clear-cut individuality; was noble-hearted and open handed, and his dignity of person always dissolved into the kind Christian friend in the presence of physical or mental suffering. He was of staunch Presbyterian people whom intolerance and persecution drove from Scotland to Ireland and early in the eighteenth century from Ireland to America. When the ancestor of Andrew Blair came to Pennsylvania he brought with him, among other household goods, their grandfather clock, later named "Old Billy," and that old clock was is still chiming the hours in the home of William Blair, the fifth of America.
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