James Blair was born in Scotland in 1656, probably in Banffshire, the son of the Reverend Peter Blair. He grew up during a period of intense religious and political conflict following the English Civil Wars. Scotland’s disputes among Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and royal authority shaped the world in which he prepared for the ministry. Blair studied at Marischal College in Aberdeen and received a strong education in classics, philosophy, theology, rhetoric, and church discipline. He was ordained in the Church of Scotland but aligned with the Episcopal establishment supported by the restored monarchy. When political changes weakened that position, his prospects in Scotland became uncertain. In 1685 Blair emigrated to Virginia, where the established Church of England needed educated ministers. He served parishes and quickly gained recognition for learning, administrative ability, and forceful personality. The scattered plantation society posed challenges unlike those of Scotland: clergy traveled widely, supervised vestries, and worked within a colony where wealth and power rested upon tobacco and bound labor. Blair married Sarah Harrison, daughter of Benjamin Harrison Jr., connecting himself to a major Virginia family. He became commissary, or representative, of the bishop of London in the colony. This office placed him at the center of ecclesiastical and political disputes. Before founding the College of William and Mary, Blair had been shaped by a minister’s family, Scottish university culture, sectarian conflict, displacement, migration, parish experience, and strategic marriage. His determination to establish a college reflected both intellectual conviction and institutional ambition. He believed Virginia required locally trained clergy and officials rather than dependence upon England. The persistence he developed through religious controversy in Scotland became a defining feature of his long Virginia career.