The race of men who remember Cleveland in the day of its small beginnings, is fast passing away. Of those who were residents of the little village on the Cuyahoga fifty years ago, only about half a dozen now live in the flourishing city that occupies its site and inherits its name. One of these is John Blair, well known to all the Clevelanders of ante-railroad days, but who is probably a mere name to a large proportion of those who have crowded into the city of late years. Mr. Blair is one of the few remaining links that connect the rude village in the forest with the modern Forest City. John Blair was born in Maryland on the 18th of December, 1793. His early years were spent in farming, but at the age of twenty-three he dropped the hoe and turned his back to the plow, resolving to come west and seek his fortune. From the time that he shook from his feet the dirt of the Maryland farm, he says, he has never done a whole day's work, at one time, at manual labor. In 1819, he reached Cleveland, then an insignificant village of about a hundred and fifty inhabitants, who dwelt mostly in log houses, grouped at the foot of Superior street. At the corner of Water street and what is now Union lane, stood the pioneer hotel of Cleveland, the tavern of Major Carter, where good accommodations for man and beast were always to be found. The young Maryland adventurer was not overburdened with wealth when he landed in his future home, his entire cash capital being three dollars. But it was no discredit in those days to be poor, and three dollars was a fine capital to start business upon. In fact sonic of the then "old settlers," would have been glad to possess so much capital in ready money as a reserve fund. But even in those days of primitive simplicity, three dollars would not support a man for any great length of time if there were no other sources of supply. Mr. Blair recognized the fact that no time must be wasted, and at once turned his attention to a chance for speculation. An opportunity immediately offered itself. An old Quaker, with speculation in his eye, entered Cleveland with two hundred and fifty fat hogs, expecting to find a good market. In this he was mistaken, and as hogs on foot were expensive to hold over for a better market, he determined to convert them into salt pork. Mr. Blair offered to turn pork-packer for a proper consideration; the offer was accepted, and this was Mr. Blair's first step in business.