Frank Blair

Joseph Orville Shelby was born in Lexington, Kentucky and was raised by a stepfather, Benjamin Gratz, a hemp merchant and perhaps the richest man in Kentucky.    One of Shelby”s neighbors in Lexington was best casinos John Hunt Morgan.  His first cousins included Montgomery Blair (Lincoln”s Postmaster General) and Montgomery”s kid brother,  Congressman and CW Major Genl.  Frank Blair.  Another cousin was Benjamin Gratz Brown, who would be a post-war Governor of Missouri.  Both Brown and Frank Blair were candidates for Vice President on tickets that opposed the elections of U. S. Grant in 1868 and 1872.

Shelby was in Texas on July 4, 1865 because of his family relations.  On orders of Abraham Lincoln.

Shelby”s geneaology can be found at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~raggmopp79/Gist.html#Anna Maria Boswell