The Americans | Celebrating 250 Years of Freedom
Blake’s mother, Shirley May Steele, was an only child and the last of her branch of the Steele family line. She preserved an extensive collection of family history on both the Steele and Smith sides: countless volumes filled with old love letters, postcards, contracts, military conscriptions, newspaper clippings, accounts of accidental deaths, and lingering mysteries still waiting to be uncovered.
I can’t explain what I mean. And even if I could, I’m not sure I’d feel like it.
J.D. Salinger | The Catcher in the Rye | 1951
![“The Sporting Club” [1969] | Thomas McGuane & Other Literary Works](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/650f09b4a6182d04103f0413/44a0fd74-ea37-4f40-bc5e-6c5ee114c794/sclub.png)
Coming Soon: The Essays of Blake Smith
The American Revolutionary War
Steele Family Arrival to America, from Ireland | Circa 1710
[Samuel Steele Sr., arrived c.1710 from County Antrim, Northern Ireland, to Chester Co., PA]
The Steele family American lineage begins with Samuel Steele Sr., who immigrated around 1710 from Northern Ireland to Chester County, Pennsylvania. His son, Samuel Steele Jr., was born in 1733 in Pennsylvania and later moved south to Rowan County, North Carolina, where he died in 1789—serving in the militia during the Revolutionary War. Samuel Jr.’s son, Ninian McMahon Steele, was born in 1763 and also participated in the Revolutionary War as a young soldier before relocating to Indiana and Kentucky, where he died in 1831. Ninian’s son, William Lindsay Steele, born in 1814 in Kentucky, later settled in Indiana and raised a family during the antebellum era. His son, James McClelland Steele, lived during the Civil War era in the Kentucky–Indiana region, and is the father of Captain Daniel Webster Steele, who was born in Virginia in 1837 and died in Ashland, Kentucky in 1919.
Perspective: In 1710 Benjamin Franklin was 4 Years Old.
The Blake Lookalike, so his mother says.
The Civil War
Captain Daniel W. Steele | Civil War Veteran | Born August 4, 1837 | Died January 8, 1919
22nd Kentuck Infantry, during the Civil Way. Fought at Vicksburg. Pension attorney for old soldiers. Worked for the Republican Party. Was a Master Mason at the Lodge at Cannonsburg, KY. Member of the Ashland school board.
Hunting | 1946
Gus Steele & Judy
Center
Grandpa Gus & Judy
In the center of the photo are Gus Steele and Judy, his hunting dog (hell of a name for a dog). The picture was taken around 1946, somewhere on the outskirts of Detroit or farther north in Michigan.
It’s autumn — Gus and a couple of friends out pheasant hunting on the kind of crisp day that calls for sweaters and flannel.
The trailer in the background? Gus bought it just for this — for hunting, adventure, or maybe just the sheer need to have one. He liked toys.
Blake's mother, Shirley, was a young girl then. She used to play in that trailer and would ride up in the back of the 1941 Willys Coupe.
Gus was a Freemason, and his wife - Dorothy - was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star.
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Blake Smith
Fort Fisher : 1998
“Simple living requires the default answer to be ‘no.’” - Blake Smith
The Wit and Wisdom of Benjamin Franklin
Smitty
“To find your personal - and brand - message you need to strip away everything… and you need to keep stripping away until you come to the truth. And that kind of simplicity is very difficult.”
-Blake Smith-
Blake Smith is a graduate of Lake Forest College, in economics and literature, and had a research contract with M.I.T. economics department on software he developed for the U.S. government DOT bidding systems.
“Art is the place where beauty and truth meet for coffee.” - Blake Smith
There’s a special kind of cool that comes with having your own enamel camping mug. With its classic design and durable finish, it feels like a throwback to simpler times—rugged, timeless, and ready for anything. Whether it's clipped to your pack or warming your hands with morning coffee, an enamel mug isn’t just gear, it’s part of your story. Chips and scratches only add character, turning it into a personal artifact of every trail walked, fire lit, and sunrise watched. It’s equal parts utility and nostalgia—always dependable, always stylish.
“Whether a man fishes with a spinning reel or a fly reel tells me everything I need to know about him - assuming, of course, he can fish at all.” - Blake Smith