Isaac J. Black, b. 12 Sep 1848

KENNEDY, MAYBERRY, CLARK, CARNES, HANNA, MESSENGER, WARD, FLEWELLING, SOVEREIGN, WHITEHEAD

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 2/20/2004 at 22:54:10

This gentleman is accounted one of the most successful men of Farmers' Creek Township. He has accumulated a competence, is the owner of a very fine homestead, and better than all, bears an irreproachable character. He is the scion of an excellent family, being the son of Robert Black, a native of Pennsylvania, and the grandson of Thomas Black, the record of whose early life is somewhat dim, but who was either a native of Pennsylvania or Ohio, born near the State line. He traced his ancestry to Scotland, and, after his marriage to Miss Kennedy, took up his residence in Lawrence County, Pa., where their children were born and reared.

Robert Black, the father of our subject, was the eldest of his parents' eight children. His sister Jane married Alexander Mayberry, and died in Pennsylvania. The others were: Thomas K.; Mary, the wife of Richard Clark, and a resident of Marshall County, Kan.; John; James; Margaret, Mrs. Godfrey Carnes, of Nebraska; and Matthew, of Iowa. Robert, upon reaching manhood, was married, near the line between Pennsylvania and Ohio, to Miss Eliza, daughter of Isaac Hanna, who was of Scotch descent. The parents sojourned several years in Mercer County, Pa., and there Isaac J., our subject, was born Sept. 12, 1848. His brother, Thomas M., is deceased. Andrew D. died in the hospital, at Memphis, Tenn., during the late war. The other children were: Esmeralda, Samuel C., and Isah W.; the latter, a resident of Sanborn County, Dak., is the only one living besides our subject.

Mrs. Eliza (Hanna) Black, the mother of our subject, died in Iowa, in April, 1855. The father was married the second time to Mrs. Helen A. (Messenger) Horner, and to them were born five children, namely: David M., a resident of Woodbury County, Iowa; James H. died in infancy; Emily E., Mrs. W. M. Ward, of Maquoketa; Henry W.; and Phebe A., who died young. Robert Black departed this life in this township, at Fulton, March 21, 1884, at the age of seventy-one years. He had been a member of the Presbyterian Church since about 1853. About that year, also, he came to Iowa with his family, locating upon the land which constitutes the present farm of our subject. He was a good man in the broadest sense of the term, and maintained a warm interest in the various enterprises calculated for the good of the people about him. He assisted in the organization of the Presbyterian Church, at Fulton, to the support of which he contribulted liberally as long as he lived. He was instrume!
ntal in the purchase of the church-building, which is still occupied by those who are left of 'the old congregation. The mother was also a member of the same church, and he died firm in the faith which they had espoused in their youth. The father resided at the old farm until 1875, then removed to Fulton and spent his declining years. His wife still lives in Fulton.

The subject of this sketch assisted his father in the development of the new farm, and when reaching manhood was married, Oct. 7, 1875, to Miss Jennie, daughter of Daniel and Eliza (Flewelling) Sovereign. The father of Mrs. Black, it is supposed, was of German descent, and died in Norfolk County, Canada, in 1856. There also Mrs. Black was born Dec. 21, 1851. The mother, after the death of her husband, whent to live with her daughter at Flint, Mich., were her decease occured Feb. 25, 1889. Her father, Jacob Flewelling, was a native of Wales, and married Miss Sarah Whitehead. They lived in New Brunswick some years, and there the mother of Mrs. Black was born. They removed to New York State after their daughter had become a young lady, and thence to Canada.

The property of Mr. Black comprises 160 acres of choice land, which he has brought to a thorough state of cultivation, and upon which he has erected tasteful and modern buildings. In addition to the house, barn, and other structures necessary for carrying on farming in a profitable manner. He also has a creamery, which he erected in 1880, and from which he sends out annually about 60,000 pounds of butter. He keeps upon an average twenty-five cows, and purchases all the cream that he can obtain in the neighborhood.

The four children of our subject and his estimable wife are recorded as follows: Ernest was born May 25, 1878, and is living at home; Edwin M. was born Dec. 12, 1881, and died April 24, 1883; Harry O. was born July 19, 1884; and Robert B., Feb. 4, 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Black are members in good standing of the Presbyterian Church at Fulton, in which our subject officiates as Elder, and in other respects is worthily bearing the mantle of his honored father. He united with the church in 1870, and Mrs. Black joined in 1886. Politically, our subject is a decided Republican, but with the exception of serving as Assessor has carefully avoided the responsibilities of office.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois)