JAMES BLAKE
James Blake was born in Ireland, in 1831, and when fourteen years of age, he came with his parents to America, and located in Philadelphia, where he remained but a short time, when he went to Delaware. He there remained but a few months, when he returned to Chester county, Pennsylvania, and was there reared to manhood. In 1856 he came west with a sister and two brothers, to search for a location, upon which to build them a house and buy a farm. They came directly to Cass county, and made a settlement in what is now Washington township, where they lived some time. In the fall of the same year, James bought a piece of land on section 10, where he erected a small cabin. He went to Colorado in 1861, and there mined for two years, when he went to Montana, and was there engaged in mining until 1866, when he returned to Cass county, and settled on the farm he had previously purchased. He has since added to his farm one hundred and sixty acres, making in all, three hundred and twenty acres, which he has nicely improved, and has planted some fine trees, of both shade and fruit. Mr. Blake was married in 1867, to Mary Gannon, also a native of Ireland. They have one child living -- Mary.
Transcribed by Gloria Goltiani from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pp. 627-628.
