Biography - Thomas Black
Thomas G. BLACK, farmer and grain dealer, P. O. Irving, was born in Kentucky February 21, 1828, son of James B. and Mary G. (McCASLIN) BLACK, he, a farmer, born in Kentucky October 7, 1799, died about the year 1876; she, born July 3, 1793, died September 14, 1836. Subject, the second child of a family of four children, came to Illinois with his parents when three years of age, and stayed one year in Bond County; then moved to Montgomery County, where he received his education in the common schools. He assisted his father on the farm till he was twenty-one years of age, then engaged in the tanning business, which, not proving satisfactory, he abandoned, and began farming. He bought a farm in 1853, but sold it in 1854, and moved to the town of Irving, where he and James N. BERRY built the first business house in the place in 1855, and engaged in the mercantile and grain trade, which he followed for twenty years, when he bought the place where he now lives, about a half mile from Irving, and engaged in his present occupation of farming and stock trading, which he carries on successfully. In 1852, he married Nancy A. WHITLIDGE, a native of Illinois, who died February 21, 1857; her parents were natives of Kentucky. From this union three children were born, one only now living, viz., Mary M. His second wife, Sarah E. BERRY, was born February 18, 1838; her parents were natives of Kentucky. She has borne him ten children, of whom eight are living. Mr. BLACK served in the army three months in 1862, as Lieutenant of Company C, Seventieth Illinois Volunteers, principally on guard duty; has been Supervisor of Irving Township for two terms, was Chairman of the Committee of the Poor Farm, and has done much toward the improvement of the town. He is a Republican, and a member of the Masonic fraternity.
Extracted 22 Nov 2016 by Norma Hass from 1882 History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 2 Biographical Department, pages 282-283.
