London, England
Died: September 29, 1942
Denver, Colorado
English General Registry records indicate James WIlliam was born in the
sub-district of ROMFORD in the County of Essex, England. This is very
close to London. His father, J. Black, was listed as a "shoemaker"
and his mother was "Eliza Black, formerly Brooks".
"James Clara Black"
The following material was furnished by Mrs. Clinton Black taken from
the story of Clinton Black’s life (compiled by Virginia Crosby Elkins).
The Chronicle of JAMES W. & CLARA BLACK
James W. Black, an Englishman at the age of 16 played the flute in a band
for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee . After performing with the band
for 16 straight hours he concluded that there must be something else for
him. Without telling the family of his plan, he crawled out of his bedroom
window and signed on board a cattle ship bound for the United States.
Following his arrival he notified the family of his whereabouts and shortly
thereafter his two brothers and two friends (brothers) joined him. A while
later his father mother and sister came to this country.
One of the family stories was how the two
brothers and the two friends went to Mexico and purchased a herd of
sheep. The 4 young men brought the herd to Abilene. Kansas where they
picked up the Chisolm Trail, drove them through Colorado across the Battle
Mountain area (south of Vail) and into Montana. While the drive itself
was successful their encounters enroute with the larcenous local ranchers
who would deliberately drive their sheep into the trail herd ana take
out more than they put in, left the boys quite a bit short at trails end.
Because Jim could accurately count moving stock they talked him into going
along on the drive and by the time they reached Montana they had regained
their losses of the previous year. On one drive Jim's brother was shot
in a gunfight so they fed him a lot of whiskey, sterilized the knife in
a bonfire and removed the bullet. They continued to make the trail drive
5 more times only stopping after one of the brothers almost died from
a knife wound received during a fight when they went to Mexico to purchase
another herd.
James and Clara were married in Stockton, Kansas where he received his
naturalization papers. He began to run feed lots for companies and was
in charge, of a lot in, St. Mary's, Kansas when Cl1nton, age 6 months,
came into their lives. Learning that Martha Ault, wife of one of the workers
at the feedlot, was ill and unable to take care of the her three children
and an infant, the Blacks offered to take care of the baby. While one
of the older children could have been a help to Mrs. Black they felt that
the baby needed them more. At that time they had three children. Mable
(Mrs. Bland King, Adah (Mrs. Charlie Danford), and Charles (married Margaret
Epperson), in high school. Adah told of how she came home from scnool
and saw this baby with eyes as big as quarters and a large belly caused
by ricketts. Mrs. Black immediately took him to the doctor and by the
time he was 18 months old, with good food and care, nursed him back to
good health.
At that time they returned him to the Aults only to have a relative, a
short time later, write telling how he always stood in the door and cried,
and ask them to go back and get him. Little did they realize, when the
took him the second time that they would raise him to manhood. The natural
born Black children grew up and left home. Mable was busy with her music
and teaching, Adah married and started a family, and Charlie joined the
Navy and fought in World War I. During this time Mable took up the pipe
organ and was considered the best organist in Hutchinson, Kansas. When
she (age 32) married Bland King {age 47) they elected not to have a fam1ly.
Adah lived on a farm West of Hutchinson and had 5 children. Robert (died
of a heart attack about age 50). Gene (died in an airplane crash at age
26), Bill (moved to Wisconsin), Elizabeth (married Dr. Ken Lohmeyer),
and Richard (lives in Phoenix, Az.}. Charlie Black and his wife had 6
children and lived for many years in Lawrence, Kansas.
The Blacks, with Clinton moved to Doniphen, Nebraska and later on to a
sheep ranch about 6 miles out of Pocotella, Idaho that Mr. Black and 3
other men purchased. At the end of WWI war, when the government canceled
all of the wool contracts, they lost the ranch. They moved down to Denver,
Colorado to start over and lived in a home on Yates Street. Later. when
Clinton had an opportunity to work for Merdian Creamery he moved to Hutchinson,
Kansas, and lived in a boarding house. When James and Clara moved to Hutchinson
he returned to their home at 208 W 8th. James worked at the Reno County
Courthouse. Shortly before his death he told of how glad he was they had
raised Clinton. In his words “it was one of the good things that
they had done”.