USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I > Part 51
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as such, performed nearly all of the legal du- ties for the road in Kansas up to the time of General Blair's death, which occurred in 1899. Mr. Black was thereupon appointed attorney for the road in Kansas and still holds that position. As a Democrat he has long been active in his efforts directed toward the suc- cess of that party. He was one of the organ- izers of the Aurora Club in 1892, a political society that entertained lavishly in honor of many of the great men of Democracy, includ- ing Governor W. J. Stone, on the day he delivered the famous free-silver speech at Washington Park-a speech that proved a strong factor in making the money question an issue in the campaign of 1896. In 1900 Mr. Black was elected chairman of the Den- ocratic county committee of Jackson County. He is a member of the Elks, the college fra- ternity of Beta Theta Pi, and the Kansas City Club. He comes from an old and prominent Presbyterian family, and takes a material in- terest in movements calculated to improve the condition of men. A Missourian native- born, he takes a corresponding pride in Mis- souri, and as an active participant in nearly all public movements and enterprises enjoys high standing, both as a citizen and in a pro- fessional capacity.
Black, Samuel, for many years an active business man in St. Louis, afterward a resident of St. Louis County; and later of Phelps County, was born December 25, 1803, near Staunton, Augusta County, Virginia. His parents were James and Elizabeth (Rice) Black, both of whom died at the advanced age of 81 years. The mother was descended from a noted family of the revolutionary period : her father. General Rice, was killed in the battle of Guilford Court House. Samuel Black was reared on a Virginia plan- tation, and his educational opportunities were limited to thoseafforded by the public schools in the neighborhood. His somewhat meager education was compensated for, however, in his native ability and quick discernment, which enabled him to acquit himself cred- itably and successfully in all business con- cerns, during a long and active life. In 1821, being then nineteen years of age, he traveled on horseback from his home in Virginia to that of his uncle, Ralph Clayton, in St. Louis County. Mr. Clayton was operating a tan- nery, in which Samuel worked until he had
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mastered the business, when he established a similar industry at Manchester, Missouri, on his own account. In 1835 he removed to St. Louis, and with Jacob Thomas, his brother- in-law, engaged in a livery stable business opposite the old Cathedral, on Walnut Street. This was, at the time. one of the notable assembling points in the city, not only for the better class of horse fanciers, but for gentlemen in all walks of life. About 1845 he sold his interest to John Thornton, and became interested with James C. Sutton in a milling establishment
on the corner of Broadway and Gratiot Streets. This mill was destroyed by fire, the act of an incen- diary, a slave, who after committing the act escaped to Indiana. The cholera excitement led Mr. Black, in 1849, to buy and remove to a farm one mile west of Clayton, where he remained for seven years. He then returned to St. Louis, and with James Neil opened a stable on Seventh Street. between Market and Chestnut Streets. In 1867 he retired from active business life, after a successful and honorable career. and purchased a farm five miles east of Rolla, Phelps County, where he made his home for the remainder of his life. In politics he was a Democrat, and during the memorable campaign of 1860 was particularly active in advocacy of Demo- cratic principles as represented by the Breckenridge and Lane wing of the party. Throughout the war he was an ardent seces- sionist and devoted the greater part of his means to the aid of those who sought to pass out of the lines and engage in the Confeder- ate service. He was not a professor of re- ligion, but held it in deep respect, and was a liberal contributor to the Methodist body in his neighborhood. He was married Decem- ber 6, 1827, to Miss Amanda J. McCutchan : she was the daugliter of William and Re- beccah McCutchan, who were the parents of thirteen children, the oldest of whom, Wil- liam, died of cholera in Ellsworth, Kansas, in 1867. Mr. Black died at his home near Rolla, in 1800, at the age of 87 years. During his life he was highly regarded for his integrity, affability, and wise judgment in business concerns. His widow died April 27, 1897. at the age of 84 years, surviv- ing her mother, who died at the age of 93 vears. Their living children are Margaret E. Black, Mary E. Gilmore, Charles R., Laura A ... Henry J., Robert II. and Thomas
McC. Black, Mrs. Anna McK. Southgate and Mrs. Virginia S. Illinski. The oldest son, Charles R., resides at Clayton, and is editor and owner of the "Argus" newspaper. He enjoys a high reputation as a journalist, and is one of the foremost citizens of the town and county in all concerns of public moment.
Black, William Henry, president of Missouri Valley College, at Marshall, was born March 19, 1854, at Centerville, Indiana. His parents were Felix Grundy and Lydia Katherine (Frederick) Black, both natives of Kentucky. The father was a Cumberland Presbyterian clergyman of great ability and eloquence, who died from apoplexy, while preaching, March 5, 1871. The son, William Henry Black, was educated in the High School at Covington, Ohio; at Waynesburg College, Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in 1876 as Bachelor of Arts; and at the Western Theological Seminary, Alle- gheny City, Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in 1878. He was occupied the following year with graduate studies in the same institution, and in 1882, he studied biology at Washington University, St. Louis. In 1889 he received from Cumberland Uni- versity the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. He was pastor of the First Cum- berland Presbyterian Church in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, from 1877 to 1880, and pastor of the Lucas Avenue Church of the same denomination in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1881 to 1890. In the latter year, he was called to his present position of president of Missouri Valley College. His intelligent devotion in that capacity has proven a potent stimulus to teachers and students, and his administration has been attended with ex- ceptional success, as witnessed in the useful careers of many graduates of the college, and the honorable place his school has attained among educational institutions of the higher class. On repeated occasions Dr. Black has been urgently solicited to leave the college to accept positions offering largely increased remuneration : at one time he was proffered a pastorate in Kansas City, at a salary more than double that attaching to the position he then occupied. All such overtures have been declined, in the conviction that his effort would be productive of greater good in educational work than in the ministry. His high standing among the clergy of his
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denomination is amply attested in the recog- nition accorded him by official bodies. In 1884 he was a delegate to the Presbyterian Alliance at Belfast, Ireland; and in 1896 he attended a similar body at Glasgow, Scot- land. During these visits abroad he preached in various churches in England, Scotland and Ireland, and spent some time on the continent. In 1888 he was Moderator of the General Assembly at Waco, Texas ; he was then but thirty-four years of age, the youngest man ever elected to the position. He has been a member of the Executive Con - mission of the Presbyterian Alliance since 1892, and in 1899 he was chosen to member- ship in the National Council of Education, and in the Educational Commission of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He is a graceful and vigorous writer, and has pro- duced several volumes which have been gratefully received by readers of religious literature; among these are his "Sermons for the Sabbath School": "God Our Father"; "Womanhood"; and "Outline Life of St. Paul." He has also contributed frequently to magazines and high class journals. Dr. Blackwas married . April 3, 1879, to Miss Mary Ella Henderson, a very successful teacher. At the time of her marriage, she was acting principal of the Fourth Ward School at Al- legheny, Pennsylvania, and superintendent of the Primary Department of the First United Presbyterian Church Sabbath School in the same city, numbering several hun- dred children.
Black River .- This river has its origin in spring branches in Reynolds and Iron Counties, which unite and form the main stream of considerable width and depth, flow- ing seventy-five miles through Wayne and Butler Counties, and entering White River in Arkansas. It is a favorite resort for St. Louis fishermen.
Blacksnake Hills .- The Indian name of the hills on which the city of St. Joseph is built.
Blackwater, Battle of .-. In Novem- ber. 1861, General Jefferson C. Davis, who had been detailed by General Pope, com- manding at Sedalia, to look after the recruits gathering in that part of the State to join Price's Confederate Army, surprised a large camp in a wooded bottom on Blackwater
Creek near Milford, and took 1,300 prisoners, together with all the booty and supplies belonging to the camp-800 horses, 1,000 stand of arms and 70 wagons. There was little fighting, the Confederates finding them- selves so suddenly surrounded that they made almost no resistance.
Blair, Francis Preston, lawyer, sol- dier and statesman, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, February 9, 1821, son of Francis Preston Blair, Sr., the last named a native of Virginia, a lawyer of note in that State in early life, later Attorney General of Ken- tucky, and still later editor of the "Globe" newspaper of Washington, D. C. The elder Blair removed to Washington when the son was nine years of age, and the latter passed the years of his boyhood in that city. After being fitted for college in the schools of Washington, he entered Princeton College, of Princeton, New Jersey. After leaving college, he returned to Kentucky, and began the study of law under Lewis Marshall, and later completed his legal education at the Law School of Transylvania University. He came to St. Louis in 1843, with the intention of beginning the practice of his profession, but the delicate state of his health prevented him from undertaking professional work at that time. He then went to the Rocky Mountain region with a party of trappers and traders, and in 1845 accompanied Bent and St. Vrain to their fort. which occupied a site in the southern part of the present State of Colorado. He remained in that region until the expedition under command of Gen- eral Stephen W. Kearny crossed the plains and proceeded to Mexico to take part in the Mexican War. Joining this expedition, he served to the end of the war, in a military capacity, and in 1847, having regained his health, he returned to St. Louis. The same year he was married to Miss Apolline Alex- ander, of Woodford County, Kentucky, and establishing his home in St. Louis, entered upon a brilliant career as a lawyer and public man. He devoted himself to the more congenial branches of professional work, and to politics, for which he had a natural fond- ness. An abhorrence of human slavery was inherent in his nature, and he became one of the originators of the "free soil" move- ment, and a leader of the Free Soil party. He was elected to the Legislature of Missouri in
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1852, and re-elected at the end of his first term of service in that body.
Under his leadership the Free Soil party nominated and elected its ticket in St. Louis in 1856, and in the same year Mr. Blair was elected to Congress. As a member of that body, he boldly championed the doctrine of emancipation, but held-as Clay had held years before- that when emancipated, the negroes should be transported to Africa. He was a candidate for re-election to Congress in 1858, but was defeated. He was returned, however, at the next succeeding congres- sional election, and was re-elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress, in which he served as chairman of the committee on military affairs, and as a member of other important committees. As a member of the lower branch of the national legislature, he had great influence in that body, and he was no less influential in the Republican party, then 011 the eve of its entree to power. In June of 1860, at his suggestion, a meeting of the Republicans of Missouri was called to select delegates to the National Republican Con- vention, to be held that year in Chicago, and, being himself chosen a delegate, he was a conspicuous figure in that famous gathering. Returning to St. Louis immediately after the convention, he made a ratification speech at the old Lucas Market, and soon afterward organized the uniformed campaign club known as "the Wide-awakes," which became so important a feature of the subsequent campaign. After Lincoln's election he was one of the first of the public men of the country to perceive that war between the North and the South was inevitable, and realizing also that the friends of the Union in Missouri must be alert and active if the State was to be prevented from joining the threatened rebellious uprising, he set on foot the movement which resulted in the enlist- ment, organization and drilling of the earliest defenders of the Union in the city. He was captain of the first company of Union soldiers enlisted in Missouri, and assisted materially in defraying the expenses incident to their arming and equipment. When companies were developed into regiments, he was unan- imously elected colonel of the First Regi- ment of Missouri Volunteers. Hle was made brigadier general of volunteers in August of 1861, and major general, November 29, 1862 ; and until 1863 held, at the same time, a seat
in Congress, which he resigned. Soon after the organization of the Confederate govern- ment he unearthed a plot of the State author- ities of Missouri to capture the United States arsenal in St. Louis, containing at the time sixty-five thousand stand of arms belong- ing to the general government. Acting on his advice, General Lyon moved the forces under his command, on May 10, 1861, and captured the State troops, which had been assembled at Camp Jackson. The unfor- tunate killing of citizens in this connection was deeply deplored by General Blair, result- ing, as it did, from the excited mob coming in contact with the troops in the discharge of their duty.
Retiring from Congress he commanded a division in the Vicksburg campaign, led his inen in the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, and was at the head of the Seventeenth Corps during Sherman's campaigns in 1864-5, including the march to the sea. He succeeded General McPherson in command of the Seventeenth Army Corps, serving until the close of the war, when he returned to his old home in St. Louis, to be received by the people with enthusiastic demonstrations of esteem and affection. After the war he opposed the reconstruction policy of Congress, and in consequence of this opposition, the United States Senate refused to confirm him as collector of internal revenue at St. Louis, and later as minister to Austria, to which positions he was appointed by President Johnson. He served afterward as commissioner of the Pacific Railroad, and in 1868 was the candidate of the Democratic party for Vice President of the United States on the ticket with Horatio Seymour, what he regarded as the harsh measures of the Republican party toward the Southern States having caused him to return to the political organization with which he had affiliated in early life. In 1871 he was again returned to the Legislature of Missouri, and was at once elected to the United States Senate to fill a vacancy, and served as a member of that body until 1873. His death occurred in St. Louis two years later, and occasioned pro- found sorrow among all classes of people in the city which he had honored in his life and public services.
Blair, James G., lawyer and congress- man,was born in Lewis County, Missouri, in
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1828, and after receiving a good education studied law and entered upon its practice. He became prominent as a Union man in the Civil War, and in 1870 was elected to the Forty-second Congress, from the Eighth Missouri District, as a Liberal Republican, by a vote of 11,646 to 9,106 for J. T. K. Hay- ward, regular Republican.
Blair, James L., lawyer, was born April 2, 1854, in St. Louis, son of Francis P. Blair, lawyer, soldier and statesman, of whom extended mention is made in a pre- ceding sketch. As little has been said of the history of the Blair family in the sketch of the elder Blair, it is of interest to note in this connection that the Blairs are descended front a very old Scotch family, famous in the literature and wars of Scotland, and distin- guished in this country through such repre- sentatives as John Blair, who was appointed by President Washington a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States ; John I. Blair, the noted railway manager, of New Jersey ; James Blair, the founder of William and Mary College of Virginia; Francis Pres- ton Blair, of Washington City, the founder of the "Globe" newspaper, and the friend and literary executor of President Jackson; Montgomery Blair, of President Lincoln's cabinet, and General Francis P. Blair. The grandmother of James L. Blair, on the paternal side, was a Miss Gist before her marriage, and belonged to a family repre- sented in colonial and revolutionary times by the famous Christopher Gist, and his nephew, Nathaniel Gist. Mr. Blair's mother was Miss Apolline Alexander before her mar- riage, and she also descended from a noted Scottish family, which was seated at the ancient estate of Airdrie, near Edinburgh, and traced its history back to Sir William Alexander, who was chancellor of the exchequer in the time of King William II of England. Both the Blair and Alexander families belonged to the distinguished Pres- ton family of Kentucky, which originated in the United States with John Preston, who came from the north of Ireland in 1732. After graduating from Princeton University he was variously employed as bookkeeper in the insurance department of the State government, clerk in the city assessor's office, and deputy in the office of the circuit court clerk, while he was reading law. In
1879 he was admitted to the bar. He began practice in St. Louis, and during the first six years of his professional career he had no partnership connections. After that he practiced for a time in partnership with his younger brother, Frank P. Blair, of Chicago, and later formed a partnership with Judge James A. Seddon, which is still in existence. In 1884 he was appointed by Governor Mar- maduke vice president of the police board of St. Louis, and his administration of the duties of that office was characterized by a con- scientious attention to details, and resulted in a great improvement of the personnel of the police department. While he is a Democrat in his affiliations, he has always ignored party associations in municipal affairs and has contended at all times for strictly good government, irrespective of party lines. He has originated and headed inany movements for reform in municipal affairs, and has contributed in great measure to educate and enlighten public opinion on the importance of this subject. In 1896, after protesting vigorously at the Chicago Con- vention against the adoption of a free-silver platform by the Democratic party, he joined the National Democratic party, and became one of the leaders of the gold-standard De- mocracy of Missouri. He participated actively in the ensuing campaign, made many speeches throughout the State, and labored, in season and out of season, for the success of pure Democracy. In 1883 lie was mar- ried to Miss Apolline M. Alexander, of Washington, D. C., who was his second cousin, and belonged to the same Alexander family as his mother. Since she became a resident of St. Louis, Mrs. Blair has been a leader in the intellectual and social circles of the city. Their children are Percy Alexan- der Blair and Francis Preston Blair.
Blair, Montgomery, statesman, was born in Franklin County, Kentucky, May 10, 1813, and died in Silver Springs, Maryland, July 23, 1883. He was a son of Francis P. Blair, Sr., was graduated at West Point in 1835, and after serving in the Seminole War, resigned his commission, May 20, 1836. He then studied law, and after his admission to the bar, in 1839, began practice in St. Louis. He was appointed United States district at- torney of Missouri, and in 1842 was elected mayor of St. Louis. He was raised to the
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bench as judge of the court of common pleas in 1843, but resigned in 1849. He removed to Maryland in 1852, and in 1855 was ap- pointed United States solicitor in the court of claims. He was removed from this office by President Buchanan in 1858, having left the Democratic party on the repeal of the Missouri compromise. In 1857 he acted as counsel for the plaintiff in the celebrated Dred Scott case. He presided over the Maryland Republican Convention in 1860, and in 1861 was appointed Postmaster Gen- eral by President Lincoln. It is said that he alone of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet opposed the surrender of Fort Sumter, and held his resig- nation upon the issue. As Postmaster General he prohibited the sending of disloyal papers through the mails, and introduced various reforms, such as money orders, free delivery in cities and postal railroad cars. In 1864 Mr. Blair, who was not altogether in accord with the policy of the administration, told the President that he would resign whenever the latter thought it necessary, and on the 23d of September of the same year Mr. Lin- coln, in a friendly letter, accepted his offer. After this Mr. Blair acted with the Demo- cratic party, and in 1876-7 vigorously attacked Mr Hayes' title to the office of President.
Blairstown .- Avillage in Henry County, on the Kansas City, Osceola & Southern Railway, eighteen miles northwest of Clinton, the county seat. It has a public school, three churches, a neutral newspaper, the "Times"; a bank, and a flour mill. In 1899 the popula- tion was 550. It was laid out by a railway company, and was named for John I. Blair, a noted railway proprietor.
Blakey, William, for more than thirty years a leading politician of northeast Mis- souri, was born in Virginia in 1788. His father, John Blakey, was one of two brothers, James and John, who came to America in early days. Their family was' Scotch, and their business in Edinburgh that of publish- ers, one branch being literary. On arriving in this country they settled in Virginia, on plantations, on the banks of the James River. Here William Blakey was born, receiving his education in the best schools in the vicinity of his home, supplemented by instruction from his father. He married Miss Mary Lind- sey Branham, daughter of a wealthy Vir-
ginia gentleman of Spottsylvania, Virginia, and after marriage accompanied his father- in-law to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where he established himself as a merchant, and was successful. Like other active and ambitious young merchants, however, he thought he saw a better field for the acquisition of a for- tune in the growing country west of the Mis- sissippi. He removed from Kentucky in 1824 and became one of the prominent pioneers, bringing his family to the wild regions of Missouri before Marion County was formed. The trip was made overland by easy stages in a carriage, a coach being provided for the accommodation of children and servants. On arriving in St. Louis, a stay of a few months was made there, and then the journey was continued to what is now known as Ma- rion County. Having ample means, he made a selection of choice land near Palmyra and cultivated tobacco. Marion County was formed in 1825, and in 1828 he was chosen to represent the county in the Legislature. He was presidential elector twice, and also re- ceiver of the public money, and for a number of years president of the National Bank. He ·was appointed to select the county seat for Lewis County. Major Blakey, though a staunch Democrat, was not ambitious for po- litical preferment, and persistently declined the nomination for Congress. He was one of the public-spirited men, who, by securing the county against loss, enabled it to begin the erection of the first courthouse in 1830. In promoting the building of schools, churches, bridges and roads, he was equally active. No man was more devoted to the up- building of the moral, social, commercial and political life of the community. Though be- lieving in slavery as an institution of the country, he was greatly opposed to any traffic in slaves, and before leaving Kentucky liberated those he owned, save enough for service, and at his death, some thirty-four years later, all were set free. Sincerity, hon- orable dealing, firmness, unswerving integ- rity and universal benevolence were the components of his character. After the ex- piration of his legislative term he left the plantation to reside in Palmyra, establishing there a mercantile business, which was car- ried on until the gold excitement of 1849, when he crossed the plains with a.stock of dry goods, which was disposed of at Salt Lake City. He then proceeded to California, and
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