Citrus-Marion County FlArchives Biographies.....Black, Jacob Faithful June 6, 1867 - February 19, 1940
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Linda Flowers flowers472001@yahoo.com September 5, 2009, 7:54 pm

Source: Author is source
Author: Linda Flowers

Jacob F. Black was born June 6, 1867 in Milford, Baker County, Georgia to the 
parents of Peter and Susan S. (Adams), Black. There were eleven children born 
to this union. Jacob "Jake", his parents and several of his siblings left 
Georgia for Alabama sometime around 1883. They settled near Dothan, possibly 
Midland or Headland, Alabama. Jake married there and his first child Carl was 
born there in 1893. The family then moved to Marion County, Florida and into 
Citrus County, a few years later. They were said to have traveled down the St. 
Johns River by steamboat. Jake and his wife, Lughenia had a second child, 
Willie "Bill" in 1896. Lughenia died a short time after Willie's birth. Willie 
always gave his place of birth as Crystal River, but is shown in Marion County 
on the 1900 census, living with his brother and grandparents. Jake had 
remarried and was living in Crystal River with his new wife.

Jake married Alice Josephine Martin in Inverness, on January 15, 1899, one of 
the coldest winters Florida has ever seen. The mercury dropped to 16 degrees 
in February of that year. Alice is the daughter of John U. and Elizabeth 
(Brinson) Martin. It is unclear how long after their marriage before Jake sent 
for his children, but they loved their father's new wife and treated her as if 
she were their natural mother. The feeling was mutual! Alice thought of the 
boy's as her own children. Their mother was her best friend and after she died 
Alice was concerned about the boy's welfare. She married their father "to make 
sure they were provided for properly." 

About a year after Jake and Alice's marriage, Jake's brother 
Littleton, "leased to them a home,several fish houses, his nets, a fleet of 
boats and some cattle and hogs. The lease was for a year at a cost of five 
hundred dollars, "to be paid at the end of a year." It is not known how long 
Jake actualy kept everything, because a short time after their agreement, Jake 
and Alice sold a lot to his brother for five hundred dollars making their 
transaction looking more like an exchange of properties.

Jake and his wife began to have children. There first child Alma Lee was born 
November 18, 1901. Their second child Albert Koy, was born April 7, 1905. He 
died seven months later. Grady Dothan was born September 17, 1909 and Hazel 
Estell on January 9, 1911. Hazel died at the age of twelve. Along with Carl 
and Wilie, the family was now complete.

Jake was a commercial net fisherman by trade and his children were started 
early into the family business. It served them well! They provided fish to 
Littleton and his wife who owned a grocery store and fish market in town.

Through the years the family would spend a lot of time on the islands. There 
were three islands mentioned...Shell, Cat and Hog Island. Durring the summer 
months when the weather was sticky it was a great treat to "head to the 
islands." There were some tall tales told about those days and some were down 
right spooky! It's been said that durring The Great Depression, Jake might 
even have operated a gambling boat and made corn liquor on one of those 
islands as well.

In the later years of his life, as his health began to wane and he began to 
have problems with his legs, Jake would crawl down to the Gulf and onto a 
stool to mend his nets. It was durring this time that a national magazine came 
to town to do a story about the fishing industry. They snapped a picture of 
Jake sitting on his stool, mending his nets and it was said to have been the 
cover for the magazine. A "proof" of the picture was sent to the family by the 
magazine and is still a family possession.

About 1939 Jake and Alice moved to Wall Springs in Pinellas County with his 
daughter Alma and her family. Jake was in failing health. He died from 
Nephritis there on February 19, 1940. He was taken back to Crystal River and 
is buried along side of his brother Littleton in the old cemetery downtown; 
west of US Hwy 19. His grave is unmarked, but there is an ornate fence 
surrounding the graves. The fence had to be removed so he could be placed next 
to his brother.

Additional Comments:
Content of this biography was previously donated to the Citrus County 
historical Library in Inverness, Florida.

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