Warren County IA Archives Biographies.....Blake, Joseph 1833 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 29, 2011, 8:04 pm

Source: See below
Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896)

JOSEPH BLAKE, of Palmyra township, Warren county, Iowa, is recognized as one of
the leading farmers and stock-raisers and best informed men of his vicinity.

   He is a descendant of one of the oldest Colonial families of New England, the
Blakes of Maine, which family was established there long before the trying times
of the Revolution. His father, Israel Blake, was a native of the Buckeye State,
born in the year 1800. There he lived and died, raising a family of twenty
children amidst the rough scenes and privations of pioneer life. His wife,
Alvira (Clark) Blake, was a native of Ohio, daughter of Aurelius Clark, one of
Ohio's pioneers, the family tracing back in New England to the early days of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Clarks are of English origin. Grandfather Simeon
Blake was born in the State of Maine and early in life emigrated to the wilds of
Ohio, he being one of the "Block House" party at Marietta, the recognized
earliest settlers of that great State. He was one of the foremost men of his
time. The ancestry traces back in England to Commodore Blake of the British
navy, who made the family name famous the world over by his deeds of bravery
many generations ago.

   Joseph Blake, whose name honors the introduction of this article, is a native
of Morgan county (afterward Noble), Ohio, born January 20, 1833, and in his
native State spent the first twenty-two years of his life. In May, 1855, he went
down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to Memphis, thence up the Mississippi to
Keokuk, and from that point walked across the country, a distance of 160 miles,
to Warren county, and first made settlement in Greenfield township, where he
made his home until the spring of 1863. At that time he came to Palmyra township
and settled on the farm he has since owned and occupied. Here he has over 200
acres of land, nearly all in one tract, upon which he has during all these years
been engaged in general farming and stock-raising. An intelligent, well-informed
man, he has always favored the raising of thoroughbred stock. His hogs are of
the Poland-China breed and are registered, his cattle are Shorthorns, and his
horses, which now number about twenty-two, are roadsters of fine quality, and
Mr. Blake is well situated for the development of his ideas regarding improved
stock, Palmyra township being the banner township of this region and noted far
and near for its fine stock.

   Mr. Blake was married first in 1854, to Miss Lucinda Wheeler, a native of
Ohio and a daughter of Europe Wheeler, of that State. She died March 7, 1873,
leaving the following named children: George W., a resident of Nebraska; Eli V.,
of Oklahoma; Joseph A., Palmyra township, Warren county, Iowa; Lydia A., at
home; Elmer O., Oklahoma; Rosalie E., wife of Thomas Sever, Warren county, Iowa;
Ulysses Grant* at home; Lucretia J., at home; Gentileska M., wife of Lewis
Goldizer, Palmyra, Iowa; and Mary Ida, at home. December 19, 1877, Mr. Blake
wedded for his second wife Miss Nancy Ellen Adkins, a native of Indiana and a
daughter of Malachi Adkins, the Adkins family being one long resident of
Indiana. This union has resulted in the birth of eight children, William H.,
James Weaver, John Perry, Francis E., Nellie Viola, Richard J., Horace Boies,
and Oliver Leonard, —all at home.

   Mr. Blake is a man of progressive views, is well posted on current topics,
and keeps well abreast with the advanced thought of the day in many directions.
Politically, he may be classed with the People's party, he having lost faith in
the old parties.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA

ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1896

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