Whiteside County IL Archives Biographies.....Blake, Lyman 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 January 31, 2008, 2:17 am

Author: Portrait/Bio Album, Whiteside County IL 1885

Lyman Blake, proprietor of Blake's Addition to Fulton City, and dealer in real 
estate, was born in Merrimac Co., N. H., town of Chichester, and is the son of 
James and Jane (Sherbourne) Blake. He came West in 1838, when about 25 years 
of age. He stopped at Fulton City—then a town on paper only—and purchased an 
interest in the village plat, and also purchased a claim of 80 acres on the 
river, on section 28, which he subsequently entered at Government price at the 
land sale of 1839. He remained only a few months on his first trip, and 
returned to the East. He came again to Fulton in 1839 to enter his land, and 
again went East. He spent some time in New Hampshire, and then went to Boston, 
where he was employed in a wholesale mercantile house. He next went to 
Buffalo, and from there to Cincinnati, where he engaged in commercial business 
and spent the ensuing twelve years, except one year and a few months—1848-9—
which he passed in Mexico. He returned to Fulton in 1855, when he sold a 
portion of his land to the railroad company ("Dixon Air Line," now the Chicago 
& Northwestern), and laid out the fractional 80 acres into village lots, 
naming it "Blake's Addition to Fulton City." The plat is now well settled, and 
the property quite valuable. Mr. Blake engaged in the grain and warehouse 
business soon after the railroad was completed to this place, and continued it 
for a number of years, besides dealing extensively in real estate. He has 
never aspired to the honors of public office, but has unwillingly allowed his 
name to be used as a candidate for Alderman. He was elected to the Common 
Council of Fulton for the years 1859-60, and again for the years 1885-6. He is 
a Democrat in politics, and is held in high esteem by his fellow townsmen as 
an upright, honorable business man, who has done much to improve the city and 
develop its advantages. He has resided here continually since 1855.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois, Containing Full-
page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative 
Citizens of the County. Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1885.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/whiteside/bios/blake2242nbs.txt

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