BIO: Ross Wesley Black: from Altoona, Blair County, PA

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Alice Gless.
 agless@earthlink.net

Copyright 1997.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/
_________________________________________ 

History of Henry County Illinois, Henry L. Kiner, Volume II, Chicago:
The Pioneer Publishing Company, 1910

ROSS WESLEY BLACK

Ross Wesley Black, the mail carrier on Route No. 2, of Atkinson,
Illinois, who is distinguished by a gentlemanly bearing, kindness and a
genial disposition is his relations with his patrons, was born in
Atkinson, November 16, 1882, and is the eldest son of Robert W. and
Julia Curtain (Foy) Black.  The father, who was born in Altoona,
Pennsylvania, April 17, 1856, was the fourth in a family of thirteen
children, only six of whom are now living.  They were Henry, who died in
childhood; Elizabeth, the wife of David Sisler, who lives in
Pennsylvania; George E., a resident of Altoona; Robert W., the father of
our subject; Ruth, who died at the age of nineteen years; Henrietta, the
wife of Charles Daugherty, of Altoona, Pennsylvania; Minnie, the wife of
William Bowser of Pennsylvania; Susan, the wife of Edward Smeigh, also
of Pennsylvania; and five others who died young.

In his youth Robert W. Black learned the trade of a painter and
decorator and followed it for five years in the Pennsylvania car shops
and in the car shops at Altoona for two or three years, when he lost his
health.  He then engaged in farming for two years, after which he
returned to his trade.  In 1876 he came to Atkinson, Illinois, and has
since made this town his home.  His wife, Mrs. Julia C. Black, was born
September 16, 1860, and was a daughter of Gideon and Mary Ann (Bryan)
Foy.  Both parents were natives of Pennsylvania and are buried side by
side in Adams County, Iowa, their deaths having occurred in that state,
the motherıs in Prescott in 1895, the fatherıs five years later.  The
later was a farmer all his life and was the father of ten children, six
boys and four girls, all but the youngest born in Pennsylvania.  They
were John W., of Galesburg, Illinois, a member of the legislature of
this state in 1877, when he espoused the cause of the Greenback Party;
Stephen, of Prescott, Iowa; Sarah, the wife of G. A. Aboners of Creston,
Iowa; James W., of Prescott, Iowa; Tonar, who died in January, 1894, in
Prescott, Iowa, though a resident of Atkinson, Illinois; Samuel A., of
Prescott, Iowa; Mary Elizabeth, who was the wife of Robert Parker, of
Atkinson, and died in November, 1877, being buried in Fair View
Cemetery; Julia Curtain, the wife of Robert Black of this review; Laura
M., the wife of James Campbell, of Prescott, Iowa; and Warren B., born
in Illinois, living now in Kansas.  In her girlhood Mrs. Black attended
the school in which her two sons and her daughter-in-law at one time
taught, for she was reared in this locality.  By her marriage to Mr.
Black she became the mother of six children:  Ross W.; George Edward,
who was born in Atkinson in 1887 and is in business with his father;
Ruth Anna, a graduate of the Atkinson High School and now a teacher in
the country schools of the township; Robert Julian, also a graduate of
the high school and like his sister a teacher in the country schools;
Susan May, now a pupil in the high school; and Julia Foy, attending
school.  The parents live in what is known as the Riley Addition to
Atkinson, where in 1898 Mr. Black erected a very pretty home.  He is a
man who was compelled to rely upon himself for his success in the world
and by his own efforts has acquired a comfortable living.  His
educational advantages having been somewhat limited he has spared no
pains to give his children the best schooling within his power.
Politically he is in sympathy with the Prohibitionist Party and is a
member of the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen.  Mrs. Black is a Royal
Neighbor, and both husband and wife belong to the congregational Church.

Ross W. Black received his education in the schools of Atkinson and was
graduated from the high school with the class of 1899.  Immediately upon
the expiration of his own school days he engaged in teaching and during
the two years he was connected with the schools of Henry County achieved
success as a popular and progressive instructor, who possessed the
faculty of endearing himself to his pupils.  Subsequent to his
experience as a teacher he took a course of one year at Brownıs Business
College at Davenport, Iowa, and then in 1905 began carrying the mail
from Atkinson to the residents on Route 2.  Here again the amiable
qualities of his personality came to the front and he has made a large
number of friends, who are attracted by the heartiness of his greeting
and courtesy of his bearing.

On the 30th of May, 1908, Mr. Black married Miss Emma Louisa Wahlert.
She was born in Cornwall, Atkinson Township, in 1880, and is a daughter
of William and Johanna (Lehse) Wahlert.  The parents were born in
Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, between 1840 and 1850 and came to America
in 1874, being three weeks in crossing the ocean.  They settled first in
Cornwall Township, where the father engaged in farming, and then came to
Atkinson, where he worked as a laborer and where he died about
twenty-five years ago.  The mother is still living in Atkinson at the
age of sixty years.  Of the children that were born to Mr. And Mrs.
Wahlert, six are now living:  Ernest, a mechanical engineer of Britt,
Iowa; Lena, the wife of Robert Graham, of Atkinson, Illinois; Amelia,
the widow of Machen Winters, who lives in Iowa with her four sons;
William Claus, also mechanical engineer of Britt; Emma Louisa, now Mrs.
Ross W. Black; and James, who is a soldier in the Philippines.  Mrs.
Black attended the graded schools of Atkinson until she was twelve and
then continued her education in the high school of Geneseo, from which
she graduated in 1899.  She also engaged in teaching in the country
schools of Henry County for three years and then took a two yearsı
course in the Baptist Hospital and Training School, from which in 1904
she received her diploma as a trained nurse.  For almost five years she
practiced her profession in Annawan, Atkinson and Geneseo, and by her
physicians was considered a very capable woman and one of the best
nurses in this locality.  A son, Henry Thomas, was born to Mr. and Mrs.
Black, September 14, 1909.

Mr. and Mrs. Black are members of the Congregational Church and the
Royal Neighbors.  They both possess to an unusual degree the capacity
for making strong friendships and hold an enviable place in the hearts
of the people of Atkinson.  Politically Mr. Black is connected with the
Prohibition Party.