BIO: Joseph Black II, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Abby Bowman

Copyright 2004.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/york/
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Pennsylvania A History - Biographical.  George P. Donehoo, Editor-in-Chief.
Chicago/New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Inc., 1928.
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Page 147-148

JOSEPH BLACK, II – In York, Pennsylvania, the name of Joseph Black was well and 
widely known as one of the foremost citizens of that city, as an astute business 
man of proved ability and wide experience, as a fraternalist of many 
affiliations, as a financier, and as an all-round good citizen who was fully 
awake to the needs of the community and did all within his power to aid in local 
progress and advancement.  His death was a distinct loss, not only to the 
commercial and industrial circles of the city of York alone, but to business 
circles of the State and surrounding States.  Joseph Black, II, lived an 
upright, noble life, and applied to both his public and private life the same 
strict code of ethics, among whose ramifications may be mentioned those 
prerequisites to success – no matter what the field of endeavor – of ability, 
efficiency, industry, perseverance, energy, integrity, probity, and absolute and 
unquestioned honesty of thought, purpose and deed.  In the knitting and hosiery 
business he was without a peer, for he had familiarized himself with each and 
every phase of that industry from boyhood up; and that his life and labors were 
constructive, helpful, useful and most beneficent is not to be doubted.

Joseph Black, II, was born at the family home on Crown and Whistle streets, 
Loughboro, England, on February 9, 1863, a son of Joseph and Sarah (Kimber) 
Black, the father a prominent hosiery manufacturer of that town.  His early 
education was acquired in the public schools of his native community, which he 
attended until he was thirteen years of age.  At that time he left school in 
order to work in the local hosiery mills, learning every phase of the greatly 
ramified industry, and climbing rapidly from the lowest to the topmost rung of 
the industrial ladder.  From the very first he applied himself to his tasks with 
an interest and indefatigable energy that spelled eventual success.  Although 
completing his scholastic work at an early age, he nevertheless became a well-
educated man through his own efforts alone.  He had a keen and both receptive 
and retentive mind, and everything worthwhile that he read or saw or experienced 
throughout his life was carefully stored away in that active brain for future 
use.  He was an especially fine example of the self-made and self-educated man, 
and his successful career can very well serve as a model, an inspiration and a 
guide to the present generation of rising young business men.  Joseph Black, II, 
and his elder brother, Walter Black, first started in the hosiery business under 
the guidance and the expert tutelage of their father, Joseph Black, I, in 
Loughboro, England.  Although the mill had been running for many years, it 
remained for the younger element to give it an added impetus which brought it 
speedily into prominence.  Soon their progressive tendencies led them to make a 
fresh start in the United States.  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was first 
selected as their field of endeavor, but in the year 1900 the father and two 
brothers removed to York, Pennsylvania, where they incorporated under the title 
of “Joseph Black and Sons Company.”  The familiar name of their brand of hosiery 
was “The Bachelor Friend.”  These self-educated, self-made, energetic men 
started in business on a small scale, but a lifetime of devotion to their labors 
has been rewarded by most gratifying results.  The visible form of their 
achievement is now found in the present-day mill which is a typically modern 
structure, containing the newest and best of equipment, and covering one entire 
square block.  Joseph Black, II, served as secretary and treasurer of the 
company, while his brother Walter was president.  Upon their demise the 
respective sons of each assumed his father’s duties.  Business men and jobbers, 
whether rivals or partners, throughout this entire country, have testified to 
the integrity and comprehensive knowledge of “Joseph Black, the Hosiery 
Knitter,”  He was often called the “human alphabet of the hosiery business,” 
because he had grown up with it, was entirely familiar with its every detail, 
and had adopted every improvement offered by a progressive age.

The same splendid qualities that were evinced in his business career were found 
in the man and father in private life.  He was not the kind of a man who 
arranges a different code of ethics for each varied phase of his life.  He was a 
loving husband and father, ever charming, affable and courteous.  Of unlimited 
ability, ambition and zeal, he was also level-headed, sagacious, just, and stern 
when occasion demanded.  He truly represented the finest traits of manhood.  He 
retained faith in his fellow-man; believed in the daily application of the 
Golden Rule; obeyed implicitly the laws of his adopted land in spirit as well as 
in letter; and lived, rather than preached, the doctrine of the “Square Deal.”  
He was a rare judge of human nature, and his wisdom and high standards of honor 
constituted a rock to which anyone could cling with security.  The business and 
the high executive position which Joseph Black, II, had carried on so 
successfully, after his death were inherited by his son, Joseph Black, III, who, 
in turn, kept his shoulder to the wheel of industrial progress until his 
untimely death in 1926, at the age of thirty years.  Since that time his sister, 
Clara L. Black, has held a directorate with the company, representing her 
family’s interests.  Joseph Black, II, was also active in other fields of 
endeavor, and was a valued member of the board of directors of the York Trust 
Company for many years.  Fraternally, he was correspondingly active, and held 
membership in York Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; Harrisburg Consistory; the 
Zembo Shrine; and the York Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.  He 
was also a member of the Lafayette Club of York.  His religious affiliation was 
given to St. John’s Episcopal Church of York, of which he was a regular 
attendant and a most liberal supporter.  His widely lamented death occurred at 
his home in York, Pennsylvania, on November 26, 1924, in his sixty-second year; 
and he is survived by his widow, and by two of their four children.

Joseph Black, II, was married at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 29, 1891, to 
Lily Lemin Grey, a daughter of George and Lucy (Fasackley) Grey, residents of 
Philadelphia.  Joseph, II, and Lily Lemin (Grey) Black were the parents of the 
following children: 1. Lucy Black, died at the age of three years.  2. Clara 
Isobel Black, educated at York Collegiate Institute and Walnut Lane Boarding 
School, of Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  3. Joseph Black, III, 
attended York High School and Peirce’s Business College, died on February 17, 
1926, at the age of thirty years.  4. Helen Mae Black, graduated, 1924, York 
High School, and attended Miss Sayward’s School, Philadelphia.  Since the death 
of Joseph Black, II, Mrs. Lily Lemin (Grey) Black and her two daughters, Clara 
Isobel and Helen Mae Black, continue to reside in the family home at No. 914 
West Market Street, York Pennsylvania.