Richland County ScArchives Obituaries.....Black, Esq., James Augustus January 19, 1869
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Candace (Teal) Gravelle tealtree@comcast.net August 17, 2007, 5:27 pm

"The Abbeville Press"
Abbeville, South Carolina

NEWSPAPER Issue of Friday, JANUARY 22, 1869

DEATH OF JAMES AUGUSTUS BLACK

It is feelings of profound sadness that we announce the death of one so 
known to us all, James Augustus BLACK, Esq., who died of pneumonia in 
Columbia, South Carolina on Tuesday the 19th inst. Only a few weeks since, 
we were called upon to chronicle the death of his gifted nephew, Joseph F. 
BLACK Jr. who was nipped in his budding promise, like some fragile flower, 
which had yet scarcely sipped the morning dew. And now the Uncle is taken in 
the prime of manhood and in the vigor of his faculties, taken from the 
business and bustle of active life; from its absorbing cares and engrossing 
interests, to meet the changed scenes and untried realities of the spirit 
land.

About a week ago he bid us adieu on a visit to Yorkville to arrange his 
business as asignee in bankruptcy, with the accumulated papers of weeks of 
daily labor and nighly toil, prepared with his accustomed neatness and 
fidelity, with his credentials as representative from Abbeville to the 
Legislative body in Columbia, with the account of the district officers, and 
charged with various commissions from friends.

We can bear witness to the untiring assiduity and kindness of heart with 
which he undertook the discharge of these offices of duty and friendship and 
the fidelity and promptness which he brought to their performance. But alas! 
Death came to release him from earthly engagements, to sunder all ties of 
human affection and to blast all hopes of worldly ambition; to afford 
another lesson of the fraility of life, the transitory nature of its 
enjoyments and the vanity of its anticipations.

We have not the materials, neither would time permit us at present to enter 
upon an extended biography of our departed friend. He was a native of our 
district and here survive a mother, a brother and sister and other near 
relatives to deplore their untimely loss. He was of distinguished 
Revolutionary ancestry, a grandson of Joseph BLACK, for many years a state 
Senator from Abbeville and one of a numerous family long identified with our 
district and state.

Enjoying the advantages of an excellent early education, he studied law in 
the office of Chancellor Caldwell of Columbia and soon found congenial 
employment and full scope for his habits of systemic arrangement and 
methodical industry in the Secretary of State's office. His familiarity with 
the records of that office and his excellent business capacity led to his 
selection as the Agent of the State in prosecuting its Revolutionary claims 
against the General Government and but for the breaking ouf ot the war, 
these claims would have been fully adjusted.

During the war he was elected to the honorable and responsible office of 
Comptoller General, the duties of which he discharged efficiently and 
faithfully. Losing in the general wreck his office and his books, and the 
well earned fruits of many years of labor, he returned to his native 
district to repair his shattered fortunes among the friends of his boyhood.

During the past twelve months he resided here as the general assignee in 
almost all the cases of bankrupty from our district; and to say that these 
duties were promptly, faithfully and efficiently performed, is paying but a 
feeble tribute to his untiring business capacity.

Our deceased friend possessed in an eminent degree, all the characteristic 
traits of his family, quickness of perception, retentiveness of memory, an 
instinctive appreciation of character and a just sense or propriety, 
kindness of heart, equitability of temper, and great suavity of manner. To 
honor the language of Mr. Burke, in speaking of his great rival Mr. Fox, "He 
was a man indeed made to be loved."

Few men indeed in all the state possessed a more extensive acquaintance and 
throughout the length and breadth of that acquaintanceship, among all who 
had had personal or official business with the deceased, we do not believe 
that a man ever lived who could say an unkind thought or say one word 
against the memory of James Augustus Black. On the contrary, how many 
survive who could only entertain for him sentiments of the kindnest and most 
appreciative regard, a friendship cemented by the kind offices of a 
lifetime, a charity the most beneficient, a devotion the most unselfish. Ask 
the sorrow stricken mother if there ever lived a kinder or devoted son. Ask 
the bereaved brother and sister how much they owe to the generosity of that 
hand and the sympathies of the heart. Ask those young relatived to whom he 
was the confided counselor, and the trusted friend, whether he ever turned 
away from their appeals for sympathy and advise.

The funeral of the deceased took place at the Presbyterian church in 
Columbia, on Thursday, the 21st inst.

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