Representative Charles Wesley Black View All Years

HON. CHARLES W. BLACK

Mr. Speaker: Your committee, appointed to prepare resolutions commemorating the life and public service of the late Hon. Charles W. Black of Mills County, beg leave to submit the following report:

Charles Wesley Black was born near the village of Brownsville, Ohio, September 27, 1843, and died October 12, 1930.

His boyhood, youth and early manhood were spent on a farm where he learned the profession of agriculture so thoroughly and liked it so well that he continued it as a life work at such times as he was not participating in the stirring events incident to the history of Iowa and the nation.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, being then seventeen years of age, he volunteered at the first call for troops to serve three months. He was not mustered into service as the company was full and the government would not accept any more three months enlistments.

On the 1st of August, 1861, he re-enlisted for three years’ service as a member of Co. G of the 32nd Ohio Volunteer infantry. His first military service was in West Virginia and Maryland.

Later his company was transferred to the Western army under General John A. Logan’s division at Memphis, Tenn. The company and regiment to which he belonged took a prominent part in the events incident to the Vicksburg campaign. After the capture of that city his regiment was employed in several expeditions, one into Louisiana and another known as the Meridian campaign.

In 1863 Mr. Black re-enlisted for three years more. His regiment was permitted to go home on a veteran’s furlough for thirty days.

On the 8th of June, 1864, his command became a part of Sherman’s army and was under almost constant fire until the surrender of the city of Atlanta. It was during the battle of Atlanta that they suffered their greatest losses. Sherman’s march to the sea was participated in as was also the march up through the Carolinas. After the surrender of the Confederate army under General Johnson his command started to Washington, D. C., passing through Richmond and Fredericksburg en route. He and his comrades took part in the grand review of Sherman’s army. They were then transferred to Louisville, Ky., with the army of Tennessee.

Mr. Black received his final discharge from the army July 28, 1865. He was highly favored during his military life in that he only reported once for sickness and was only slightly wounded.

In the spring of 1867, Mr. Black left Ohio and came to Tonica, Ill., where in September he was married to Miss Martha J. Landes. Two children were born to them, Miss Marian Ladnes and Margaret Aletta.

In 1872 the family moved to Malvern and located on a farm two and a half miles north of town. In November the wife and mother passed to her reward. For several years he made his home with his parents in Malvern.

On the 14th of January, 1875, he was united in marriage to Miss Hannah E. Evans. This most estimable woman is well remembered by a host of friends.

In his early youth Mr. Black united with the Presbyterian Church of Brownsville, Ohio. When he moved to Tonica, Ill., he transferred his membership to the Methodist Episcopal Church and from there to the Presbyterian Church in Malvern.

In 1874 he was elected as a ruling elder and served in that capacity until his death.

Throughout his entire life Mr. Black was vitally interested in the work of the church and any Christian undertaking. His interests were so wide that they extended beyond the confines of his own country, reaching into many foreign regions. It was in such things that he invested a large portion of his estate during his lifetime.

Some of his principal charities were made to Near East Relief work. At the time of his death his files were filled with delightful letters from that region always thanking him for some generous gift.

One large service he rendered was the establishment of a tannery in Siam. It resulted in a great service to the country not only in the development of the cattle industry, but also through the introduction of shoes which prevented hook-worm, then prevalent in that section.

The Chiengmai Leper Asylum in Siam was another of his beneficiaries. He built Black Cottage in that institution to shelter a large group of boys and after its erection he practically endowed it by purchasing a near-by rice field for the inmates to cultivate in order that they could produce a portion of their own food. Every year his check was forthcoming to provide additional financial support for the colony.

The Board of Foreign Missions will always feel indebted to Mr. Black for his gift of a moving picture machine that was the means of bringing back to America a vivid record of Christian work in foreign nations. The fruit of that bequest was sowed broadcast throughout the land and undoubtedly yielded a tremendous return.

During the World War, Mr. Black fed a colony of twenty-nine refugees, making it possible for them to keep body and soul together. And so one might continue through a long list of similar commendable enterprises abroad.

At home “C. W.” Black was the salvation of many needs and a staff for unnumbered people. At least fifteen young men and women were always in college because of his generosity. He appreciated the fact that boys and girls are a good investment. A church and a Sunday School were often indebted to him for much of their sustenance.

Mr. Black was always interested in politics and public life. His first vote cast in a presidential election was for Abraham Lincoln. He professed the republican faith and participated in affairs to the extent that his party awarded him with the nomination for State Representative. He was elected and served his county in that capacity during the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth sessions of the Iowa Legislature.

The state, the county and the community lost a notable citizen in the passing of Mr. Black. Many people in many lands will feel his loss in both a spiritual and a material way.

OTHA D. WEARIN,

FRED D. AUGUSTINE,

HARRY M. GREENE,

Committee.

Unanimously adopted April 13, 1931.