John Alexander (Henry) Black

GEDCOM Note

John Alexander Black BIRTH Dec 1828
Jackson County, Alabama, USA
DEATH 22 Jun 1860 (aged 31)
Fairfield, Freestone County, Texas, USA
BURIAL
Mount Zion Cemetery
Freestone County, Texas, USA
MEMORIAL ID 27749381</line><line /><line /><line>John's mother is Rachel Berry, but her place of burial is unknown and thought to be in Jackson County, Alabama.</line><line /><line>JOHN BLACK, eldest son of Benjamin Blair and Rachel (Berry) Black was born December 1828 Jackson County, Alabama. His mother died when he was about 12, and he was reared by his father and stepmother, Jane Little. He came with the family to Freestone County in 1851 where he married Amanda Elizabeth Weaver. He bought a farm at Mt. Zion, five miles east of Fairfield. John Black along with Rev. Timothy Green and Elisha Hobbs, was one of the first trustees of the Methodist Church at MT. Zion, buying land from Mary Holder to build the first church. John died June 22, 1860 and is buried at the old Mt. Zion Cemetery. After John's death, Amanda took her children to live with her parents at Normangee, Texas. Amanda lived with Johnnie in her later years. They operated a general store in Shannon, Texas., Clay County. She died at the home of one of her children in Shannon, Texas1.</line><line /><line>John died at age 32, said to have fallen from a horse. Mattie Bea Prather Medford told me that she remembered Aunt Rachel telling her that John Black sold his property for Confederate money and lost everything.2</line><line /><line>John Black's gravestone was the first permanent grave stone in Mt. Zion Cemetery, Fairfield, Freestone County, Texas3.</line><line /><line>1. "History of Freestone County, Texas", Freestone County Historical Commission, Vol. 1, First Edition, 1978</line><line /><line>2. Edna Campbell Scott</line><line /><line>3. Docent, Freestone County Historical Society Museum, Fairfield, Texas