Reading Wood Black

From the website Find A Grave.com: Reading Wood Black, merchant, county commissioner, Indian commissioner, and legislator, was born on September 23, 1830, in Springfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey, the son of Thomas and Mary Grey (Wood) Black. At Springfield he attended the Upper Friends' School. In 1847 he became owner and manager of the 144-acre Clover Hill farm in nearby Northampton Township. Influenced by his cousin, Capt. William Reading Montgomery of the Eighth United States Infantry, who was then assigned to Fort Gates, Black moved to Texas in the spring of 1852.

On April 14, in partnership with Nathan L. Stratton, who had accompanied him to Texas from New Jersey, Black purchased an undivided half league and labor of land near the head of the Leona River at the site of present-day Uvalde. One of his nearest neighbors was William Washington Arnett. Black entered into stock raising and acquired a thousand head of sheep. He erected a substantial stone building. With the aid of San Antonio lithographer William C. A. Thielepapeqv, he then laid out a town that he called Encina (now Uvalde).

Black also opened a store, cleared a garden, and operated a limekiln and two rock quarries. On June 12, 1854, he purchased an additional 640 acres in order to accommodate more stock and expand his town. In 1858 he built a gristmill, and by 1860 he owned a wagon train that freighted between San Antonio and Piedras Negras. As Uvalde's population grew between 1856 and 1861, Black prospered, and on January 6, 1859, he married Permeilia Jane McKinney.

Black was a Quaker. He was remarkably friendly to local Indians, especially the Tonkawas, and on several occasions helped to formulate treaties with the various groups living on or near the Rio Grande. He was not entirely a pacifist, however, but helped to organize and commanded a militia company for protection against marauding Comanches in 1856. In June of that year his company and one from the Sabinal area defeated a Comanche war party some thirty miles below Uvalde, thus effectively stopping Indian raids for two years.

In September 1855 he established the first school in what is now Uvalde County, and in November he successfully lobbied the state legislature to organize Uvalde County and have his town named the county seat. On April 21, 1856, he was elected county commissioner. On May 12 he and his fellow commissioners completed formal organization and on June 14 named Encina county seat.

Black was reelected county commissioner in 1858 and elected county judge in 1860. Although opposed to secession, he took the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States of America and continued doing business as usual until the murder of a number of prisoners by Confederate militiamen after the battle of the Nueces, on August 10, 1862. Repulsed by the anti-Unionist activities of Confederate home guards, Black moved to Mexico and remained there until the end of the Civil War. By then he had amassed $50,000 worth of property in Coahuila.

In June 1866 he was the Unionist nominee for Congress from the Seventy-first District. He easily defeated Samuel A. Maverick and S. C. Thompson, then returned to Uvalde in July 1866 in anticipation of the opening of the legislature in August. In the legislature he strongly supported ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, arguing that the Texas failure to support the amendment would be interpreted by the Radical Republicans as a sign of disloyalty to the Union. Black did not stand for reelection when his term expired in November 1866.

In September 1867 he attempted to form a Union League in Uvalde. This "act of disloyalty" to Texas and the South so incensed his former friend G. W. (Tom) Wall that on the morning of October 3 Wall murdered Black in his own store in the presence of several witnesses. Wall fled to Mexico and never returned to Texas. Black's papers, preserved in the Barker Texas History Center at the University of Texas, were edited in 1933 by Ike Moore and published as The Life and Diary of Reading Wood Black.

by Thomas W. Cutrer, Texas Handbook Online, www.tshaonline.org

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Wood_Black

Reading Wood Black (September 23, 1830 – October 3, 1867), was the father of Uvalde County, Texas and city of Uvalde, Texas, which he founded as the town of Encina. In 1979, Recorded Texas Historic Landmark 4209 was placed in the Hillcrest Cemetery to honor Reading Wood Black. In 1997, Recorded Texas Historic Landmark 4208 was placed at the intersection of East Street and U.S. 90, to mark the site of the former home and trading post of Reading Wood Black.

Early life

He was born in Springfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey, into a wealthy Quaker family. By age 17, he was owner and manager of the 144-acre (0.58 km2) Clover Hill Farm in North Hampton Township.

Black's cousin William Reading Montgomery was stationed at Fort Gates in Coryell County and held sway over Black's decision to explore Texas. Black left for Texas in 1852, along with his friend Nathan L. Stratton.

Founding and development of Uvalde

Black and Stratton purchased an undivided league and labor on the Leona River in 1853 at the future site of Uvalde. Black then began raising sheep. He opened a store, cleared a garden, and operated a limekiln and two rock quarries.

In 1854, he purchased 640 acres (2.6 km2) more for town expansion and stock raising.

On May 2, 1855, Black hired San Antonio lithographer Wilhelm Carl August Thielepape, and laid out Encina, which would later be known as Uvalde. The town was divided into 464 lots, a schoolhouse square, a cemetery, a park, a garden and four town plazas. Black named the plazas the Market, the Post Office Townhall and the Courthouse.

In September 1855 he established the first school in what is now Uvalde County, and in November he successfully lobbied the state legislature to organize Uvalde County. On April 21, 1856, he was elected county commissioner. On May 12, he and his fellow commissioners completed formal organization. On June 14, Encina was named county seat.

Between January – December 1856, Black was a Captain of the Texas Rangers Minutemen of Uvalde County. During this period, his company helped defeat a Comanche war party some thirty miles below Uvalde.

Black was re-elected county commissioner in 1858, and in that same year built a gristmill.

He was elected county judge in 1860. His wagon train enterprise of 1860 freighted between San Antonio and Piedras Negras, Coahuila.

On January 6, 1859, he married Permilia Jane McKinney.

Mexico, return and death

Opposed to secession from the Union, Black was disgusted by the murder of several prisoners by the Confederate home guards. Black moved to Coahuila, Mexico until the end of the war, by which time he had amassed property and $50,000.

In 1866 he was elected to the legislature from the Seventy-first District, where he strongly supported ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, designed to protect the citizenship of recently freed slaves. He felt that failure to support the amendment would be interpreted as disloyalty to the Union. Black did not stand for re-election.

Black's attempt to form a strong local Union League has been debated as a factor in his murder by friend George Washington "Tom" Wall on October 3, 1867. Others offer the point of view that the murder was the result of a falling out between the two friends over money from a business deal.

In 1979, Recorded Texas Historic Landmark 4209 was placed in the Hillcrest Cemetery to honor Reading Wood Black. In 1997, Recorded Texas Historic Landmark 4208 was placed at the intersection of East Street and U.S. 90, to mark the site of the former home and trading post of Reading Wood Black.

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GEDCOM Note

He was disinherited by his father during the Civil War. He came to Texas in 1852 and settled in the area that became Uvalde County. He is credited by the Texas Historical Commission with founding the city of Uvalde. He was murdered.