GEORGE N. BLACK. No citizen of Springfield has taken a more active interest in her development or worked harder to secure it than George N. Black. To him more than any other man is she indebted for her leading industries, her railroad facilities and hotel accommodations, as it was he who secured most of the subscriptions to the stock of the Springfield Watch Company, which now employs about one thousand men and women, also to the different railroads, excepting the first two built, and to the stock of the Leland Hotel. But for his persevering efforts probably some of these would not have been established. Was any money to be raised in behalf of any public undertaking, he was the man to raise it; was any more needed in behalf of additional facilities for transportation, he was the man to arouse interest and agitate the subject.

Our subject comes on his paternal side of good old Revolutionary stock. His grandfather, James Black, a Scotchman, landed in New York City from Glasgow, just before the declaration of war in 1775. He enlisted in the cause of the colonists and served with distinction. He was made a Captain in the Revolutionary War and his commission, signed by George Washington, is now in the possession of our subject, as is also a book which was among the first ever adopting a system of double entry, and which was used by James Black in Scotland, said book bearing the date of 1765. On the maternal side our subject traces his ancestry back to Dr. Fuller, one of the passengers on the first trip made by the "Mayflower" in 1620. John Black, an uncle of our subject was American Consul and Consul-General to Mexico for the long period of nearly forty years. He went from New York to the city of Mexico to put in machinery in mines, and was then appointed to the Consulship by Jackson and was kept there till Lincoln's time, when he resigned and returned to this country.

The parents of our subject were William M. and Persis (Fuller) Black. He was born amid the beautiful scenery of Berkshire County at Lee, Mass., March 15, 1833, and was educated in the common schools and in an academy in his native State. At the youthful age of fourteen years he became self-supporting and came West to seek his fortune, living in Vandalia, Ill., for two years, and in 1850 he came to Springfield, arriving here in the month of October. He entered the employ of Col. John Williams as clerk in a dry-goods store at $15 a month. Six years later, so ably had he served the interests of his employers and had displayed such good business talent that he was received into partnership, the firm name being changed to John Williams & Co. They continued in business for twenty-five years, when the partnership was dissolved by the sale of the business to C. A. Gehrmann in September, 1880.

Mr. Black has a lovely home and to the lady who presides over it so graciously and has contributed so much to his happiness in life, he was wedded in the month of October, 1859. Mrs. Black was formerly Louise Iles Williams, and is a daughter of Col. John Williams. Only two of the children born to our subject and his wife survive, - John W. and Annie Lulu. George, their youngest son, who was attending the Shattuck School at Faribault, Minn., at the time of his death, was drowned while in bathing, May 19, 1880.

A man of generous nature and endowed with an indomitable will and those pleasant personal qualities that attract friends, our subject has been very influential, not only in advancing the various important enterprises with which he has been associated and which have done so much to develop the city and raise its financial standing, but in other ways has he contributed to elevate its status, and his name will be held in perpetual honor for what he has done and is doing. In addition to his mercantile business he has been prominently identified with most of the public enterprises that have inured to the growth and prosperity of Springfield and Sangamon County. He was one fo the company that built the Leland Hotel, and was one of the original company that projected and constructed the Pana, Springfield & Northwestern Railroad, of which he was made a Director and Secretary. This line is now a part of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad. He was also one of the prime movers in building the Gilman, Clinton & Springfield Railroad, of which he was one-tenth owner, and which is now the Springfield branch of the Illinois Central Railroad. He was one of the original movers in and contributors to the Springfield & Northwestern Railroad, of which he was appointed receiver in 1875 and had it under his charge four years. After it was sold and re-organized he operated it as general manager fifteen months.

Our subject was one of the original stockholders and Cashier of the First National Bank during the first year of its existence. He was one of the organizers and original stockholders of the Springfield City Railway and acted as its treasurer many years, and has also been one of its directors and its vice-president. He was one of the founders of the Illinois Watch Company, in which he put $8,000 capital and for two years held the office of treasurer of the company. He has been secretary and treasurer of the Barclay Coal Mining Company from its organization in 1873. He was secretary and director of the Springfield & St. Louis Railroad which was projected as an air-line between the two cities. He was one of the incorporators of the Steam Supply and Electric Light Company and to his efficient services as one of the directors and secretary of the organization it owes much of its financial success. He is now a director in the Sangamon Loan and Trust Company, and also a director in the Abstract and title Guarantee Company. Notwithstanding these varied enterprises with which he is so prominently connected, our subject has found some leisure to devote to politics and for eighteen years was chairman of the Sangamon County Republican Central Committee. He is a straight Republican, and is one of the staunchest defenders of the polity of his party. He is also a great lover of books and has probably the finest library in the city.