Perryman T. Black

Birth Date:  November 25, 1817

Died:           December 17, 1900

Spouse:       Margaret Harris

Biography:

Perryman T. Black was born in Georgia in 1817. His first wife was Margaret Harris, who was born in 1821 in Georgia. She was the daughter of James and Lucretia Harris who are buried in Green Hill Cemetery. Perryman and Margaret were married in Alabama in the late 1830's; and in a few years moved to Jefferson, Texas, where he had a tannery and a leather and harness shop. They lived in Jefferson until about 1855 when he sold his business and moved to Titus County, settling on lands he had purchased out of Major Farris Survey in what is now White Oak community of the county. This was on the Mt. Pleasant-Clarksville road. He has a toll bridge across White Oak Creek, and this road has always been referred to as "Black's Bridge Road". It was near this bridge that members of the Belcher family lay wait in 1895 for D. Oliver, shooting Oliver and killing John Fry. He had a grist mill west of Greenhill and the location was referred to as "Black's Mill", but all were moved in the 1880's. His home on the Major Farris Survey was destroyed by fire about 1950.

Margaret Harris Black died in 1859 and was buried in Black Cemetery, which is a private cemetery near the family home.  Perryman T. Black died in 1900, and was also buried in this cemetery. Long prior to his death, he had moved to El Paso County and married again; there being some children from this second marriage. He had four children by the first marriage. One of Black's neighbors in the White Oak community was George Baker, a large Negro landowner, who lived north of Black on the edge of White Oak Creek bottom. George Baker outlived Perryman T. Black by a good many years; and as long as George was living, he took care of the Black Cemetery, seeing that it was fenced and kept clean. There were several monuments in the cemetery  and probably 15 to 20 graves. After George Baker's death, the Perryman T. Black descendents bought a lot in Greenhill Cemetery and moved the monuments from the Black Cemetery to Greenhill Cemetery, but no effort was made to remove the remains of the various ones who had been buried there.

Traylor Russell

Author