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CHARLES CLARENCE BLACK
Vol. 3, p. 1070, 1071

Charles Clarence Black has been one of the well-known lawyers of
Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma, since the opening of the Kiowa-
Comanche County, Oklahoma, and the founding of the city in 1901.

He was born at Hampton, Rock Island County, Illinois, May 17, 1853,
a son of Francis and Charlotte Elizabeth (BRETTUN) Black. The family
had its original seat in Scotland, but the first American of this
branch was Marmaduke Black, great-great-grandfather of the subject of
this sketch, who with his wife, Jane Richmond, came from the North of
Ireland and settled at Barre, Massachusetts, in 1731. Marmaduke's
son, John Black, served with the rank of captain in a Massachusetts
regiment during the revolution and was in the battle of Bunker Hill.
Francis Black was born February 20, 1815, in Barre, Massachusetts,
went to Chicago when a young man, and removed to Hampton, Illinois, a
few years before Charles was born. He was in the general merchandise
business, and before the war supplied the steamboats on the
Mississippi River with coal, wood and provisions, and was also
postmaster until Johnson's administration. He was one of the early
republicans, and a member of the Congregational Church. He died at
Hampton in 1909. His wife was born in Guilford, Maine, in 1836, and
died at Hampton in 1861. They had only two children; the younger,
Archibald, died in infancy.

Charles C. Black as a boy was sent to Farmington, Maine, to attend a
boarding school, in preparation for a college career at Bowdoin.
However, he left boarding school in 1871, on account of ill health,
and soon afterwards went west to Winfield, Kansas, where for nearly a
year he was connected with the cattle industry. He then took up the
study of law.

He was admitted to the bar in 1877 and has practiced law almost
continually since. Was nominated and ran for state treasurer of
Kansas on the democratic ticket with John R. GOODIN, as candidate for
governor, in 1878. Was editor and proprietor of the Winfield Daily
and Weekly Telegram and a member of the city council in the earlier
'80s. Was a member of the National Democratic Convention at Chicago
from the Third District of Kansas in 1884 and voted for Cleveland. In
1883 became vice president and secretary of the Denver, Memphis and
Atlantic Railway and as such assisted in the building 635 miles of
railway from Chetopa, Kansas, to Pueblo, Colorado, which became a
part of the Missouri Pacific system, upon its completion in 1887.
From 1886 to 1897 he resided and practiced law at Kansas City,
Missouri, except during the two years he was at Atchison.

In 1889 became president of the Fort Worth and Albuquerque Railway
Company, organized to build a railway from Fort Worth, Texas to
Albuquerque, New Mexico. The company surveyed 125 miles of road, and
acquired some right of way for belt line at Fort Worth and for main
line, besides other concessions, and bonuses, but failed on account
of the stringency that resulted in the great panic of 1893. Was
assistant general attorney for the Missouri Pacific Railway at
Atchison, Kansas, during 1895 and 1896.

In 1897 moved to Goshen, Indiana, and became attorney for the
Indiana Electric Railway Company and city attorney of Goshen. In 1901
removed to Lawton. In 1911-12-13 was city attorney of Lawton.

He is a past master of Adelphi Lodge No. 110, Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons; past high priest of Winfield Chapter No. 31, Royal
Arch Masons; a Knight Templar, a Shriner, a member of the Sons of the
American Revolution, and a democrat. Was at one time an active member
of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks with a membership at
Kansas City, MO.

In the last half of the year 1914 and first half of 1915 he was
editor and proprietor of the Lawton News, during which time his son,
S. L. Black, was secretary and business manage of the News.

Judge Black and wife, Anna OWEN, have four sons: Robert C., of
Chicago; Clarence G., of Oklahoma City; & L. Black and Owen Black, of
Lawton.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Lee Ann Collins August 30, 1999.