232
The schedule was leaving Hempstead Courthouse every other Monday at 6
a.m., and arriving at Black's the next Wednesday by 8 p. m., and then returning
from Black's every other Thursday at 6 a.m., and arriving at Hempstead Courthouse
the next Saturday at 6 p.m (42). It was over this route that James Black,
who had established a blacksmith shop at Washington, must have traveled.
When James Bowie went through Washington on his way to Texas, he went to
the blacksmith shop to have a knife made, from a design he had. When the
knife was finished and he came to the shop for it, James Black showed Bowie
one that he became involved with three desperadoes and was able to kill
them with his knife. Orders came to James Black for knives "like Bowie's"
and the "Bowie was found in his hand and his body was surrounded by
dead Mexicans at the Alamo in San Antonio in March, 1836 (43). James Black
was known as a cousin of the Union County family and was probably a grandson
of either Thomas or Samuel Black,
immigrants (44).
Judge Black was responsible for all of the Black's moving to Union County. He wrote accounts of the country to his relatives and his cousin, William Russell Black, came to Arkansas to visit about 1832 or 3.
- William Russell Black, born in Alabama, November 29, 1816, the son
of Samuel and Isabella Johnson Black (45), left his home in Wilcox County
for Mobile where he visited Lillian Black and her family. From Mobile he
went by boat to New Orleans and from there up the Mississippi River. Whether
he came on up the Red and Ouachita Rivers or whether he came by stage over
the route from Villemont is not known, but he did spend several months
with Jonathan Black's family (46), who lived west of the present Village
of Lisbon on the old Camden-Champagnolle road.
- _____________________
- 42. Ibid., Aug. 14, 1833.
- 43. Centennial History of Arkansas, op. cit., p. 985.
- 44. Interview with Mrs. R. T. Nabors, 1940, who said James Black was cousin who had visited her mother.
- 45. Robert Johnson Black Papers, c1840. Owned (1939) by Dr. O. H. Thompson, Marion, Louisiana.
- 46. Family letters written 1820-1860 owned (1940) by Mrs. R. M. Stephenson, Lexington, Mississippi.
- 43. Centennial History of Arkansas, op. cit., p. 985.
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