Researching John Black

Black resided in the Canadian territories from 1839 until 1854, then returned to Scotland. He resided in New South Wales, on Australia's East Coast, from 1857 to 1861. He returned to England, where he was promptly (April 1862) assigned a post in Assiniboia, remaining in North America until 1870. He returned to Scotland, where he died (at St. Andrews) in 1879 at age 61.

Black was born at Wigtown, Scotland and educated at Wigtown Grammar School, the Edinburgh Academy, the College School, Taunton and a commercial trade school in Dresden, Germany. He was a linguist, able to understand Arabic, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. He migrated to Australia in 1877 and developed an interest in Australian Aboriginal languages. In 1879 Black married Alice Denford and they had a daughter and three sons. He began working as a journalist in 1883. After a tour of South America and Europe following his mother's death in 1903, Black focused on systematic botany. In 1909 he published The Naturalised Flora of South Australia. His The Flora of South Australia was published in four parts during 1922 to 1929, and described 2,430 species, both indigenous and naturalized. It was indispensable to botanists and to those concerned with the vegetation of the arid regions of contiguous States. He began a revised edition of his book in 1939 and worked steadily for twelve years, publishing part 1 in 1943 and part 2 in 1948. Part 3 was nearing completion at his death.

J.M.Black received the following distinctions for his botanical work:- 1927, Honorary Lecturer in Systematic Botany at the University of Adelaide; 1930, Associate honoris causa of the Linnean Society, London; 1930, Sir Joseph Verco Medal of the Royal Society of South Australia; 1932 Ferdinand von Mueller Medal (Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science); 1933–34, President of the Royal Society of South Australia; in 1942, the M.B.E.; 1945, Australian Natural History Medallion (Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria); and in 1946 the Clarke Medal by the Royal Society of New South Wales. He died at his home in North Adelaide

He was born in Kingston upon Thames on 10 February 1895 the fourth son of Ellen (Smith) and her husband John George Black, a clerk in the Public Record Office now Britain's national archives. He studied law at the University of London. During the First World War he served first in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve before transferring to the Royal Tank Regiment, where he gained the rank of captain.

He was born in Kingsclear, New Brunswick, the son of the Reverend John Black and Sarah, the sister of judge Edward Ludlow Wetmore. Black was educated at Fredericton. He studied law and was called to the bar in 1876. Black married a Miss Robb. He served two years on the Fredericton City Council as a councillor and was auditor and secretary-treasurer for York County. He died December 29, 1936 in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

John Black was also privateer (state-sanctioned pirate) for part of his naval career. He was engaged twice on privateers, once as the ship’s captain. That is, during the time of the English-Spanish war of 1795–1801, he was twice engaged on private warships authorized by the English government to attack and rob the enemy’s shipping. During both engagements he was involved in the successful capture of a Spanish vessel.

In 1798 the 19-year-old sailed into Sydney Harbour, where, after meeting the convict girl Mary Hyde (1779–1864), he made Sydney his base of operations. In between his whaling operations, voyages of exploration, and capturing Spanish vessels, he and Mary had two children. In 1802, in what became his final voyage, the then 23-year-old ship's captain sailed from Sydney to India: to Mumbai (then Bombay) and then onto Kolkata (then Calcutta) before being lost at sea as he sailed for home.

After a time in the United States preparing himself for the ministry, Black attended Free Church's college (later Knox College) in Toronto. He became an ordained minister and was a reluctant placement at the Red River Colony. He arrived there in 1851 and, in 1853, married a local girl, the daughter of Alexander Ross.

At Red River Black worked with the Presbyterian congregation who were mainly of Scottish descent and, because of a good knowledge of French, became interested in the Métis and Indian population. During the Riel conflicts, he attempted to mediate between the English- and French-speaking interests in the settlement. He was a key person in the creation of Manitoba College and was the first moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Manitoba. Later in his life he received an honorary dd from Queen's College in Kingston.

Black had a second marriage to the sister of Andrew Graham Ballenden Bannatyne.

Born in 1933 to Aubrey and Bessie Black, John Black joined the United States Air Force during the Korean War and later served in the Army. Prior to his election to the state senate, Black worked for Combustion Engineering, and in later life became pastor of the Trinity Holiness Church. He married Delma Lee York in 1957, with whom he had three children Aubrey Lee Black, Annette Black Anderson and Janice Kay Black Parker.