RACINE BELLE CITY OF THE LAKES
AND RACINE COUNTY WISCONSIN-ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME II Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1916
LUCIUS S. BLAKE (Sr.)
Upon the pioneer history of Racine is written the name of Lucius S. Blake, a
name that is closely associated with its annals
and one that was ever synonymous with progress and improvement. He was descended
from New England ancestry, the line
being traced back through successive generations to Bradbury Blake, a native of
New Hampshire, who married Sarah Hilton
and removed to Vermont where their son, Captain Levi Blake, was born and reared.
He removed to Erie county, New York,
then far west, and in that locality wedded Mary Sanford, a native of the Empire
state. At the time of the War of 1812
Captain Blake joined the army and after defending American interests in that
conflict removed to Vermont but soon afterward
returned to Erie county, New York. Later he resided in Pennsylvania until 1834,
when with his family he started westward by
wagon. A part of the family was left in Michigan, while he and his three sons,
Lucius S., Charles H., and E. S., drove to
Chicago, but, not pleased with that flat, wet country, they continued to Racine
county, where they arrived February 15,
1835. They secured claims on Root river, after which Captain Blake returned to
Chicago to work at his trade and in the spring
the family home was there established, but subsequently a removal was made to
Racine county. By government entry the
family secured over six hundred acres of land. Captain Blake became a prominent
and influential citizen of Racine county and
held the office of county treasurer. He gave his early political allegiance to
the democratic party but afterward became a
stalwart republican. For twenty years he remained in Racine county and later
cast his lot with the pioneer settlers at Sparta,
Wisconsin, where he passed away in 1861, at the age of seventy-four years, while
his wife died in 1885, at the age of
eighty-nine. They were members of the Baptist church.
Lucius S. Blake, who was the third in a family of ten children, was reared upon
the frontier in Pennsylvania and in Wisconsin,
so that his educational opportunities were limited, but in the school of
experience he learned many valuable life lessons and
he received practical training in his father’s shop and on the farm. At the age
of twenty-two he left home and after working
for a short time in Kenosha came to Racine in 1839, establishing a small
carpenter shop on the river bank. Fanning mills were
then in much demand and farmers came to him for such, so that he became the
first fanning mill manufacturer of Racine.
Originally the work was done by hand but this proved to slow and machinery and
horse power were therefore introduced, the
later afterward being substituted by steam power. At times the output was three
thousand mills annually and employment
was given to many workmen. He was one of the first who were prominent in
promoting the industrial development of Racine,
for not only did he engage in the manufacture of fanning mills but he also
became one of the organizers and the president of
Racine Woolen Mills, devoted to the manufacture of shawls which were said to be
among the finest in the world. He was also
one of the incorporators and the president of the Chicago Rubber Clothing
Company of Racine, an incorporator and director of
the Huffer-Puffer Trunk Manufacturing Company of Racine, an incorporator and
director of the E. H. Pease Manufacturing
Company, engaged in making farm implements, president of the Turner Stove
Manufacturing Company, an incorporator and
director of the Racine Steam Knitting Company, a director in the Nail and Tack
Manufacturing Company and a director in the
Manufacturers’ National Bank.
Lucius S. Blake was married at Racine, December 26, 1843, to Caroline, a
daughter of William and Sarah (Ireland) Elliot. She
was born in Essex county, England, March 24, 1823, and in 1840 came to the
United States with her parents, who settled in
Raymond township, this county. Mr. Blake was a democrat in politics and cast his
first presidential vote for General Jackson
but afterward became an advocate of free soil principles and eventually a
republican. During the war he was he provost
marshal at Camp Utley and made the first draft in the state. For eight years he
was alderman of Racine for the Second ward,
in 1871 represented this county in state legislature, was a delegate to the
republican national convention which nominated
General Grant in 1872, and was made a presidential elector in 1881. He and his
wife were long active workers in the Baptist
church and the name of Lucius S. Blake in inseparably connected with the
material, political and religious development of
Racine.
Contributed by Deborah Crowell
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