Business enterprise and commercial stability find expression in the life record of Palmer J. Black, who is the president and manager of the P. J. Black Lumber Company of Cheyenne. His business affairs are always wisely and sagaciously directed and his efforts are attended with a substantial measure of success that has made him one of the well-to-do residents of Laramie county.
    He was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, on the 18^th of February, 1857, and is a son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Mitchell) Black. The father was a farmer by occupation and in following that pursuit provided for the support of his family, which numbered five sons and two daughters.
    Palmer ]. Black, who was the third in order of birth, acquired his education in the public schools of Windsor but put aside his textbooks at the age of fifteen years in order to learn the carpenter's trade. In 1873 he crossed the border into the United States and took up his abode in Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked at carpentering for about nine years, or until 1882. He then removed to the west, being attracted by its boundless opportunities, and locating in Cheyenne, he again worked at the carpenter's trade for a decade, being thus employed from 1882 until 1892. He then began contracting and building, in which business he was active until 1901, and during that period he erected various substantial structures of the city which have added much to its improved condition. In 1901 he purchased the business of the Hurd Lumber Company, which he conducted under the firm style of Black & Clark from 1901 until 1904. He then established the P. J. Black Lumber Company in 1905 and incorporated the business in 1913, since which time he has been president and manager. This company not only conducts a large and profitable business at Cheyenne, but has also established a branch yard at Grover, Colorado, that is now managed by a son of Mr. Black.
    On the 14^th of April, 1883, occurred the marriage of Palmer J. Black and Miss Leonora B. Meese. They have two children, Norman R. and C. Arthur, the latter his father's associate in business. There is also one grandchild.
    In religious faith Mr. Black is a Congregationalist. His political endorsement is given to the republican party and he has been an active and earnest worker in its ranks, doing everything in his power to promote its growth and extend its influence. He served as a member of the Wyoming house of representatives from 1895 until 1897 and was a member of the Wyoming state senate from 1897 until 1901 and again from 1903 until 1911, so that through an extended period he has been closely associated with the legislative interests of Wyoming and has had much to do with the enactment of various beneficial laws. Fraternally Mr. Black is a Mason. He has taken the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, having been identified with Wyoming consistory since 1886, and he is also a member of the Mystic Shrine. He likewise has membership with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is a most public-spirited citizen, one that subordinates partisan interests to the public good and self-aggrandizement to the welfare of the community. Those who know him, and he has a wide acquaintance, esteem him highly as a man of genuine worth. He is distinctively a man of affairs, outside of business interests, and has wielded a wide influence, being numbered among the directors of public thought and action in his state.