Submitted by Lisa Hamilton Thanks Lisa!

Izard County Historian, Volume 14, January, 1983

Colonel Thomas Black, of the Tennessee Militia, was elected in 1838 to represent Bedford County, Tennessee

in the Tennessee General Assembly; was reelected for three more terms, serving until 1846. In November 1849, 

Thomas and Mary Teas1 Byler Black moved from Bedford County, Tennessee to a farm near Melbourne,

Arkansas. In 1852 the people of Izard County elected him to represent them in the Arkansas Legislature. He 

served only one term, being defeated by John A. Beck. In 1858 he was elected as Judge of the county. He ran

again in 1860; was defeated by H. H. Harris but ran successfully in 1862. He served one term, retiring from

public office in 1864. Colonel Black was an ardent secessionist as well as being one of the larger slave 

owners in Izard County. From available deeds in Izard County, it would appear that he was very influential 

in the establishment of Melbourne as the county seat in 1875. In 1880, he was called from retirement to serve

on additional term in the lower house of the Arkansas Legislature. When this term ended in 1882, he returned

to his home in Melbourne, died on the 23 of June, 1889. He is buried in the Bingham Cemetery in Melbourne 

besides his wife, Mary Teas1 Byler Black, who had preceded him in death on 14 December, 1871.


Colonel Thomas and Mary Byler Black were the parents of six children who lived to move with them to Izard County.

¹The orginal biography that appeared in the historian had name of Thomas Black's wife as Mary Love Byler. Love has been changed to Teas in this bio...

Wilma writes:
Col. Thomas Hill Black is my great-great-greatgrandfather and Mary T. Byler was his wife. Her middle name is not Love, on the marriage record in the Black Family Bible, it gives her name as Mary T., on their tombstone it is carved Mary T. and in all the census records, she is shown as Mary T. Byler.

I strongly believe, but have no proof, that her middle name was Teas -- being named for a maternal great-grandmother, Mary Teas who married Joseph Love. Their daughter Nancy Love married Abraham Byler and they named a daughter, Nancy Love and a son William Love, but their daughter, Mary was always listed as Mary T. Wilma Younger Norton

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