Source: Portrait & Biographical Album of Whiteside County, IL
Originally published 1885 Chapman Bros., Chicago, IL

Transcribed by: Becky Jones

Lyman Blake, proprietor of Blake’s Addition to Fulton City, and dealer in real estate, was born in Merrimac Co., N.H., town of Chichester, and is the son of James and Jane (Sherbourne) Blake. He came West in 1838, when about 25 years of age. He stopped at Fulton City—then a town on paper only—and purchased an interest in the village plat, and also purchased a claim of 80 acres on the river, on section 28, which he subsequently entered at Government price at the land sale of 1839. He remained only a few months on his first trip, and returned to the East. He came again to Fulton in 1839 to enter his land, and again went East. He spent some time in New Hampshire, and then went to Boston, where he was employed in a wholesale mercantile house. He next went to Buffalo, and from there to Cinncinati, where he engaged in commercial business and spent the ensuing twelve years, except one year and a few months—1848-9—which he passed in Mexico. He returned to Fulton in 1855, when he sold a portion of his land to the railroad company (“Dixon Air Line,” now the Chicago & Northwestern), and laid out the fractional 80 acres into village lots, naming it “Blake’s Addition to Fulton City.” The plat is now well settled, and the property quite valuable.

Mr. Blake engaged in the grain and warehouse business soon after the railroad was completed to this place, and continued it for a number of years, besides dealing extensively in real estate. He has never aspired to the honors of public office, but has unwillingly allowed his name to be used as a candidate for Alderman. He was elected to the Common Council of Fulton for the years 1859-60, and again for the years 1885-6. He is a Democrat in politics, and is held in high esteem by his fellow townsmen as an upright, honorable business man, who has done much to improve the city and develop its advantages. He has resided here continually since 1855.