When James Washington Black was born on November 24, 1864, in Butler, Pennsylvania, his father, Archibald, was 23 and his mother, Barbara Everette Daubenspeck was 24. He married Alice Iliff in 1883 in Pennsylvania. They had two children during their marriage. He died on November 6, 1942, in Dresden, Ohio, at the age of 77, and was buried in Middleburg Heights, Ohio.