Bios: GENERAL WILLIAM A. CLARK: Lawrence County, Pennsylvania

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  Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lawrence Co transcribers.
  Coordinated by Ed McClelland

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  Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
  Lawrence County Pennsylvania
  Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
  
  An html version with search engine may be found at 
  
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/lawrence/1897/
  
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    GENERAL WILLIAM A. CLARK
    
    [p. 510] is without question the most widely known citizen of Wilmington
  township, Lawrence Co., Pa. He is a comparatively young man, but his life has
  been crowded with events of importance, which have followed one another in
  close succession. His fair reputation is known not only throughout the entire
  eastern part of the Keystone State, but his connection with vital human
  interests has given him a national fame.
    
    General Clark comes from a race that has contributed as many great men to
  the pages of history as any people on the face of the earth. Any man who has
  Scottish blood coursing through his veins is bound to feel that courageous
  thrill and dauntless energy that is the heritage of the sons of the men who
  gathered around the standard of William Wallace, and who placed their own
  Stuart on the throne of England.
    
    George Clark, who first saw the bright light of day at a point near
  Edinburgh, Scotland, was the grandfather of the subject of this personal
  history. Like all true Scots he was given some schooling, and taught a useful
  trade, which trade happened to be that of tailoring. Hearing of the
  opportunities in that fair and free land across the seas, he took his wife
  and started on the long journey to the West. He eventually found a location
  at New Berlin, Adams Co., Pa., where he settled, won and lived out a useful
  life, working mainly at his trade, and rearing a family of well-trained
  children whom he left to honor and perpetuate his good name. The children
  were, in order: George H., the father of our subject; William D.; Edward A.;
  Mary (Popp); Sarah (Arlabaugh); and Anna (Baker).
    
    George H. Clark, born in New Berlin, naturally learned his father's trade,
  a trade that was especially useful and remunerative at that time. He
  continued in that line, and in 1832, with a desire to the more rapidly better
  his financial condition, moved to New Wilmington, Pa., where he opened a
  hotel, at the same time working at his trade and employing several journeymen
  tailors. Mr. Clark, while a finished workman in all the branches of his craft,
  was a most expert cutter. It took very little time for his neighbors to become
  cognizant of that fact, so it got to be quite the custom in the neighborhood
  to buy suitings of him, which he would cut for the different individuals of
  the family. These fabrics, cut to measure, were then taken home and made up
  into handsome suits by means of the housewife's busy needle.
    
    About 1860, Mr. Clark determined to embark in the mercantile business, and
  so gave up his work in the tailoring line. He then opened up a large store,
  which he conducted with marked success up to the date of his death in 1866,
  at the age of fifty-four years. Mr. Clark was a man who made his mark in the
  community. Possessed of unusually sound judgment, keen in perception, firm in
  opinion and strong in character, he was a man to whom many went with their
  perplexities. Seldom, indeed, did he fail to untangle the bewildering
  conditions, or help the applicant in his difficulty. During the period of
  inflated and uncertain money, he was relied upon by people for many miles
  around to pass judgment as to the real value of the currency that found its
  way into their hands, and it was a rare occurrence for him to blunder. He was
  a strong Whig, but later on joined his fortunes to the party of Lincoln and
  Sumner. Many times would his admiring fellow-citizens have bestowed public
  office upon him, but he had no ambition in that line.
    
    Early in life, Mr. Clark married a lady who belonged to one of the first
  families of Pennsylvania. She was Miss Elizabeth Scott, a daughter of Major
  Francis Scott, who was an own cousin of the veteran hero of two wars, General
  Winfield Scott. Mrs. Clark was the oldest of a family of twelve children, and
  it is worthy of note, that her youngest sister is the wife of David McKinley,
  brother of William McKinley, President of the United States. Mrs. Clark lived
  out a long and useful life, passing away in 1893, at the age of seventy-six.
  Both she and her husband during their respective lives were consistent
  Christian people, and members of the Methodist Episcopal denomination. Their
  children were: William A., subject of our article; Mary L. (Moore); Frank S.,
  who lives in Butler, Pa.; and George P., deceased, who was a medical
  practitioner at Prairie City, Iowa, the town of his demise.
    
    General William A. Clark was ushered into this life at New Wilmington, Pa.,
  March 25, 1843. He attended the public schools of his native town, then took a
  preparatory course and entered Westminster College. Here he soon attained a
  high standing, both as a good student and as a young man of more than
  ordinary promise. When the war, which was to tear the shackles from the
  enslaved African, broke out, the young student immediately enlisted in Co. B,
  of the 100th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, an independent
  regiment which won great renown, and which in army circles was termed the
  "Round Head Regiment." Our young soldier spent over three hard years in the
  service of his country, and made a war record that he may well be proud of.
  He took part in fourteen pitched battles, and was in an innumerable amount of
  lesser engagements. He enlisted at the beginning of hostilities as a private,
  but his services so advanced him that he received his discharge as a
  sergeant. Returning from the field, he became associated with his father in
  the mercantile business, and soon familiarized himself with all the many
  details. At his father's death, the son took charge of affairs, but shortly
  disposed of his mercantile interests, and entered the then fast-developing
  oil fields. Since that time up to 1896 the oil business in one or another of
  its many branches has claimed all of his time, and he has become one of the
  leading factors of this immense industry. General Clark was interested in
  laying the trunk pipe lines which traverse the oil fields, and convey their
  precious burden to Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. He still retains
  holdings in various oil properties, but has retired from the cares of an
  active business life.
    
    General Clark was twice married. First in 1865, to Miss Elizabeth Aults,
  daughter of Isaac Aults, a leading citizen of Lawrence County; she died in
  1874, leaving one son, C. Paul. The second union took place in 1877, and was
  with Miss Martha F. Jones. C. Paul Clark, the son of the first wife, married
  Miss Mary O. Heasley of Wilmington township; he was engaged in the torpedo
  business, and was doing finely, when death claimed him at the early age of
  twenty-seven. His wife and one daughter, Pauline, survived him. Martha F.
  Jones, the General's second. wife, was a grandchild of Phillip James of
  Allegheny, and her mother is the widow of James Parker. To the General and
  his wife, two children have been given: Anna G. and William A., Jr. The
  daughter has made music her life study. She has had the most finished course
  that the best American conservatories could give, and has a studio in the
  Clark Block, where she gives instruction in the beautiful art. She is also a
  soprano of rare accomplishments, a violinist, a banjo and mandolin player,
  and may be regularly heard in the choir of the First United Presbyterian
  Church of New Castle. William A. Clark, Jr., the son, is a medical student,
  an electrician, and is pursuing a meritorious career at this writing.
    
    That there is no sluggishness in the coursing of his blood, that he is
  energetic and wide-awake, General Clark's life-work has proved. Actively
  interested in the welfare of his native town, be follows his thoughts and
  plans by noteworthy actions. In 1893 he originated and forced through to
  organization the borough water-works; a stock company was formed, and nearly
  the entire burden of financiering and carrying the enterprise to its
  completion has fallen upon the subject of this history. He built the electric
  plant in 1896, which his son, William A., Jr., managed until he began his
  medical studies. His interest in education, as well as his love for his alma
  mater, is shown by the gift of a well-equipped chemical laboratory to
  Westminster College. This building was completed in 1896, and bears the name
  of the William A. Clark Chemical and Art Hall. The massive brick block on
  Main Street, which bears his name, was completed in 1895; in this structure
  are located the New Wilmington Bank, the postoffice, the Clark Business
  College, which the General established in 1896, and a large number of office
  rooms, store-rooms, etc. General Clark has concluded to beautify the property
  formerly known as the Neshannock Falls property into a handsome summer resort,
  which he will open to the public about June, 1898. This place will be one of
  the finest in the United States. He is also erecting a new hotel, four
  stories high, and equipped with all the modern improvements.
    
    General Clark is a member of all the Masonic bodies from the Blue Lodge up
  to and including the thirty-second degree. He is also a member in high
  standing of the I. O. O. F.; B. P. O. E.; A. O. U. W.; G. A. R.; and the U.
  V. L. In the latter order, he is very prominent, having passed in turn
  through all the official positions up to that of National Commander, a
  distinction he bore in 1893-94. In General Clark's possession are two badges
  which he prizes highly, and which speak for the high merit and esteem in
  which he is held by his comrades. One is a badge given him as National
  Commander by the members of the Union Veteran Legion; the other has also been
  awarded him to keep, but it was one which had been handed down from the first
  National Commander from successor to successor until it reached General
  Clark. Another very handsome piece of work, which shows how the services of
  our subject were appreciated, is a life-size water-color painting of himself,
  presented him by the U. V. L.
    
    General Clark is a Republican in politics, with his convictions as deeply
  settled and fixed as his father's ideas of freedom. He believes in true
  Republicanism, not the party spirit which actuates men to do the bidding of
  some self-constitued leader who has no claim on their support except it be
  his own unblushing audacity or willingness to perform actions that a true man
  would be ashamed of. The kind of Republicanism that General Clark loves is the
  kind whose banner John C. Fremont dared to carry; that Honest "Abe" Lincoln
  proclaimed: that to-day William McKinley represents. To the General's mind a
  free-born American's right of suffrage is his dearest possession. A citizen
  should vote with a good, clear idea behind his ballot of what he wants that
  ballot to do. Men, who are leaders, should have won the right to lead by
  having performed actions entitling them to leadership. Ring politics,
  log-rolling conventions and packed primaries win General Clark's deep
  disdain. He is in a position to know the correctness of the stand he takes,
  for his experience in politics has been life-long. At the present writing he
  is president of the borough council, and is ever a prime factor in all civil
  affairs. In 1897, he was a candidate for the Congressional nomination from
  his district. Owing to his well-known independent attitude toward the crowd
  which makes up what is fittingly called the "ring" power, he was deprived of
  the opportunity at this time of making what would have been a brilliant and
  certain campaign. By a shrewd but, at the same time, square and honorable
  maneuver, in which he used his trained skill to advantage, he overturned the
  plans of the parties from his own county who tricked him out of the
  nomination, and gained by their defeat what was a fair and just revenge.
  General Clark will never cease to be a potent member of society in his chosen
  part of the State. The parties that seem to win at the present will in the
  long run find out that fair dealing, backed by open, honest ways and true
  patriotism, will ever come out the winner in the race.