USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Commemorative biographical record of New Haven county, Connecticut, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families, V. I, Pt 1 > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91
114
COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
ments. He got a favorable start in the first year, making the cold pressed nuts for other boltmakers, selling bolts for them to his own trade in exchange, and was able to add two more power presses to the one with which he began the work. The ill for- tune which had followed the old mill for so many . years now swooped down upon him, and the fac- tory was burned down in May, insured for only about half its value.
The indomitable courage of the man came again to the fore, and as soon as the ruins were cool enough to work in the debris was cleared away, and the machines were shipped to the manufacturer, with orders to repair those available, and replace the others with new ones, and have them ready in one month. The insurance adjusters gave no trouble, saying that it was a clean loss for a much larger amount than they carried, and promising a prompt settlement. Mr. Clark then went to New Haven, bought the timber for a new building and hired a force of carpenters there to frame. all the timbers in the lumber yard, and while that was being done the foundations of the factory were re- built. When the timber and lumber were shipped to Hitchcock's station a force of carpenters fol- lowed the next day, and the carting, raising and covering of the new building were hustled in a manner never before witnessed in that vicinity. At the end of thirty days from the fire Mr. Clark was ready to receive the new and repaired machinery, and in sixty days was producing newly made goods from the rebuilt factory. Though Mr. Clark had nearly or quite lost his original slender capital by the fire, his credit, though perhaps slender also, had not faded under the ordeal, and at the opening of the new factory his principal creditor, the ironmaster, told him to "take all the time he wanted" as to invoices soon to be due from importations, on or- ders out at the time of the fire, that could not be cancelled. The business prospered, naturally, under such a persistent manager, who coupled courage with sound judgment.
Increased facilities and more operatives were required as time went on, and the business in- creased, and in 1854 Mr. Clark associated with him- self his two younger brothers, Henry H. and Charles H. Clark, the style of the new firm being William J. Clark & Co. The early business of making nuts and washers by heavy machinery and pressing them from cold iron was supplemented with machinery for making carriage, tire and stove bolts, machine bolts, coach screws, and later other articles of hardware. A steam engine, as auxiliary power, was installed, and more buildings con- structed, as more productive machinery was re- quired. Some of this had to be invented. in order to improve or to increase the output of the works, and in this connection Mr. Clark made and patented several inventions in the line of bolt machinery which revolutionized the methods previously em- ployed.
About this time the Civil war broke out, and a
large demand arose for implements beyond the ca- pacities of the armories, so Mr. Clark added to his works machinery for making gun screws of the government patterns, and of its gauge and stand- ard quality. With his ready adaptability and by the aid of skilled help he soon mastered this most deli- cate mechanical task, and his gun screws passed in- spection at the Springfield armory, with a loss of not over one per cent., while other competitors lost from five to ten per cent. This is referred to chiefly to show that his aim as a manufacturer was to make his goods the best of their kind, and it was to this that he owed the success of the business.
In 1871 the senior member of the firm retired from the active part of the work, though he retained business relations with his brothers until 1880, when his patents, under which a majority of the carriage boltmakers of the country were manufacturing on a royalty, expired. Upon his retirement William H. Cummings, a nephew, and Robert W. Bemis, a long-time confidential bookkeeper, were received into the firm, which took the name of Clark Broth- ers & Co. About this time, as the quondam agri- cultural hamlet had much increased in population, owing to the growth of this establishment, and the home building near it increased also, and as the nearest post offices were one or more miles distant, in either direction, Mr. Clark prepared a petition asking the Post Master General to establish a post office at Hitchcock's Station, to be called Milldale. Some objection being sent to the Department (pre- sumably by an office that desired to keep the mail- ing business of the firm), Mr. Clark went to Wash- ington and so explained the situation that the peti- tion was granted, and the office of Milldale, which has sustained itself handsomely from the beginning, established.
Mr. Clark was not at that time, moreover, a novice in Washington. He was a stanch Repub- lican in politics, had been chairman of the South- ington town committee for ten or twelve years (be- ginning in the 'fifties, and continuing until he de- clined re-election) and was an active force as a Union man during the Civil war, aiding his State and the government in meeting the unfortunate conditions of the time. He was a trusted friend of the war governor, Buckingham, having been a mem- ber of the State convention that nominated him the first time, 1858, the wisdom of that act being proven by Buckingham being kept in the office for eight successive terms by annual re-elections by the peo- ple, his service covering the entire period of the war. Mr. Clark was instrumental in organizing the Union League in his town, was its first presi- dent, and was annually re-elected during the war. He also took the first steps in the movement which resulted in the "Furlough Act." 1863, whereby in- valided soldiers obtained a thirty-days furlough, to visit their homes.
Mr. Clark's youngest brother and partner in the business enlisted in the 20th Connecticut Regi- ment in 1862. He served until 1865, having risen
F15
COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
to the rank of lieutenant, and then returned to his home and resumed his place in the business. This seemed an opportune time for the senior partner to take a vacation, so he planned a trip to Montana, where he had a friend in the government employ who had urged him to come out and examine the gold diggings there and the gold quartz lodes re- cently discovered and reported to be rich. Mr. Clark's business friends in Hartford, hearing that he was planning this trip, and having also heard of the rich gold and silver quartz lodes of Montana, prevailed upon him to head a company which would furnish funds and machinery to be used in working there, he to decide upon location and superintend operations for one year. The fund was made up in one afternoon, the company formed and me- chanical skill supplied to assist in selecting the ma- chinery, which with the necessary supplies, making a fifty-ton cargo, was shipped to St. Louis to be sent from there by steamer to sail May 1,. 1865, to Fort Benton, on the Upper Missouri river. The "spring rise" in the river, caused by the melting snow in the Rocky mountains, was not as great as usual, and when well up in the Indian country the boat grounded several times and finally at Dophans Rapids it was found impossible to pull over, so the steamer was backed a few miles in order to find a place favorable for landing passengers and cargo. This was found 150 miles below Fort Benton, and about four hundred miles from the place where the cargo was wanted. In the Indian country, and three hundred miles below Helena, Mont., Mr. Clark and the other passengers had to leave the boat and make their way to Helena as well as they could, leaving the freight to be brought up from the river by ox-teams. It was November before it arrived, but in the meantime Mr. Clark had not been idle, having managed to construct a mill. Mines were opened and work pushed for a winter and summer. Then, in common with all others in that section, he found that beyond a few feet below the surface the mines were practically worthless, and so the project was abandoned. As the second winter came on, and he found his labors unsuccessful, Mr. Clark fell ill from over work and exposure, and in the early spring of 1867 he returned home, leaving the work in the mountains to be managed by others. The homeward journey included one thousand miles of stage riding, day and night, and with his disease- ulceration of the intestines-from which he was scarcely convalescent. it is wonderful that he sur- vived it. At North Platte he met the Union Pacific railroad, building westward at the rate of three miles a day, and the rest of the journey was easily performed.
Returning to his business in Southington, Mr. Clark at once set to work to improve and enlarge it. He enlarged the factory buildings and con- structed one-fourth of a mile of race-way of suf- ficient size to carry the average volume of the Quin- nipiac river at that place, thus doubling the water power of the company. This done, he attempted to
restrain infringements upon his patents on dies and the process of forging carriage bolts by other man- ufacturers. Three years of expensive litigation fol- lowed, but resulted in establishing incontestably his rights to the inventions, and ten or twelve infring- ing firms were compelled to pay royalty for the use thereof.
In 1882 Mr. Clark was nominated by the Re- publicans as a candidate for the State Senate, and elected by a handsome majority over a strong Democratic candidate. In the session of 1883 the Senate appointed him chairman of the committee on Military Affairs, which office he filled with patriotic and intelligent ability. In the session of 1884 he was chairman of the committees on Claims and Temperance and Constitutional Amendments, the latter reporting favorably the bill to establish biennial sessions of the General Assembly, which was adopted. In the hearings of the committee on Claims he had occasion to manifest his hatred of shams. Eminently kind to just claimants, he was untiring in opposing the fictitious or padded claims that lobbyists would seek to draw from the public treasury, and was esteemed, or disliked, accord- ingly. His most notable official action was, prob- ably, his taking the opposition to the bill in the General Assembly of 1883 whereby the Aetna Life Insurance Co., "Stock Department," sought to cap- italize a large sum of money claimed to belong to it, but thought by some to have been improperly drawn from the "Mutual Department" in the manip- ulation of policies. The bill was pushed through, regardless of a demand for investigation, but Mr. Clark had marked it as deserving one, and he quietly employed an expert at his own expense before the next yearly session and discovered the source of the wonderful wealth of the Stock Department. In the session of 1884 he addressed the Senate on the subject, with an overflow of listeners on the floor and in the galleries, and with documentary proof in abundance begged for an investigation, but the in- fluence against him was too powerful and his meas- ure was rejected. He kept the matter alive, how- ever, and had a bill presented to the Legislature of 1887 for the same purpose. It was by this time so well understood that seventy-five representatives were willing to stand up and be counted as in favor of an investigation. So the leaven worked, and to head it off an amended bill was reported, empower- ing the insurance commissioner, under a general law, to investigate the methods of any insurance company, etc. That passed, and then it required eight or nine years more to discover an insurance commissioner with the stamina requisite to call this great company, with forty millions of dollars of assets, to the bar of the court for the mismanage- ment of its policies and funds. Truly, as Mr. Clark then quoted. "Though the mills of God grind slow- ly. yet they grind exceeding small." In 1806 pro- ceedings were commenced in the courts which veri- fied all of the misdoings claimed by Mr. Clark, and the specified charges may be seen in the public rec-
116
ยท COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
ords of the insurance department of that year, as published in part 2, "Life Insurance Report, 1897." The court ordered a restoration of part of the di- verted funds and enjoined any continuance of the irregular transactions complained of.
In 1852 Mr. Clark was one of the charter mem- bers of Eureka Lodge, I. O. O. F., in his native town; was chosen its first vice grand on May 16, of that year, and is in good standing in the order, having repeatedly been through the chairs. He has also been a delegate several times to the grand lodge of the State.
Since his retirement from active business life Mr. Clark has spent most of his time at his beautiful country seat, at Stony Creek, which overlooks Long Island Sound and the picturesque Thinible Islands. He is one of the trustees of the Stony Creek Con- gregational Church, which he and his family attend.
On Nov. 15, 1855, Mr. Clark married Sarah Jane Bradley, who, through her grandmother, Lydia Carey Montague, wife of Capt. Anson Matthews, traces descent from Drogo de Montague, who came over to England with William the Conqueror, and, as we learn from the Roll of Battle Abbey, was one of the Norman knights who bore shields, or coats of armor, at the battle of Hastings, Oct. 14, 1066. A picture of Mrs. Clark, taken about the time of her marriage, shows her to have been a strik- ingly beautiful woman, with a distinguished car- riage. To this union came three children: Rosa- lind, born Dec. 16, 1857; Eugenie, born March 21, 1859, a specially bright, attractive child, who died March 26, 1861 ; and Marian, born July 26, 1860, who died Oct. 7. 1860. The only surviving child, Rosalind, married, May 20, 1882, the late Emerson Pratt. Mrs. Pratt has inherited from both sides of the house a strong personality, and is not altogether unknown in the world of art and public interests. Her daughter, Olive L. Pratt, born June 21, 1883, has inherited the genius of both father and mother, and shows decided musical and artistic ability.
DEACON THEODOSIUS CLARK. the father of William J. Clark, was born in Cheshire, Conn., Oct. 22, 1788, and reared on his father's farm, ob- taining his education by adding private study to the winter's work in the district school. On reach- ing maturity he showed a remarkably well dis- ciplined mind, and was ready to impart to others the knowledge that he had gained. At the age of eighteen he began teaching a district school in his native town, and, being successful, went across the town line in 1810 and took the "Southington Cor- ners" or Fourth District school, now known as Plantsville. Later he taught the schools in Plain- ville and Farmington, and also for many years those in the southern part of Southington.
It was while thus employed that he met the youthful Miss Chloe Clark, of Southington, daugh- ter of Seth and Chloe ( Bailey) Clark. A younger sister has related how, after Miss Clark's intro- duction to the young school teacher, and he had de-
parted, she shook her finger at her sister, exclaim- ing, as her dark eyes sparkled, "Isn't he handsome? I'm going to set my cap for him." That she did so with success the sequel proves, and on Oct. 28, 1816, the young couple were joined together in matri- mony. The combination of the two Clark lines was felicitous, and the children of the union were en- dowed, beyond the average, with marked intellectual and business ability and with long lives. About the time of his marriage Mr. Clark purchased a farm in the southern part of Southington, having decided to make his home there, paying for it in part from his earnings as a teacher. His reputation for trust- worthiness was such that he was trusted for the re- mainder of the amount without bond or mortgage security, although having the title to the estate in his possession.
On Aug. 1, 1819, Mr. Clark transferred his membership from the Congregational Church at Cheshire to that in Southington, the home of his adoption. He was appointed deacon Feb. 16, 1834, and honored the office. His pastor, writing of him, says : "He at once put himself forward as a worker in the vineyard. No man in his part of the town more intelligently or acceptably conducted local re- ligious meetings. In that capacity he was one of the chief leaders of the evening school house serv- ices that were held weekly in the various districts of the town, until he was incapacitated by age and disease. Often after a hard day's work on the farm he would ride three or four miles in the evening to attend those services. So regular was he in his attendance that his pastor, when too much wearied. or otherwise incapacitated to attend him- self, relied upon Deacon Clark, whom he felt sure would be there, to lead the people.
"He was reluctant to accept the office of dea- con, and only took it as a matter of duty ; having assumed it, however, he at once planted himself at his pastor's side ready with words of cheer and by zealous work to uphold his hands. He was among the first to advocate the establishment of the Sunday-school in his church, which was the first one in the town. For many years he was super- intendent, and while holding this office, as ever after, he was a teacher.
Any want or woe of humanity enlisted his at- tention and help, and time and again would he turn out in stormy or inclement weather to render as- sistance to poor families, of whose needs he had heard. One of Mr. Clark's lifelong friends ( who was also a cousin) was Andrew Hull Foote, of Cheshire, afterward rear admiral of the United States Navy and a frequent visitor at the Clark home, when on shore leave. Subsequent to organiz- ing the Sunday-school Mr. Clark became interested in other efforts for promoting the welfare of the community. Among them was the temperance movement. The first step was an effort to induce every one to abandon the use of distilled liquors (there were several distilleries in the town produc- ing cider-brandy), but this did not accomplish the
Theodorus Clark
117
COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
degree of sobriety desired, while the cellars were annually filled with barrels of cider to be used as a beverage through graduating degrees of hardness until consumed, and the American Temperance So- ciety at a meeting held at Saratoga in 1836 adopted the pledge of "total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors." This measure met Mr. Clark's approval, and he at once co-operated with it, by banishing the cider-barrels from his own cellar, and shocked the employes on his farm by drawing their daily beverage from "the old oaken bucket." The shock was great, but the reaction was beneficial to all concerned, and later, when the Martha Washington Temperance Society was started in Connecticut, about 1841, Mr. Clark was ready to welcome it, and work with it, to the extent of his ability. He was the chosen leader and first president of the first local branch in his town, and did much to further the cause by inviting reformed men of ability to comic to the meetings and relate their experiences while under the "drink habit." Their vivid pictures of the suffering, degradation and poverty of those days, in contrast with the restored respect and com- fort of the present, led many other broken-down men back to the right path, and were the means of binding together again many broken-up homes. One of these lecturers was John B. Gough, who has left a name and history which the world will not soon forget. Mr. Clark was as ready to serve his country as his friends, and as a member of the Cavalry Company commanded by Col. Hoadly served in the war of 1812, receiving for this service bounty land in Kansas and a pension, which is yet enjoyed by his widow.
Mr. Clark had five children: ( 1) Harriet mar- ried Hezekiah C. Cummings, of Watertown. (2) Francis Judson was killed when two years of age by being run over by a cart. (3) William Judson, whose biographical sketch is given above. (4) Henry H. and (5) Charles H. are both referred to in the Commemorative Biographical Record of Hartford County.
On April 5, 1848, Mrs. Chloe Clark died sud- denly of "putrid sore throat," undoubtedly the diph- theria of the present day. She had been to her husband a true helpmate, standing by his side in every good work, and to her children a mother whose memory will be precious as long as life lasts. On March 20, 1850, Mr. Clark married a second wife, Miss Sarah Morse, of Cheshire, who proved a pleasant companion during his declining years, and who now, ninety-two years of age, survives him.
Deacon Clark died July 27, 1865, and was buried in Quinnipiac cemetery, Southington. In closing, we may quote the words spoken by his pastor at his funeral: "He has left us an example which we may follow with safety and advantage. * *
* Whosoever liveth as he lived, may hope to die as he died-in favor with God and man. * Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." * *
CLARK. Hon. William Judson Clark is a de- scendant of James Clark, who, with Gov. Eaton, Davenport and others, founded the Colony of New Haven, 1638-39, his name appearing as a signer of the Civil Compact, June 4, 1639. The name of his first wife, the mother of his children, is unknown; but he married, second, Oct. 17, 1661, Ann, widow of. John Wakefield. James Clark died in January or February, 1688-89, and his body probably lies with those of the other fathers of the Colony, under the green sward of the beautiful "Green," of which the Elm City is so justly proud; for that was the "God's Acre" of the early colonists. Of the five children whom he left,
(II) Ebenezer Clark, baptized at New Haven Nov. 29, 1651, removed early to Wallingford, and died there April 30, 1721. His wife was Mary Peck, whom he married May 6, 1678. Among his children was
(III) Stephen Clark, born Dec. 18, 1686, who lived in that part of Wallingford now called Che- shire, and died there Nov. 25, 1750. He married (first) Lydia Hotchkiss, who was the mother of his son,
(IV) Stephen Clark, born in 1721, who died at Cheshire Nov. 4, 1800. His wife was Ruth Burr, who, through her mother, Mabel Clark, was a de- scendant, in the fifth generation, of Nicholas Clark, of Hartford, 1635, its first white settler. He was numbered among the "original proprietors," and for his service in the Pequot war, 1636-37, received an allotment in the "Soldiers' Field." Through her father, Lieut. Baze Burr, she descended from Ben- jamin Burr, who probably came over in Winthrop's fleet in 1630, and was an "original proprietor" and large land owner of Hartford; and from John Baisey, another "original proprietor" of Connecti- cut's capital city. The names of these three early settlers, with that of Elder John White, another ancestor, are inscribed on the "Founders' Mont- ment," the tall, brownstone shaft which stands in the historic graveyard just back of Center Church, on Main street.
(V) Amasa Clark, son of Stephen and Ruth Clark, born at Cheshire Nov. 25, 1753, died there Dec. 30, 1833. He married Lydia (Hull) Judson. widow of Joseph Judson, of Bethlehem, Conn., and among their children was
(VI) Theodosius Clark, born in 1788, of Che- shire and Southington, where he died July 27, 1865. Through his wife, Chloe Clark, comes in another line of Clark ancestry, beginning with
(I) William Clark, of Hartford, 1639; and in 1662 one of the twenty-eight young men who went from that place to make homes in the unopened lands of the Connecticut Valley. In 1668 the name of the "Plantation at Thirty Mile Island" was changed to Haddam, doubtless from a tender recol- lection of Haddam, Hertfordshire, England, the English home of most of its early settlers. William Clark died there in 1681. His son,
-
118
COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
(II) Sergt. John Clark, of Middletown, mar- ried Elizabeth, daughter of Capt. Nathaniel White, of Middletown, whose name is held in high honor, not only in the town whose interests he served so well, but all over the country, wherever his de- scendants liave carried the name. For over fifty years he represented Middletown in the Legisla- ture, the last time when he was an old, white- haired man of eighty-one. He filled, also, the of- fices of magistrate and commissioner for Middle- town, Haddam and Meriden. Nor, though serving his country well in her peaceful legislative halls, did he shrink when sterner duties called, as witness his title of "captain."
(III) Daniel Clark, son of Sergt. John and Elizabeth, of Middletown, 1680-1725. married Eliz- abeth Whittemore, daughter of Lieut. Francis WVhittemore, 1650-1700, another of Middletown's early settlers whose name she delights to honor. Their son,
(IV) Deacon Joseph Clark, 1720-1778, 'town clerk of Middletown from 1765 to 1777, also deacon of the church there, married Joanna Fairchild, of Stratford, who brought into the Clark family the goodly heritage of a long line of distinguished Strat- ford ancestors, of whom, later, their son,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.