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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Clark County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Maj. Thomas J. Clark is a native of Pendleton District, S. C., born in 1828, and is a son of Thomas B. and Jane A. (McClure) Clark, Virginians, who removed with their parents to South Carolina, and were married in Pendleton District. They went to Benton County, Ala., in 1832, to Winston County, Miss., in 1842, and in that State the father departed this life in 1847, the mother's death occurring in Louisiana in 1868, both having been worthy members of the Methodist Church from youth up. They were tillers of the soil. The grandfather, Matthew Clark, was of English descent, a Virginian by birth, and died in South Carolina. The mother's father, Josiah McClure, was also born in the "Old Dominion," and, after his marriage, went to South Carolina, and from there to Alabama, dying on his farm in that State. Maj. Thomas J. Clark was the seventh in a family of ten sons and four daughters, and in his boyhood days acquired a good practical education in I the schools of Mississippi, and was married in Winston County, of that State, in 1851, to Miss Nancy C., daughter of Charles and Elizabeth Peters, a sketch of whom appears in another part of this work. Mrs. Clark was born in Bledsoe County, Tenn., in 1833, and a family of thirteen children have been born to her union with Mr. Clark-eight sons and three daughters now living, all but three being married and living in Clark County. In 1862 Mr. Clark enlisted in the Confederate army, in Company C, Second Mississippi Infantry, as lieutenant, but, after serving sixty days in Kentucky, he returned home, soon after becoming a member of Company D, Thirty seventh Mississippi Infantry, and was detailed to purchase beef cattle for the army. Some time after he joined Gen. Wirt Adams' cavalry command, and was made forage master of the regiment, which position he held until the close of the war. He then returned to his home, and in 1866 removed to Ouachita Parish, La., and in 1867 to Clark County, Ark., and has since resided on his present farm of 440 acres, which is situated about two and one half miles southeast of Dobyville. He has 150 acres, nicely improved, and besides a good residence, barns, etc., he has a fine steam cotton-gin and grist-mill on his place. Although formerly a Whig in politics, casting his first presidential vote for Scott, in 1852, he has long been a Democrat, and by this party was chosen justice of the peace of South Fork Township, a position he held for eight years. He has been a member of the A. F. & A. M. since he was twenty-three years of age, and now belongs to South Fork Lodge, at Gurdon, of which he has been secretary, having been master of a lodge in Mississippi. He and Mrs. Clark have been members of the Methodist Church since their youth.

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This family biography is one of 99 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Clark County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Clark County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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