My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES M. CLARK, a native-born citizen of Ohio, is distinguished as being one of the oldest settlers of this county now living in Springfield, and he is honored for the active part he has taken in developing its resources and in furthering its material prosperity. He has retired from the active duties of life, and is living in an attractive home at No. 359 East High Street. By energetic and shrewd business methods and by honorable dealings he has acquired a valuable property, and is numbered among the substantial and wealthy citizens of this section of the State. He has been for a long time closely identified with the agricultural interests of Clark County, engaged in tilling the soil. He improved a valuable farm, carried on a large cattle business, and for many years was the most extensive wool buyer in this part of the country.

He was born in Coshocton County, August 12, 1808. His father, James Clark, was a native of Virginia, and when a young man learned the cooper’s trade, which he carried on during his residence in his native State. About 1803, he decided to emigrate to the West, and accompanied by his family started with a team, and made an overland journey to this State, and became one of the early settlers of Ohio, locating in Coshocton County, where he lived until about 1811. In that year he again started westward with a team, and came as far as Clark County. His means were limited, and as he had not the wherewithal to buy land he rented a tract in Springfield Township, on which he resided a few years, and then made another move, selecting Champaign County as a suitable location. He had worked hard and saved some money, which he then invested in a tract of land near Mechanicsburg. There he engaged in agriculture, and quietly passed the remaining years of his life. The maiden name of his wife was Martha Davis. She was also a native of Virginia, and, like him, passed her declining years on the home farm in Mechanicsburg.

The son of whom we write was a child of three years when his parents came to the wilds of Clark County; yet he remembers well some of the incidents of the journey through the dense primeval forests and over the wild prairies that intervened between the old home and the new. This county was at that time very thinly settled, and deer, bears, wolves, and other kinds of wild animals were plentiful. Springfield was but a hamlet, giving no indications of its present size and importance, and as there were no railways or canals, all transportation was done by team, and all travel was either by foot, horseback or stage. Our subject remained an inmate of the parental household until after attaining manhood. His father then gave him a horse, saddle and bridle, and thus equipped he started out in life for himself. He soon began dealing in cattle, buying them in the surrounding country and driving them to Eastern Pennsylvania, a distance of upwards of five hundred miles, and usually about six months time would be required in getting a drove together, driving them to market and disposing of them. On one of his trips he bought a buggy, which was the first vehicle of the kind ever introduced into this section of Ohio and he recalls with pride that he had the honor of taking the Hon. Thaddeus Stevens to ride in it. He made his home with an older brother until his marriage, and then purchased a farm in Moorefield Township, where he carried on agricultural pursuits, and also continued the cattle trade, and was for many years an extensive wool buyer, continuing in that business until 1889. He resided on his farm until 1875, when he came to this city and purchased his present substantial residence on East High Street, where he lives in retirement, having accumulated an ample fortune.

Mr. Clark’s home is made pleasant and his life is cheered by the presence of his amiable wife, to whom he was united in marriage in early manhood. Her maiden name was Chloe Foley, and she was like himself, a native of Ohio, born in Moorefield Township, this county, and is also of pioneer antecedents. Her father, Absalom Foley, was, like the father of our subject, a Virginian by birth. His father John Foley was a planter and so far as known, spent his entire life in the Old Dominion. Her father was reared in his native State, and when a young man came to Ohio in pioneer times. He worked for his brother-in-law in this county, and finally bought with his earnings a tract of timber land, on which he began farming on his own account. He built a brick house, which was the first ever erected in that section of the county, and was considered a fine residence in those days. He later purchased another farm near by, and passed the latter part of his life there. The maiden name of the wife of Absalom Foley was Susan Bishop, and she was a daughter of James C. and Chloe (Lake) Bishop. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have eight children living, namely: Martha J. (Mrs. Jones), Charles E., James M., Absalom F., Robert R., Fannie F. (Mrs. Worley), Sally (Mrs. Lyon), and Alice Belle, single, living at home.

Though not among the earliest settlers of this county, Mr. Clark was one of its pioneers, having settled in Clark County with his parents in 1811, and, as we have seen, ably assisted in establishing it on a firm basis of enduring prosperity, and while thus doing has accumulated wealth for himself. His record through a long and busy life has been such as to command the respect of his fellow-men, and all appreciate his personal worth and the fine qualities of heart and mind that make him a good citizen and true in all the relations of life. Both he and his estimable wife are members in high standing of the First Presbyterian Church. Politically, he was an old line Whig and on the formation of the Republican party became a strong adherent of its principles and has remained steadfast to the Republican party ever since.