The specific history of the west was made by the pioneers; it was
emblazoned on the forest trees by the strength of sturdy arms and gleaming
ax, and written on the surface of the earth by the track of a primitive
plow. These were strong men and true who came to found the empire of the
west — these hardy settlers who builded their rude domiciles, grappled with
the giants of the forest and from the sylvan wilds evolved the fertile and
productive fields which have these many years been furrowed and refurrowed
by the plowshare. The red man, in his motley garb, stalked through the dim,
woody avenues, and the wild beasts disputed his dominion. The trackless
prairie was made to yield its tribute under the effective endeavors of the
pioneer, and slowly but surely were laid the steadfast foundations upon
which has been builded the magnificent superstructure of an opulent and
enlightened commonwealth. To establish a home amid such surroundings, and to
cope with the many privations and hardships which were the inevitable
concomitants, demanded an invincible courage and fortitude, strong hearts
and willing hands. All these were characteristics of the pioneers, whose
names and deeds should be held in perpetual reverence by those who enjoy the
fruits of their toil.
People of the present end-of-the-century
period can scarce realize the struggles and dangers which attended the early
settlers; the heroism and self-sacrifice of lives passed upon the borders of
civilization; the hardships endured, the difficulties overcome. These tales
of the early days read almost like a romance to those who have known only
the modern prosperity and convenience. To the pioneer of the early days, far
removed from the privileges and conveniences of city or town, the struggle
for existence was a stern and hard one, and these men and women must have
possessed wisdom, immutable energies and sterling worth of character as well
as marked physical courage, when they thus voluntarily selected such a life
and successfully fought its battles under such circumstances as prevailed in
the west.
The pioneers were not unaccustomed to more pleasing
environments and to one who, like the subject of this memoir, came higher
from the older civilization and the more perfectly developed and more
consistent manners of life of an old English town, the radical change was
one which must have been endured only by one who had the courage of his
convictions and who, looking to the ultimate results, was willing to sow
that others might reap, was willing to be an organizer, a builder and an
institutor. To James Clark is there particular congruity in directing
attention in this connection, for he was one who lived and labored to goodly
ends and who gained not only a position of distinctive prominence in the
state which he had aided to develop, but who stood "four-square to every
wind that blows" and held the respect and esteem which is never denied to a
man whose integrity and honor are beyond question.
James Clark was
born in Ashburnham parish, Sussex county, England, on the 9th of September,
1811, being the son of James and Ann (Weston) Clark, the former of whom was
a prosperous liveryman. Our subject was reared in his native country, and
was eventually apprenticed to learn the coach-maker's trade. He was a young
man of alert mentality and ambitious nature, and his ambition soon began to
strain at its fetters as he began to outline his plans for a career of
usefulness and success. He became convinced that in America were offered
better opportunities for advancement and for securing due returns from
individual effort, and accordingly in 1830 he set sail from the land of his
nativity and was soon en route to the United States. His voyage was
uneventful, being marked by but one notable incident — the time made in
crossing the ocean being sixteen days and the boat being a sailing vessel.
This lowered the time record of the day in a very considerable degree. He
landed in New York city on the 16th of April, 1830, with only one shilling
in his pocket, and realizing his somewhat precarious situation as a stranger
in a strange land he immediately cast about for employment, having in the
meantime pawned his overcoat in order to secure food and lodging. In a few
days he secured a situation. receiving in recompense for his services his
board and lodging, but at the end of one month he had proved himself of
sufficient value to his employer to insure him the additional pay of
seventy-five cents per diem.
The extent to which accident or
circumstances may shape a man's career was soon given exemplification in the
life of our subject. A Mrs. Luellum and two nieces came to New York from
England, the eldest of the ladies having known Mr. Clark in his native
parish. Upon her arrival here she made a successful effort to find him, and
thereupon prevailed upon him to accompany her to the west, where she wished
to purchase a farm, having four hundred dollars which she desired to invest
in this way. She agreed to pay Mr. Clark ten dollars per month and his
expenses if he would go with her and advise her in regard to pre-empting a
farm and assist her in its cultivation. The overtures were accepted by Mr.
Clark, and, in company with Mrs. Luellum and one of her nieces, he started
for that section of the Union which was to figure as the scene of his
earnest and successful endeavors. The other niece remained in New York,
where she had secured a situation. The three made their way westward to
Grafton, Lorain county, Ohio, and in the immediate vicinity Mrs. Luellum
pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land. Mr. Clark staked out the
claim and cut logs to build the primitive cabin which should serve as a home
and shelter for the little party. While this work was being accomplished the
ladies slept in their wagon and our subject took the "lower berth," that is,
he made his bed beneath the wagon. After securing her farm Mrs. Luellum had
only sufficient funds left to purchase a yoke of oxen, a cow, a pig and the
most primitive farming implements. Under these conditions was instituted the
work of clearing and cultivating the pioneer farm; but ill fortune attended
the efforts of the members of the little household. Their stock was lost
through an epidemic of scurvy, and they were reduced eventually to the
direst financial extremity. Nothing daunted by the unpropitious outlook,
young Clark proved himself a master of expedients. He cut down ten acres of
timber, burned it into charcoal and for this produce found a ready sale,
thus recuperating the resources of the family of which he was a member.
During this time Mrs. Luellum had been unable to pay Clark his wages, and
finally she offered to settle with him by transferring to him her right,
title and interest in her pre-emption claim; and after receiving this he
sold it for thirty dollars. After this he covered their wagon with
unbleached cotton and they prepared to utilize the same for continuing their
journey further west.
In September, 1830, Mr. Clark had been united
in marriage to Mrs. Luellum's niece, Charlotte Sargent, and now, with his
wife, two children, and Mrs. Luellum he started for Illinois. On the way he
traded his oxen for a good team of horses, and with this superior equipment
the party continued their way to Peoria, Illinois, where Mr. Clark left his
family, and proceeded thence on horseback, to Utica township, where he paid
a man named Croisar the sum of ten dollars to advise him as to eligible
location where he might "squat" on government land, the result being that he
located on section 4, Utica township. He then brought his family from Peoria
and settled down to pioneer life. He operated a private stage line between
Peoria and Utica and later from Utica to Chicago, and as this was the only
method of transportation in the early days he made money through this
enterprise.
At the land sales in 1835 he effected the purchase of
two hundred and forty acres, and from time to time added to the area of his
possessions until he was the owner of two thousand four hundred acres of the
most productive land in this section of the state. His first home in LaSalle
county was a log house. In 1837 Mr. Clark took a contract on the
construction of the Illinois & Michigan canal, his contract providing for
the extending of the canal through two miles of solid rock. The work was
completed in 1848. In 1845 he had erected a substantial and handsome
residence, and this is still pointed out as one of the finest in this
section of the state.
A man of marked ability, indefatigable
industry and utmost probity, it was but natural that Mr. Clark should soon
become a man of distinctive prominence and influence in the community. He
was the first postmaster of Utica, and was the incumbent in this office for
the long period of fourteen years. There had been established in Utica an
enterprise for the manufacture of cement to be used in the construction of
the locks of the canal, the projectors of this undertaking having been
George Steele and Hiram Norton, who had come hither from Canada but had
conducted operations upon a very moderate scale. Mr. Clark purchased the
cement works and in 1845 began the manufacture of hydraulic cement. The
investment proved a profitable one and constituted the nucleus of a large
fortune which our subject acquired. The great industry, which he founded so
many years ago, has grown to be one of the most extensive of the sort in the
Union, from three to five hundred thousand barrels of cement being turned
out each year. His wisdom and mature judgment were shown not alone in the
establishing of this enterprise, but also in conducting its affairs
continuously toward the maximum of success, his business and executive
ability having been of the most pronounced type. In 1883 Mr. Clark decided
that it was expedient to expand the business facilities by the organization
of a joint-stock company; and this was effected. He became president of the
company and N. J. Cary secretary and treasurer. The business was pushed
forward with increased vigor and became, and still is, one of the most
important industries of the state.
Mr. Clark was the first agent of
the Rock Island Railroad at Utica, and this position he retained until the
time of his death. He was a member of the board of supervisors of the county
for eleven years. During the war he was a member of the county committee,
and in 1870 was granted distinguished honor and preferment in the gift of
the people of LaSalle county, being elected to membership in the lower house
of the state legislature. In this body he served as a member of the
committee on canals and on three others of equal importance, bringing to
bear in this capacity the same practical business ability and sturdy common
sense which had characterized his career in private life, and he thus was a
power in insuring wise legislation, gaining the hearty endorsement of his
constituents, having been a stanch supporter of the Democratic party, while
in his fraternal relation he was prominently identified with the Masonic
order.
His wife, after having shared with him the trials and
vicissitudes of pioneer life, and having seen her children well settled, was
summoned into eternal rest on the 12th of August, 1877. She left two
children to mourn her loss. In 1877 was consummated the marriage of Mr.
Clark to Mary J. Cary, widow of Charles A. Cary. She was born in Jefferson
county, New York, on Christmas day, 1833, and in 1843 she accompanied her
father, a clergyman of the Latter Day Saints' church, to Illinois, and while
living in Batavia was united in marriage to Mr. Cary, the date of this
ceremonial having been in 1850. They became the parents of two children —
Norman J. and Charles A. Cary. Mr. Clark's second marriage proved a wise one
in all that makes the marriage state beautiful and happy. His wife was a
true helpmeet in every sense of the term, and by her tender solicitude and
ministrations made his declining days happy and serene. His death occurred
on the 2d of July, 1888, after a long life of prominence and uninterrupted
progress. His pathway was ever upward, both in a spiritual and temporal
sense. As this review shows, he was distinctively a self-made man, one of
nature's noblemen whom no force of circumstances could prostrate or draw
into obscurity. His friends were many, and on the list were numbered many of
the representative men of the state, and his demise was the cause of
widespread regret, while a community mourned the loss of one of its truest
and best citizens. After liberally providing for his children he left the
major portion of his large fortune to his widow.
Mary Cary Clark is
a remarkably gifted woman. She is a poetess of marked ability, and is also
the author of prose works of a high standard of excellence. She possesses a
brilliant intellectuality and a charming personality, being a woman of great
spirituality and one who has made deep researches into the great truths of
life. Such a woman could not but be an able and devoted helpmeet for even
the most exalted of mankind. and the affection existing between Mr. and Mrs.
Clark was a deep and abiding one.
Mrs. Clark is an excellent
business woman, as well as a brilliant writer, and during her husband's life
she was his confidential adviser and helper in all his complicated business
affairs, and he held her judgment and opinions in the highest estimation.
Since his death she has ably carried on the business of the Utica Cement
Works and has also worthily used the large fortune left her by her devoted
husband. She still retains her abode in the beautiful Clark homestead, which
is picturesquely located upon the bluff overlooking the town of Utica. The
home is a most attractive one and is a landmark for the surrounding country.
Mrs. Clark enjoys the respect and admiration of the people of Utica and
worthily bears the honors of an honored name.
Extracted 22 Dec 2017 by Norma Hass from Biographical and Genealogical Record of LaSalle County, Illinois, published in 1900, volume 2, pages 548-553.
| Lee | DeKalb | Kane |
| Bureau |
 |
Kendall |
| Putnam | Grundy | |
| Marshall | Woodford | Livingston |
