My Genealogy Hound

JOHN D. CLARK, of the firm of Kraus & Clark, Arcanum. To the subject of this sketch we are pleased to accord a place in the advance lines of the early pioneers of Darke County; he was born in Butler Co., Ohio, Aug. 12, 1814, and is a son of Barzilla and Mary (Davis) Clark; his father was born in Virginia Oct. 3, 1788, and died in Darke Co. in March, 1874, and his remains are interred in the cemetery at Ithaca; his mother was born in Maryland Sept. 1, 1780, and died Aug. 13, 1871, and lies beside her husband in Ithaca Cemetery; they settled in Twin Township in 1848, one mile southwest of Ithaca. Mr. Clark, Sr., was a volunteer in the war of 1812, and was in the army that was surrendered by Hull, and was on the pension rolls of the old veterans of that war. The subject of this sketch has been a continuous resident of Darke Co. since 1840; he had purchased 255 acres of land in its wild state, and, by his untiring industry and determination, in which he has been most nobly assisted by his industrious and amiable wife, succeeded in removing all the obstructions and thoroughly fitted it for the implements of agriculture; he still owns the same tract of land, with an additional 40 acres that he has cleared, improved and spent the greater part of his life upon; in 1872, he came to Arcanum and engaged in the drug business, which he followed for three years, then selling out to his son and embarked with Mr. Kraus in a general mercantile business, in which he is still engaged. He was united in marriage with Miss Sarah, daughter of John and Jane Bowyer, Aug. 15, 1838, near Foster’s Crossing, in Warren Co.; her parents were born in Pennsylvania in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and settled in Warren Co. in 1800, and were among the first settlers in that county; both died in the county of their adoption, her father at the age of 76, and her mother at the age of 68 years. Mr. and Mrs. Clark are the parents of eight children, viz.: Mary J., born in Warren Co., Dec. 29, 1839; Sarepta, born in Darke Co., June 21, 1842; Nancy, July 3, 1845; John W., Sept. 15, 1848; Bowyer, July 12, 1852; Sarah E., July 6, 1856; Laura J., April 5, 1859, and one dying in infancy April 20, 1851. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have been members of the M. E. Church for upward of forty years, and have faithfully performed the duties incident to a fervent Christian life. Mr. Clark is a Prohibitionist and a good worker in the temperance cause. Mr. Clark, assisted by Mr. Ivester, whose sketch appears in this work, was the first to agitate the question of free pikes, and under his supervision three miles were constructed in the fall of 1867.