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JOHN K. CLARK, a well-to-do and prominent farmer, living on sections 31 and 32, Township 18, Range 11, Cass county, Illinois, where he owns a fine farm, well improved and well supplied with farm buildings, of about 400 acres, lying in the Sangamon valley, near Bluff Springs, was born in this county, in what is now Monroe precinct, in 1828. He is the oldest man in Cass county that was born here. The family later came to what is now Bluff Springs precinct in 1846, and here the parents afterward lived. Prior to coming to Bluff Springs they had lived for a time in Morgan county, Illinois, and also in Schuyler county, later in Henry county, Iowa, and there the father, Thomas, struck the first stake of what is now Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Some time after this his attention was called to a beautiful spring located about three miles east of Mount Pleasant, and during his four years' sojourn in Henry county, Iowa, when it was all new ground, unbroken, he remained there. Later he sold and returned to Illinois, and in 1840 located in Cass county, where he became a prominent citizen and spent his remaining days there, dying in the vicinity of Bluff Springs, in 1852. He was sixty-seven years of age at his death. He was a good, well-known citizen of this county. He was born in Kentucky, and was the son of Thomas Clark, Sr., who was born in London, England, and came to America when a young man, settling in Kentucky, in Barren county, and there lived for some years as a prominent pioneer. He was married, and while yet in middle life was attacked by the Indians and murdered, and his house burned down. The mother died a natural death in Kentucky when quite an old woman. Thomas Clark, Jr., had followed his brother, William M., to Illinois, the latter coming here in the early '20s and settling in Morgan county. He is now dead. Thomas Clark was married in Kentucky to a lady of that State, Julia Ann King, of Scotch-Irish stock. She labored with her husband in building a home in those early days in Illinois. She died some fourteen years after her husband, and was about seventy-six years old. She was a Methodist.John is the eldest son of four yet living children. His sister, Mrs. Mary Loosley, is the eldest, being a widow and now lives with him. Another brother, Owen W., was a teacher for many years in the public schools and taught penmanship in twenty-seven States, and also in the Dominion of Canada. He is single, as is our subject. Another sister is Martha, wife of Judge D. N. Walker, of Virginia. Two brothers and three sisters, now dead. Rev. William Clark, the older, was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Conference, and preached the gospel for forty years. Thomas was a well-to-do farmer and owned a fine farm near Bluff Springs, where his widow, two sons and a daughter, still reside. Cynthia, the oldest daughter, was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and lived a consistent Christian life, and died at the age of seventy-two. Rebecca and Jane were also members of the Methodist Church. They died younger.
John Clark is one of the prominent men of the county and takes an active part in local matters. He is a Democrat, a live, good fellow who enjoys life as it comes. He started Bluff Springs, built the first house and store, sold the first merchandise, and was Postmaster of the place. This was about 1872. His brother Owen was also Postmaster for some time, and both brothers were teachers.
Biographical Review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois, Biographical Review Publishing Co., Chicago, 1892, pages 187-188.
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