Robert Clark

As printed in 1910

ROBERT CLARK.

Robert Clark, who is one of the most extensive landowners in Scotch Grove township, was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of November, 1834. and is a son of David and Margaret (Bell) Clark, both natives of the Keystone state. There the father died in 1853, after which the mother came to Jones county, Iowa, arriving here in 1856, where her remaining days were passed. She was the mother of eight children, as follows: Elizabeth, the wife of John Gibson, residing in Monticello, Iowa; Margaret J., the widow of James Dawson, now making'her home in Boston with her son; Robert, of this review; and five who have passed away.

No event of special importance came to vary the routine of daily life for Robert Clark through the period of his boyhood and early youth, which was spent in his native county, and to the public schools of Pennsylvania he is indebted for the educational advantages which he enjoyed. At the early age of seventeen years he started out to earn his own livelihood, at first being employed as a farm hand. In 1854, when twenty years of age, he came to Jones county and here worked as a hired hand on the farm which later became his home, and upon which he now resides. Two years later, in 1856, he purchased forty acres in Wayne township, for which he paid seventy-five cents per acre, and a year later invested in eighty acres adjoining his original purchase. This tract of one hundred and twenty acres he improved and put in good condition, after which he sold it and bought his present farm. It consists of one hundred and sixty acres of valuable land located on section 20 which, under the careful and wise management of Mr. Clark has been brought under a high state of cultivation. As the years have come and gone he has been able to add to his original purchase, so that the home farm now comprises three hundred and forty acres. He is also the owner of twelve hundred and twenty acres on sections 1, 2, and 3, Scotch Grove township, constituting him one of the most extensive landowners in his section of the county. Aside from his present possessions he has given his oldest son a good farm. He is engaged in general agricultural pursuits and has always been a large stock raiser and shipper. He has become very successful

ROBERT CLARK in his business ventures, industry, energy and close application being salient elements in the gratifying degree of prosperity which he today enjoys.

Mr. Clark laid the foundation for a happy home life in his marriage in 1877 to Miss Alicia Warner, a native of Mercer county, Pennsylvania, who came to Jones county with her parents in the early '50s. She is one of the six children born unto Paul and Mary (Hannah) Warner, the former having now passed away and while the later still survives at the advanced age of eighty-two years and makes her home with our subject. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Clark have been born four children, namely: Margaret B., at home, who is a graduate of Coe College, of Cedar Rapids, and for several years has been engaged in teaching; Mary Alice, who is also a school teacher and makes her home with her parents;

As printed in History of Jones County, Iowa, past and present (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.