WILLIAM A. CLARK.
Whatever may be their circumstances or conditions in life, the widow and children of a war veteran have a noble heritage which the wealth of a king cannot buy. The man who has made the supreme sacrifice, willingness to give his life for a great cause, and the woman who has shared the sorrow and the suffering necessary to such a sacrifice, have experienced an exaltation that only those capable of heroism can know or understand. He who has fought a single battle when that battle has been in the cause of right, is indeed, worthy of a crown of laurels. What, then, shall be the tribute worthy of the man who has offered his life in sixteen battles? Great and sublime must be the courage of the man who can say, not once, but many times, "If my country needs my life, here it is." The biographer regards it as an honor to record even briefly the chief events in the life of such a man, for in doing so, not only is that life commemorated but it is held up as an inspiration to high and patriotic endeavor.
William A. Clark was born in New Jersey on January 20, 1842, the son of John and Mary (Allen) Clark, who migrated to Illinois at an early date, and later made their home in Poweshiek county, Iowa, where William A. Clark was living when, in 1861, he enlisted in Company F, Tenth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry, at Victor, Iowa, for service in the Union army during the Civil War, and for three years and three months this young patriot saw service in the Army of the Cumberland. Many are the interesting stories Mr. Clark used to relate concerning the sixteen battles in which he took part, the most tragic of which was the battle of Vicksburg, where he had a narrow escape from death.
For a while after the war, William A. Clark located in Poweshiek county, Iowa, and then went with his family to Kansas, where they lived three years. The journey was made in a wagon drawn by oxen, and it required three weeks to cover the distance. Part of the worldly wealth which Mr. Clark transported West were several horses and six cows. Locating in Republic county, the family were carrying out plans for a permanent home there when they were overtaken by a serious drought which drove them back to the state they had previously left. After living near Avoca, Iowa, for a period of five years, and in Carroll county for three years, Mr. Clark obtained eighty acres in Leroy township, this county, and here the family home has been established for the past thirty years. After his service in the war, the veteran chose farming as his occupation, and this engaged his attention the remainder of his life, during the last eleven years of which he was an invalid.
On December 25, 1879, William A. Clark was united in marriage to Jane M. Greenlee, who was born in Venango county, Pennsylvania, on November 7, 1849, who came to Iowa with her parents when a girl, the family locating in Poweshiek county. To this union ten children were born, namely: May, who married Austin Linn and lives in Gray, Iowa; Wilburn, a farmer in Leroy township, this county, married Clara Freese; Robert, a cement worker in Ontario, California; Charles, deceased; Mary, who married William Thomas and also went to Ontario, California, to live; Jennie, who married Henry Leighty, of Leroy township; John and Nellie, who live at home, the former giving his time to agriculture; Lois, who married Earl Terry, a well-known farmer of this township; Sarah, the youngest child, has remained at home. All of these children were educated in the home schools. After finishing her education. May became a teacher and is very popular among her associates, both pupils and teachers. The father of these children died on January 7, 1906, and was widely mourned, for he was a good man. His widow is still living in her pleasant home in Leroy township.
Few residents of Audubon county were better known or more respected than was William A. Clark, and few have left a more highly honored memory. Knowing something of Mr. Clark's patriotism, or at least, of its expression, it is not surprising to learn that after the war his interest in the Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was a member, never abated. In fact, it grew stronger with the years, although in the later years of his life ill health prevented his former activity in the affairs of the post to which he was attached at Audubon. Mr. Clark was a life-long Republican, and a member of the Methodist church. It is difficult to close a sketch, even as brief as this, without paying a tribute to the patriotism of such a man as Mr. Clark. But where are the words to express what one really feels when one contemplates the meaning of such self-abnegation as his? He was living a quiet, useful life when the war broke out. Then the nation had need of that life. The supreme test came when volunteers were asked for. And without hesitation, this brave man took leave of his family, and started upon a journey, the destination of which he did not know. Fortunately for those who loved him, and whom he loved, he returned, but with impaired health. Equally strong and unselfish in peace and in war, can we honor too much the memory of a man like William A. Clark?
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 435-437.
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