WILLIAM L. CLARK.
An enumeration of those men of the present generation in this county who have won honor and public recognition for themselves, and who, at the same time have won honor for the locality to which they belong, would be incomplete were there failure to make specific mention of William L. Clark, a prominent farmer of Greeley and Melville townships. The qualities which have made him one of the prominent and successful men of Audubon county have also brought to him the sincere esteem and confidence of the people of his community. He is the owner of the undivided northwest quarter of section 6, in Greeley township, besides an adjacent tract of land comprising forty acres in Melville township, making in all a fine farm of two hundred acres.
William L. Clark was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on February 3, 1865, a son of George W. and Mary A. (Horton) Clark, natives of Baltimore, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, respectively. George W. Clark was a carriage-maker until he reached the age of fifty years, when he engaged in farming. In October, 1865, he moved to Rock Island county, Illinois, and there purchased and cultivated a farm. In 1889 the family located on a farm in Greeley township, this county, which farm is now owned by William L. Clark. George W. Clark was born in 1823 and died in February, 1903. His wife was born in 1825 and died in May, 1913. They were the parents of nine children, five of whom are living, namely: James T., living in Texas county, Missouri; Mrs. Nettie Garnett, of Hamlin, Iowa; Mrs. Ada Genung, of Staples, Minnesota; Mrs. Grace Crompton, of Rock Island, Illinois, and William L., with whom this narrative deals.
On October 27, 1892, William L. Clark was married to Mattie White, daughter of E. G. White, of Greeley township, and to this union have been born three children, Olive (deceased), Merle and Dale.
Mr. Clark is identified with the Republican party, but owing to his extensive agricultural interests, has taken little active part in political affairs, though always ready to support any measure which has for its object the welfare of the community and the advancement of the moral, educational or material life of his township. He and his family are earnest and faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal church, to the support of which they are liberal contributors. William L. Clark is one of the substantial farmers of Audubon county, and is prominent in the civic life of both Melville and Greeley townships, a man whose counsel is sought in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the community as a whole.
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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. 561-562.
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