Arletta (Greene) Clarke
GREENE, CLARKE, STURGES, VAN METER
Posted By: Nettie Mae (email)
Date: 5/14/2025 at 13:24:18
Arletta G. Clark, born Arletta Greene on January 16, 1857, in Adel, Dallas County, Iowa, was a woman whose life spanned nearly a century of profound national and regional change. The daughter of Benjamin Greene and Parmelia Catherine Sturges, Arletta was born into a family deeply rooted in the early settlement of Adel—originally known as Penoach. Her father, one of the town's earliest pioneers, is credited with renaming the settlement to Adel in the late 1840s, helping to lay the foundations of what would become a thriving Iowa community.
By 1860, the three-year-old Arletta appeared in the U.S. federal census in Adel Township, already part of a burgeoning frontier family. Ten years later, the 1870 census recorded her still in Adel, a 12-year-old girl during a period when Iowa was transforming rapidly in the post-Civil War era.
On June 25, 1878, Arletta married George Washington Clarke, a promising young attorney who had just completed his studies at the University of Iowa’s College of Law. Though the location of the marriage is noted as both Dallas County and Dedham, Carroll County in contemporary records, it is generally accepted that the ceremony occurred in her hometown of Adel. The union marked the beginning of a shared life of public service and civic engagement.
Arletta and George Clarke settled in Adel, where she was recorded in every decennial census from 1880 through 1930. As the household head’s wife, she was listed variously as “keeping house” and simply “wife,” yet her behind-the-scenes role in the Clarke family's growing prominence in Iowa politics was substantial. Her husband’s political career rose steadily; he served multiple terms in the Iowa Legislature, became Speaker of the House, and in 1908 was elected Lieutenant Governor. In 1912, George W. Clarke was elected Governor of Iowa, a post he held until 1917.
As First Lady of Iowa, Arletta embodied the quiet dignity and social grace expected of the governor’s wife, but she was also a progressive-minded and civic-oriented woman. She held a Master of Science degree from Oskaloosa College—an uncommon distinction for women of her era—and was active in both church and club life. A devoted member of the Christian Church, she taught Sunday school and contributed energetically to the Missionary Society. Her civic interests extended to broader social causes, including equal suffrage, a movement she supported through her participation in the Iowa Federation of Women’s Clubs, where she served on the Civic Service and Social Reform committee.
Arletta and George Clarke raised four children: Fred Greene Clarke, Charles P. Clarke, Portia Clarke Van Meter, and Francis Ada Clarke. The Clarke family split their time between Adel and Des Moines, the capital, particularly during George’s gubernatorial tenure.
Though her public presence waned in later years, Arletta remained in Adel through much of her long life, appearing in the 1925 Iowa State Census in Adams Township and in the 1930 federal census once again in Adel, still alongside her husband. She later moved to Washington State, where she died in Seattle on December 31, 1948, at the age of 91. Despite her passing in the Pacific Northwest, she was brought home to Adel and laid to rest there, among the same community her family helped found a century before.
Arletta G. Clark’s name appears in ''The Blue Book of Iowa Women'', a testament to her status as one of the state’s notable women of influence. She is remembered not only as the wife of a governor but as a community leader, advocate for women's rights, and a steadfast figure during a formative period in Iowa’s political and social history. Her story offers a window into the life of a nineteenth-century pioneer daughter who embraced the evolving roles of women in public and private life, leaving an enduring legacy in both Adel and the broader state she quietly helped shape.
Arletta (Greene) Clarke
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