Lewis S. Clark

LEWIS S. CLARK, an old-time and highly-respected farmer and dairyman, in section No. 25, Cascade township, Kent county, Mich., was born in Davenport, Delaware county, N. Y., June 2, 1829. His father, Isaac Clark, son of Daniel Clark, and his mother, Margaret (Lewis) Clark, were also natives of the Empire state. Until sixteen years of age, Lewis S. Clark lived on a dairy farm in his native county, and the family then moved to Seneca county, in the same state, where the subject attained his majority, and where he lived with his parents for ten years, or until twenty-six years old. At the age of twenty-one he sold a cow for $22, and continued to work his father's land on shares, and also worked out at fifty cents per day, until I854, at which time he had saved $800. That year he came to Michigan and invested $400 in an eighty-acre tract of heavily timbered land in Cascade township, on which he erected a small frame house, and then returned to Seneca county, N. Y., and May 12, 1855, married Miss Mary Blue, and immediately afterward brought his bride to his newly-acquired home in Michigan and went to housekeeping. The little frame house, it may here be remarked, was replaced by the present pleasant home in I88I, and the old home converted into a stable, but the latter, in June, I899, was struck by a cyclone and utterly demolished, after having done continuous duty for forty-four years. Mr. Clark cleared off his tract of land by burning the valuable timber, and by hard work finally developed a productive and profitable farm. Beside general farming, he is now engaged in dairying, making butter from a fine herd of Jersey cows, of which stock he is a breeder. In politics, Mr. Clark was formerly a republican,, but since the prohibition party came into existence, about twenty years ago, he has taken a lively interest in its conventions, and has led the party in the forlorn hopes as a candidate for the town supervisorship, but, with the rest of the ticket, has been defeated, prohibition, as a rule, not yet being strong enough in the township and county to make any marked progress at the polls. Mr. Clark, however, is strong in his faith political, and lives fully up to it, never using spirits or tobacco. Mr. Clark was a charter member of the Cascade grange, was its first master, an office he held for two years. He is a member of the West Lowell Methodist church, was one of the original members of the class of which he is leader, a trustee from the time of the erection of the edifice, and a steward and Sunday-school superintendent; he is a recognized pillar of the church, and is ready at all times to uphold his belief and principles with reason and argumentative force. Mrs. Mary (Blue) Clark was called away May 12, I880, after twenty years of wedded life. She had been a faithful helpmate to her husband, aided him greatly in carving out a home from the wilderness, and ever exerted an influence for good. She was the mother of one son and four daughters, born in the following order: Sarah, wife of D. W. Calkins, of Lowell township; Ann, married to Joel C. Merriman, of Sanilac county; John I., who married Effie Bye (a niece of the late Mrs. Clark) and now conducts the home farm; Ellen, wife of Charles Freyermuth, of Bowne township, and Jennie, now Mrs. Wesley Yeiter, of Lowell township. The second marriage of Mr. Clark took place November 13, I882, to Miss Marietta Haver, who-was born in Livingston county, N. Y., and at the age of twelve years was taken to Iowa, and then to Moline, Ill.; as a child she attended school in the latter place, and later taught for twelve years in that city, in the same building with Rev. J. C. Hartzell, now bishop of the African Methodist church. Mrs. Clark had an aunt living in Cascade, whom she was in the habit of visiting, and hence came about her union with Mr. Clark. Mr. Clark has always lived in peace with his neighbors, has never sued nor been sued, and has wielded a wide influence for good in social, school and church matters, and no man in the township is more highly respected.