Clark E. Slocum Clark E. Slocum, the popular alderman from the Twelfth ward, Grand Rapids, and president of the board of councilmen, as well as foreman of the G. R. & I. R. R. company’s copper and tin department, was born in Norwalk, Huron county, Ohio, January 14, 1853, and is a son of Edward and Amelia (Clark) Slocum, the former of whom was a competent and well-known railroad foreman, but is now deceased, and the latter a resident of Santa Ana, Cal., for the past seven years. About the year 1856 the Slocum family left Norwalk for Crestline, Ohio, whence they went to Fort Wayne, Ind., where Clark E. Slocum served an apprenticeship in the Pennsylvania railroad shops, learned his business thoroughly, and met with rapid promotion. He then passed a short time to Pittsburgh, Pa., but returned to Ft. Wayne, Ind., where he lived, all told, about twenty-five years, when the railroad company at Grand Rapids, needing a thoroughly competent foreman, employed him to come here and take charge of its copper and tin department, the duties of which he assumed March 20, 1882, and has since held with every satisfaction to all concerned. He has made himself very popular with all classes of the populations, especially with railroad men, and his present exalted municipal position plainly shows the esteem in which he is held by the democratic party, of which he is a faithful and ardent member, but of this position mention will be made further on, as well as of his election to the honorable body over which he presides. Mr. Slocum married, March 23, 1874, Miss Augusta Hart, who has blesses him with two children, the elder of whom, May Amelia, was highly educated, graduated from the literary department of the university at Ann Arbor, and is now occupying a responsible position as teacher in the Wealthy avenue school of Grand Rapids, where her ability is fully recognized; the younger child is named Edward. The family are members of the Congregational church, to the support of which they never fail to make liberal contributions, and fraternally Mr. Slocum has long been a member of South End lodge No. 250, I. O. O. F., in which he has served as past grand, and his is also a member of the encampment. The Knights of Pythias likewise hold him within their ranks, and the Royal Arcanum find it necessary to assess him on proper occasions, which assessment no member more cheerfully pays than he. To revert to Mr. Slocum’s popularity as a democrat, it may be mentioned that he was elected alderman from the Twelfth ward of Grand Rapids in 1892, without solicitation on his part, and so well did he care for the interests, not only of his ward but those of the city, that he was, to his surprise, elected president of the honorable body in 1899, he having served as a most effectual member of the ways and means committee for the previous six years, as well as on several other important committees. His present term will expire in 1900, and it is ten to one that he will succeed himself—if not reach a higher office. For the past sixteen years Mr. Slocum has had his pleasant home at No. 280 Ninth avenue, where he and family extend a generous hospitality to a host of warm-hearted friends, and enjoy, in return, their sincere regard.