Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 4.djvu/114

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

in a desperate charge on the forts of Mobile, Alabama. He is the historian of that gallant regiment, having gathered the events of its career in the Civil War which have been published, adding to the valuable literature of the deeds of Iowa soldiers in the great Rebellion. He is president of the Regimental Association of the First Iowa Regiment of volunteer soldiers in the Civil War and has published a sketch of General Lyon and “The Fight for Missouri.” Captain Clark is a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan University and also of the Iowa State University. He engaged in the practice of law in Des Moines from 1870 to 1890, when he retired to accept the position of secretary of the Des Moines Insurance Company, later becoming president of the Anchor Insurance Company, as well as president of the Iowa Alliance of Insurance Men.

LINCOLN CLARK was born in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, June 6, 1800. His boyhood was spent on his father's farm where he attended district school during the winter months until he acquired sufficient education to teach in the common schools. He entered Amherst College and, taking the classical course, graduated. He then went to Virginia and engaged in teaching, earning money enough to support himself while pursuing his law studies. He was admitted to the bar in Pickens County, Alabama, where he had decided to locate. In 1834 he was elected to a seat in the House of the Alabama Legislature, serving three terms. He removed to Tuscaloosa, then the Capital of the State, in 1836, and in 1839 was appointed Attorney-General. In 1846 he was appointed judge of the United States Circuit Court. He came to Iowa in 1848, locating in Dubuque, where in 1852 he was chosen one of the presidential electors on the Democratic ticket, casting his vote for Franklin Pierce for President. In 1850 he received the nomination for Congress in the old Second District which at that time embraced more than half of the State. His competitor on the Whig ticket was John P. Cook of Davenport. The contest was close, but Clark was elected by the narrow margin of but one hundred fifty in a total vote of 15,696. At the close of his term the same candidates renewed the contest but Cook won the election. In 1857 Mr. Clark was elected to the House of the Seventh General Assembly and gave the State valuable service in adapting the laws to the new Constitution. He was a life-long Democrat.

RUSH CLARK was born at Shellsburg, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of October, 1834. He was a graduate of Jefferson College and studied medicine. But in 1853 he decided upon the study of law and at Iowa City entered the law office of his brother. For a time he had editorial charge of the Iowa City Republican in the campaign which resulted in the election of James W. Grimes for Governor. This was the first defeat of a Democratic State ticket. In 1859 Mr. Clark was elected to the House of the