Biography of George Marshall Clark
Portrait and Biographical Album of Woodford
County, Illinois. Chapman Bros., 1889, Chicago
contributed by Jane Foster, transcribed by Dena
Whitesell
George Marshall Clark, the son of pioneer parents whom he accompanied
to Woodford County in his eaily childhood, grew with the growth ot the
county and since attaining man's estate has been one of its most
progressive and prosperous farmers and stock-raisers, and has materially
advanced its interests. He has a large, finely improved farm in Cazenovia
Township, where he is enjoying life in one of the most charming and cozy
homes tn the locality. Mr Clark is also closely identified with the
agricultural interests of Iroquois County where he owns a large tract of
choice farming land, many acres of which are under tillage, and which is
provided with necessary buildings and all the accessories ot a good
farm.
The subject of this biographical notice was born in the town
of Nelson, Madison Co.. NY , March 13, 1841 His father, Thomas
Clark, was of New England antecedents and birth, born m Massachusetts
Jan 7, 1805. His father, Bill Clark, is supposed to have been a native ot
that State, and was the son of a gallant Revolutionary soldier. He was
bred to the life of a farmer, and moving to New York at some period of his
life, became an early settler of the town of Nelson, buying a tract of
heavily timbered land there that formed a part of the primeval forest of
that section of the country. That was before the era of railways and
canals in that State, and he used to drive his grain to Albany, 110 miles
distant, to dispose of it. He cleared a farm, and made his home on it till
death called him to a better one.
The father of our subject was but
a boy when his parents moved to New York State, and he there grew to man's
estate, married and established a home. He rented land and earned on
farming there till 1844, when he determined to avail himself of the
cheaper lands and fairer opportunities that Illinois offered to
enterprising farmers, and in the month of June he set out on his journey
to this State, traveling via the Erie Canal to Buffalo whence he came by
boat on Lake Erie to Cleveland, and from there went by canal to the Ohio
River, then continued the voyage on that river and up the Mississippi and
Illinois rivers to the interior of this Stale, and landed at Lacon, whence
he came on foot to Cazenovia Township. Here he bought an eighty acre tract
of land on section 22, paying $3 an acre for it. After concluding the
purchase of that bit of wild prairie, he returned to his old home in New
York, and in the fall came back to this place with a two horse team,
bringing his wife, son and another child, and accomplishing the journey in
six weeks and two days. There being no house on his place, he and his
family were given shelter in the dwelling of a hospitable neighbor near
by, and in the fall of 1845 he commenced the erection of a frame house,
which on account of sickness he did not complete till 1846. The shingles
were from Wisconsin, and were brought here by the roundabout way of St
Louis, while the boards for the house were sawed in a mill in the township
operated by horse power Mr Clark continued his residence here till his
death in 1881, when he rounded out a long and useful life. He was a man
whom 
to know was to respect, as he possessed many
sterling qualities of head and heart, and was true to himself and to all
with whom he had dealings. In the management of his affairs he displayed
wisdom and prudence, thus accumulating a goodly amount of property, and in
so doing added to the material wealth of his adopted county, in whose
welfare he was always interested. His wife survived him till 1886, when
she too passed away from the scenes of her usefulness. Her maiden name was
Delency Fidelbra Marshall, and she was bom tn Cazenovia Township. N Y..
July 9, 1807, a daughter of Simeon and Sarah Marshall.
Our subject
and one other child who died in infancy, were the only children born to
his parents. He was but three and one-half years old when he came to this
State with them, yet he still retains some recollection of that memorable
journey across the country, and has a distinct remembrance of the pioneer
life that obtained here in his boyhood and early manhood. For some years
after the family came here deer and wild turkeys were plenty, and the
prairie continued sparsely settled for a long time.
His mother,
who was a notable housewife, used to spin and weave all the cloth and make
all the garments used in the family.
He being the only surviving
child, our subject always made his home with his parents, and was their
stay and comfort in their declining years. He has been very much prospered
in his work as a practical farmer, and has acquired a large amount of
valuable property. He has besides his fine, well-appointed farm in
Cazenovia Township, 640 acres of land of exceeding fertility in Iroquois
County, 250 acres of which are under excellent tillage, and there is a set
of frame buildings on the place and two artesian wells.
In the
month of September 1880 our subject took an important step in his life
whereby he secured a good wife in the person of Miss Mary Ellen McFarlin,
a native of Indiana, and a daughter of Joseph and Lydia (Davis) McFarlin.
Her parents now reside in Martinton Township, Iroquois County. Mr and Mrs
Clark have one child, Eva.
Mr Clark has accumulated wealth by
the exercise of those traits that mark him as a man more than ordinarily
gifted with tact, force of character, strength of purpose, and business
acumen. It is to such men that Woodford County is indebted for its high
standing as a great agricultural center. Our subject has many pleasant
social qualities that commend him to his neighbors and others, and he and
his wife are highly thought of in this community. In his political views
he was formerly a Republican, and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln.
But he is now independent, preferring not to be bound by party ties. Mrs
Clark is connectedwith the Baptist Church as one of its most valued
members.
The father and mother of our subject are resting in
dreamless repose, but have left behind them monuments far more enduring
than even Carrara's far-famed marble has ever furnished. We present to
their many friends portraits of those valued pioneers, upon whose living
features the eye can no longer rest.