For about thirty-five years Clark M. Potter has resided on the farm which he now owns on Section 16, Waveland Township. He first opened his eyes to the light of day in Erie County, New York, April 14, 1845, being one of the seven children of Hiram C. and Caroline (Parmelee) Potter. The father’s birth occurred in Erie County, New York, July 12, 1816. He was a son of William Potter, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and a veteran of the War of 1812. Hiram C. Potter was reared and married at the place of his nativity, where he engaged in farming until 1852, when thinking that Iowa offered a better field of labor he came to the middle west, spending three or four years in Jackson County, this state. He next removed to Olmsted County, Minnesota, where he resided for eleven years, when in the fall of 1866 he returned to Jackson County. In the spring of 1870 he came to Pottawattamie County and in connection with his two sons purchased one-half of Section 16, Waveland Township. The tract was at that time wild prairie but he soon broke the sod, turning the first furrows in the fields, which in due course of time brought forth rich harvests as the reward of his care and labor. He continued upon that place until his death, which occurred in 1897. He was not only an alert and enterprising business man but also a citizen of broad nature and wide interests, who ever discharged with promptness and fidelity the various offices to which he was called. He was recognized as an influential factor in local political circles and was ever a stalwart advocate of the Republican Party. An earnest and conscientious Christian man, he held membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church was active in its work and lived in entire harmony with his professions. He was recognized in his community as a good neighbor, a faithful friend and an esteemed citizen. His wife, was born January 23, 1823, survived him until 1903, passing away at the age of eighty years. She was a daughter of Lemuel Parmelee, who was born in Maine, while her mother’s birth occurred in Vermont, both being representatives of Old New England families. Two sons and a daughter born unto Hiram C. and Caroline Potter still survive, of whom Clark M. is the eldest. Maria is the wife of John Book of Waveland Township, and William is also living in the same township.

Clark M. Potter spent the first seven years of his life in the state of his nativity and in 1852 was brought by his parents to Iowa and afterward went with them to Minnesota. In his youth he attended the public schools and also assisted largely in the work of the home farm, receiving practical training in the best methods of tilling the soil, the time of planting, the manner of cultivating and the care of the harvests. In 1867 he started out upon an independent business career and for one year was employed as a farm hand in Lucas County, Iowa. He was afterward engaged on the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad in Nevada was present at the driving of the golden spike, which indicated the completion of the line as the two sections were joined, making a continuous trans-continental road. For fifteen months Mr. Potter devoted his time to railroad construction and then returned to Iowa, where in company with his brother Ray, now deceased, he purchased a half section of land in Waveland Township, Pottawattamie County, where they settled, our subject taking as his share the northeast quarter of Section 16, whereon he has resided since about 1872. He also purchased eighty acres on Section 9 and likewise owns a timber tract of fifteen acres in the eastern part of the township. His landed possessions therefore aggregate two hundred and fifty-five acres and his property is the visible evidence of a life of well directed labor and thrift.

On the 4th of January 1885, Mr. Potter was married to Miss Tamar Yearns, a daughter of James B. and Nancy (Porter) Yearns, who came to Iowa in 1854 from Decatur County, Indiana, where Mrs. Potter was born. Later the parents removed to Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Potter became the parents of four children but lost their second daughter, Nellie. The others are Olive, Leroy and Ernest, all yet at home.

In politics Mr. Potter is a republican and for several years has filled different township offices, being regarded throughout the county as a faithful official, no trust reposed in him ever being betrayed in the slightest degree. Both he and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, an association which is indicative of the good qualities which characterize them in every relation – to the individual and to the public at large.