Hon. Frederick O. Clark of Marquette Michigan, was born at Girard, Erie County PA in 1842. His father, John B. Clark, was a native of Vermont. His mother, Charlotte M. Woodruff, was a daughter of Rev. E.T. Woodruff of Coventry Connecticut, and Sally Alden, a descendant of John Alden, made famous by Longfellow's poem, "The Courtship of Miles Standish". Mr. Clark received an academic education; and removed to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in 1862. In the summer of that year, he was engaged in surveying the State-road, from the waters of Lake Superior in Little Bay de Moquet, at the head waters of Green Bay; known as the Marquette and Bay De Noquet State-road. In the fall, he was assistant engineer, and was engaged in the preliminary survey of the Peninsular Division of the Chicago and Northwestern RR. He acted as compass-man, and, with his fourteen comrades, slept on the ground on hemlock and cedar boughs, or on the corduroy, in the extensive swamps which stretch across the Peninsula.

Mr. Clark taught school during the following winter, at Harvey, Marquette County. In the spring he returned to the survey of the Chicago and Northwestern RR and remained until the work was completed in 1864. In 1866 he was engaged in surveying and civil engineering in the counties of Marquette and Delta; and laid out the city of Negaunee. He was agent of a Lake Superior leather company for two years. In 1869 he returned to the study of law, which he had commenced before his removal to Michigan. In 1870 he was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Escanaba, Delta County MI.

The following year he was elected President of the village. In 1872 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Delta County, and in 1874 was elected a Representative to the State Legislature. He was nominated by the Republican party, endorsed by the Democratic Convention, and received the unanimousvote of Delta, Menomonee, Schoolcraft and Chippewa counties. In the Legislature, he was Chairman of the Library Committee, and a member of the Judiciary Committee. In July 1876 he removed to Marquette MI where he is now engaged in the practice of law.

Mr. Clark married June 13, 1877, Ella J. Harlow, a daughter of Amos Rogers Harlow, one of the oldest and most respected pioneers of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Transcribed by Christine Walters from the American Biographical History of Eminent and Self-Made Men Western Publishing Co 1878