This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Author: WellsVolunteer
Surnames: CLARK, IRWIN, RADCLIFF, CARL, HAMPTON, HELM, GILL, MINNIEAR, SMITH, BURMAN,
TRIMMER, HEMPY, STUMBAUGH, THOMPSON
Classification: biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.indiana.counties...
Message Board Post:
Reposting to reformat and include page numbers.
Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana, 1903. pp. 380-383.
RUFUS B. CLARK.
While in old England they boast of their ancestry back for twenty generations or more and
in New England they lay claim to more than half as many, here in the west if we can look
back upon our family tree a hundred years and see nothing to be ashamed of, we are liable
to strut a little and feel some semblance of the aristocratic thrill that is supposed to
bespeak the blue blood of nobility. There are many in the west possessed of such a family
tree. Some it impells to put on airs and affect superiority. Others view it in the purely
American sense, that a man's worth is neither increased or diminished by what those
who preceded him have or have not been. Of the latter class is the Clark family of Wells
and Huntington counties, one of whom is the subject of this sketch, Rufus B. Clark, of
Liberty township, Wells county, Indiana. He has a family of which he might boast, but he
is too much interested in the affairs of his own life to waste time with such foolishness.
He is a yo!
ung man, but a very successful one. He was born in the township where he now resides
January 9, 1874, and, though only in his twenty-ninth year, is as capable and thorough a
business man as one can encounter.
The paternal grandparents of Rufus B. Clark were Sargeant and Eunice (Irwin) Clark,
natives of North Carolina, who came in the winter of 1838-9 from their native state to
Huntington county, Indiana, traveling the entire distance in a wagon. They entered a tract
of eighty acres of government land in Salamonie township, and here built a home, cleared
the land and reared their family. They were the parents of eight children, viz: Martha J.,
deceased; John I., who was the father of Rufus R., the subject; Rachael, wife of John
Radcliff, of Newark, Ohio; Roscoe L., a resident of Huntington county, Indiana, residing
on part of the old homestead; Landona, wife of Amos L. Carl, of Beamer, Indiana; Hannah,
Lewis and Jasper. Of all the early inhabitants of Huntington county, none are remembered
with kindlier feelings than Sargeant and Eunice Clark. They were naturally unselfish, kind
and generous, and to those gifts they added a benevolence and hospitality that is
popularly supposed to!
be peculiarly prevalent in the south. They spent nearly as much time caring for
neighbors in need as they did in looking after their own affairs, yet did not slight or
neglect the latter. Mr. Clark helped to build roads, bridges, churches and school houses,
never exacting renumeration [sic] for his services; indeed, he would felt offended if
asked what his charge was. His good wife was constantly, in her motherly way, on some
errand of mercy or charity.
The maternal grandparents of Rufus B. Clark were George and Nancy (Hampton) Helm. They
were natives of Tennessee, but came from that state, by wagon, in 1838, to Huntington
county, Indiana, and settled on the bank of the Salamonie river about two miles below
Warren. The most numerous inhabitants of the county at that time were Indians. There, in
the depths of the wilderness, June 6, 1846, Nancy Helm, the mother of Rufus B. Clark, was
born. Her birth place is now in the township of Jefferson. In the early days of the
settlement the people were obliged to go to Preble county, Ohio, for supplies. It was a
long, tedious journey, through the trackless woods. The round trip frequently required
weeks in accomplishment, especially during inclement weather or when the streams were
swollen. On one such trip the husband and father, George Helm, was away six weeks and his
intrepid little wife with her three small children remained alone in the cabin, during the
day in the mortal dread o!
f the red savages with whom the woods were peopled, and at night almost equally in fear
of the wild beasts of the forest. Mr. Helm cleared and improved this land and made it his
home up to the time of his death. George and Nancy Helm were the parents of eight
children, viz: Lorinda, widow of James Gill; John A. died on the old homeplace; William is
a resident of Huntington, Indiana; Nancy, wife of John I. Clark; Sarah was the wife of
Jacob Irwin, but is now deceased; Jane died at the age of sixteen years; David at the age
of seventeen and James died when he was but two years old. The parents were among the most
enterprising, public spirited and prosperous of the early settlers. Nancy Helm died at the
home of her daughter, Mrs. John I. Clark, in the fall of 1874.
John I. Clark, father of the subject, grew to manhood on his father's farm in
Salamonie township, attended the public schools and received a fair common school
education. He worked by the day, week or job until he was twenty-three years of age, when
he rented the farm of George Helm, making his home in the Helm family. For five years he
continued on this farm, and was united in marriage to Miss Nancy Helm, a daughter of the
family in which he had been boarding. He then purchased eighty acres of land in Liberty
township, Wells county, Indiana, which was then unimproved, but now forms part of the farm
owned by him and on which he still resides. The size of this farm has been constantly
increased by purchase until it now comprises three hundred and twenty acres. It is well
fenced, ditched and otherwise improved. In 1882 Mr. Clark built a barn, forty by eighty
feet, which was added to in 1896 and it is now one hundred and five feet in length. In
1886 he erected a model home, lar!
ge, commodious, well finished and handsomely furnished, among the best in the entire
county, while the other buildings on the farm correspond well with those mentioned. John
I. and Nancy Clark are the parents of four children, viz: Viola P., wife of Albert
Minniear, a resident of Liberty township; Rufus B. is the subject; Garnet E., wife of John
C. Smith, a resident of Huntington; Lester E., the youngest of the family, is still
unmarried and resides with his parents. In September, 1901, John I. Clark, the father of
this family, was stricken with paralysis and has been helpless ever since. His good wife
and youngest son, Lester, accord him every care and make him as comfortable and cheerful
as possible in his addiction. Though still only a youth, Lester is much interested in the
work of the farm and in the breeding and feeding of blooded stock. He is attending the
graded school at Liberty Center and will finish the course this year. Both parents have
been members of the Meth!
odist Protestant church a number of years, at Beamer. During his entir
e career John I. Clark has been strictly a temperance man and was ever ready to advance
the work of churches and schools in the interest of morality, religion and learning. In
politics he was always a stanch Democrat, as was his father before him. Like the wise and
provident man that he is, he has made ample provision for his children, as after laying
aside a farm of one hundred and eighty-five acres for his faithful wife, each of their
children will be presented with a tract of forty acres.
Rufus B. Clark attended the public schools of his native township until he was twenty
years of age. He then, in connection with Albert Minniear, his brother-in-law, began the
cultivation of his father's farm receiving for their services a share of the crop and
for four years they continued thus, steadily prospering. On the 4th day of December, 1898,
Rufus B. Clark was united in marriage to Miss Zora A. Burman, a lady of intelligence and
refinement, born in Franklin county, Ohio, October 4, 1874 She is a daughter of George W.
and Lydia (Trimmer) Burman, natives of Ohio. The parents of George were Daniel and
Harriett Burman. George was twice married, his first wife being Sallie Hempy, who
accompanied him to Indiana when he emigrated from Ohio. Two children were born to them,
both of whom are now dead, as also is the mother. His second wife was Lydia A. Trimmer, a
native of Ohio, where they were married and where they resided a number of years, when he
returned with his wife to!
Huntington county, locating near Pleasant Plain. Both are still living, residents of
Warren county, Indiana. Her parents were John and Sarah (Stumbaugh) Trimmer, natives of
Pennsylvania, who moved to Fairfield county, Ohio, in the early 'forties. There they
resided until the death of Mrs. Trimmer, when her husband came to Huntington county,
Indiana, and made his home with his daughter, Mrs. Lydia A. Burman until his death, which
occurred January 1, 1892. To this marriage two children were born, viz: Etta, wife of
Elsie Thompson, of Liberty township, and Zora A., wife of Rufus B. Clark.
The place owned by Rufus B. Clark is known as the Hickory Grove Stock Farm. About the time
of his marriage he erected a fine residence upon the place and in 1899 built a barn
thirty-six by fifty-six feet, in 1892, increasing its size to fifty-four by fifty-six
feet. He has cleared, fenced, ditched and otherwise improved the land until it is today
one of the best kept farms in the county. The finest well in that locality is on the
premises, always supplied with abundance of pure healthful water for man or beast. He has
also a large orchard of fine, thrifty young trees of all kinds. He breeds the Ohio
Improved Chester hogs, Hereford cattle and a general class of sheep, most of the cattle
being thoroughbreds. He carries on general farming and always aims to feed more grain than
he raises on the premises, not that he wants to raise less grain, but that he aims to feed
more stock. He is the owner of stock and other personal property that will easily reach in
value two thousand do!
llars.
To Mr. and Mrs. Rufus B. Clark two children have been born, viz: Hazel F., born February
26, 1900, and Howard Russell, born August 14, 1902. The parents are members of the
Methodist Protestant church of Beamer, having united with that denomination in May, 1902.
He is a member of Lodge No. 747, I. O. O. F., at Liberty Center, and in politics is a
Democrat, active and zealous in all campaigns. There are few men in this country of whom
it can truthfully be said they never drank intoxicating liquor, chewed tobacco, smoked,
played cards or indulged in any species of gambling. That statement, however, can
truthfully be made regarding the subject of this sketch, Rufus B. Clark. He is a moral,
model, manly man. If men of his kind were more numerous this country and this world would
be greatly improved.
Important Note:
The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply
to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.