Clark, Lincoln, 1800-1886

Lincoln Clark, jurist, abolitionist, and Democrat legislator. Native of Conway, Franklin County, Mass., he attended the district and private schools and was graduated from Amherst (Mass.) College in 1825. In 1831 he was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Pickensville, Pickens County, Ala., moving to Tuscaloosa in 1836. In 1836, he married Julia Annah Smith of Hadley, Mass. Lincoln Clark was member of the State house of representatives in 1834, 1835, and 1845. In 1839 he was elected attorney general by the legislature, and in 1846 appointed by Governor Fitzpatrick circuit judge. Clark's increasing opposition to slavery led him to free his family slaves and move to Dubuque, Iowa, in 1848. He was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-second Congress (March 4, 1851-March 3, 1853) and was unsuccessful candidate in 1852 and 1854 for reelection to the Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth Congresses. After the depression of 1857 (in which Clark suffered serious losses), and the outbreak of the Civil War, the family moved to Chicago where he resumed the practice of law. In 1866 he was appointed United States register in bankruptcy. Lincoln Clark retired from active business and returned to Conway, Mass., in 1869. Judge Clark was member of the General Assembly of Presbyterian Church.

Julia Annah Smith Clark worked in the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the Civil War.

Lincoln Clark (1800-1886), a lawer and Democratic legislator. He was born in Conway, Mass., the second child of Elisha Clark (1765-1847) (who had traced his ancestry to the Mayflower), and Lucinda Keith Clark (1774-1858). Lincoln Clark graduated from Amherst College in 1825 and soon left for the South. In 1836, Clark and his new wife Julia Annah Smith Clark moved to Tuscaloosa, Ala. where Clark had established a busy law practice in partnership with E. Woolsey Peck. In 1848, the Clarks moved to Dubuque, Iowa. In 1851, Clark was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-second Congress; his relection bids in 1852 and 1853 were unsuccessful. In 1862, the family moved to Chicago where Clark resumed the practice of law. In 1866, he was appointed United States register in bankruptcy. He retired in 1869 and returned to Conway, Mass.

Most of Lincoln Clark's siblings left New England and moved West. Lucinda (b. 1808) and her farmer husband Ralph Ware settled in Grandville, Ill. Hannah (1814-1844) married Cephas Arms (1811-1883) in 1837 and soon left of Knoxville, Ill. Elisha Fessenden Clark (1804-1879), a physician, moved first to Mississippi (1837), then Iowa (1849), and in 1856 Winona, Minn. Abigail Clark (1810 - 1879) married Jared Stone, Professor at Hanover College, Ind. Edward (1817-1879) and his wife Agnes A. Bean (b. 1834) settled to St. Peter, Minn. The only exception was Clark's elder sister Julia (b. 1798) who married Luther White, a Worcester, Mass. machinist and remained in New England.