Biographical Sketch of

Alban Clark

Transcribed by Sandra Boudrou for the Marquette Co WI Pages


Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara Counties, Wisconsin, 
published 1890 by Acme Publishing Co., Chicago, Pages 785 - 786 


CLARK Alban Surnames: Batty, Blackwar, Briggs, Brown, Cole, Scovel, Clark, Harris, Scovel 
Alban Clark, of Princeton, was born in the town of North Collins, Erie Co., N. Y., March 19, 1829.  His ancestors 
were English and came to New England with that flow of emigration which set toward the shores of North America 
during the ecclesiastical troubles, which culminated in the abdication of King James II, in 1688.  According to 
Foster's historical collections of New England, there was one Abraham Clark, of Bristol, England, a cooper by 
trade, who apprenticed his son Abraham, a lad of ten years of age, to one Harris to go to North America to learn 
the calling of a planter.  Mr. Harris came and settled on the west side of Pawtuxet River, to what is now the town 
of Cranston, Providence, Co., R. I.  The apprenticed lad served out his time with Harris and finally settled near 
him, there rearing a family of which little is known with the exception of some facts concerning two of the sons, 
Abraham and John.  The former sold his interest in the Pawtuxet homestead to his father and brother John in 1747,
and having married Elizabeth Brown, purchased land in the western part of Rhode Island, in what is now the town 
of Glouster, near the state line, on which the little village of Clarkville now stands.  On that farm the father 
and grandfather of our subject were born.  The latter, born April 19, 1751, married Mercy Batty in 1781, and died 
in Fall River, Mass., in 1831.  The former, born June 14, 1790, wedded Alice Blackwar, Feb. 18, 1816, and two years 
later removed with his family to North Collins, where his death occurred April 25, 1864.
 
Alban Clark of this notice received a common school education in the neighborhood, after which he attended the 
Springville Academy and Seminary during the years 1848, 1849 and 1850.  During his attendance at that school, 
he devoted his time to the study of the higher mathematics including land surveying, and the rudiments of Latin 
and Greek.  He first came to the West in 1851, locating in McHenry County, Ill., where during the following 
winter he engaged in teaching school in Frankville.  In the month of March, 1852, he came to Wisconsin, choosing 
as the scene of his future operations Big Bull Falls, now the city of Wausau, where he was employed as book-keeper 
by a lumber firm.   The succeeding nine years of his life were there passed, he being engaged during the greater 
part of that time in some of the various branches of lumbering and surveying.  He was chosen Assessor of the city 
of Wausau in 1857, and the following year was elected Town Treasurer.  He was also tendered the position of principal 
of the schools of that place, serving during the years 1857 and 1858.
 
Mr. Clark had come to Wisconsin a single man, but while residing in Wausau was united in marriage with Jane Ann 
Calkins, by whom he has a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters, all of whom are living at this 
writing.  Clara Alice, the eldest, is now the wife of Ezekiel Scovel, whom she wedded in 1883; Frank Emerson, Esq., 
a graduate of the Northern Indiana College of Law, who now resides in Princeton, is one of the leading members of 
the Green Lake County bar; Mary Emma became the wife of W. C. Briggs in 1881; Maggie May is now engaged in teaching; 
Ralph Hiram is operating his father's farm; U. S. Grant and Lola Etta are also following the teacher's profession; 
and H. Greeley is attending school.  Mr. Clark says that of his relations for the last century, so far as he knows, 
about 90 per cent have been farmers, 3 per cent, merchants, 5 per cent, mechanics, no doctors or preachers, and only 
three lawyers, including his son Frank E., of Princeton.  He estimates the number of his relations of the name of 
Clark, now living, to be about 150, or forty families, all of whom, so far as he knows, are residing in Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin.
 
In 1861 Mr. Clark determined to make his home in Princeton, and in the month of April he arrived with his family, 
locating upon a farm where he still makes his home.  During the years that have since come and gone, he has frequently 
been honored with offices of trust and in the discharge of his official duties he has ever displayed the utmost fidelity, 
thus winning the confidence and high regard of all.  For two years he served his town as Clerk and one year was Chairman 
of the Board of Supervisors.  He has five times been elected County Surveyor of Green Lake County, and in 1884 he was the 
people's choice for the position of County Clerk, to which office he was re-elected in 1886.  In 1871 he was chosen by 
Justice Cole as one of the Commissioners for Green Lake County, to settle for the right of way for the Sheboygan & Fond 
du Lac Railroad Company.  In politics Mr. Clark is a Republican.  He cast his first Presidential vote for John C. Fremont, 
in 1856, and since that time has never wavered in his allegiance to the party.  He is a man of more than ordinary ability 
and is a valued citizen.  His public and private life are above reproach and he commands the respect of all with whom 
business or pleasure have brought him in contact.  He is a member of no church, being rather liberal in his religious 
views.  He, however, believes in the orthodox views of the future state, somewhat modified perhaps by his early association 
with the sect known as Quakers, whom he still holds in very high esteem.  He is now past his sixtieth year, but possesses 
unusual vigor and activity for a man of his age and we join his many friends in wishing that for years to come he may be 
numbered among the citizens of Green Lake County.
  





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