Colonel John M. Clark

biography

Clark, John M. Colonel, hotel proprietor, Meadville, was born April 2, 1837, and is a son of Ashbel and Mary (Weller) Clark, the former a farmer, a native of Connecticut, of Scotch descent, and for twenty-seven years a Justice of the Peace in Meadville, the latter also a native of Connecticut. They had a family of four boys and two girls, of whom John M. is the youngest. Our subject received a good English education in the common schools and in Allegheny College. He afterward clerked in Erie City for several years, also at Erie City Iron Works from 1856 to 1861, when he enlisted in the three months service in Col. McLane’s regiment, at the expiration of which time he enlisted in Company I, Eighty-third Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He was appointed Assistant Adjutant to Gen. Hayes, of Massachusetts, and continued in that capacity until June 27, 1862, when he became Adjutant of the regiment, serving as such till the close of service. After the war he returned to this city and purchased the “American,” which he conducted for two years. Most of Col. Clark’s time has been spent in the hotel business, except when he was in the grocery trade in Erie City. He was Chief of the Fire Department for eight years. Our subject was married in 1862 to Bessie V., daughter of Charles Banyard, of Erie City, and of English descent. They have three children: Cora, Bessie and Mattie. They are members of the Episcopal Church of Meadville.

History of Crawford County, Pennsylvania: containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc., portraits of early settlers and prominent men, biographies, history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1885, page 720-721.