Los
Angeles County
Biographies
J. ROSS CLARK
The genealogy of J. Ross Clark is
traced to his great-grandfather, who was of Scotch descent although he was born
in Ireland; whither his ancestors had migrated during religious persecution in
Scotland. When a young man this ancestor
moved to the United States and located in Pennsylvania, where his family grew
up. His descendants were Presbyterians
and farmers, as were his ancestors in Europe.
J. Ross Clark was born at
Connellsville, Pennsylvania, April 10, 1850, one of eight children born to John
and Mary (Andrews) Clark. At the
suggestion of his sisters the Mary Andrews Clark Memorial Home in Los Angeles
was presented to the Young Women’s Christian Association by United States
Senator W. A. Clark in memory of their mother.
His brother, J. Ross Clark, and sisters Mrs.
Elizabeth Abascal, Mrs. Margaret Miller, Mrs. Ella
Newell and Miss Anna Clark, assisted in the enterprise. J. Ross Clark was taken by his parents to Van
Buren County, Iowa, in 1856 and there he received his education in the public
schools and in the Bentonport Academy of Bentonport, Iowa, but his wide
business associations furnished him with a breadth of knowledge no school
course could have provided. When
twenty-one he went to Montana, whither his older brother, William A. had
preceded him. The west in that early day
was far different from what it now is and it took the energies of such men as
J. Ross Clark and his associates to bring into actuality what their vision saw
could be accomplished, the country was wild and undeveloped and was the habitat
of unsubdued Indians and it took more than the modern promoter’s courage and
faith to push forward the enterprises needed to bring out of the mines the
copper, gold and silver, to conquer the mountains and chasms with lines of
transportation. In comparing the present
period, when one can fly over these mountains in a few hours which at one time
seemed an impossibility to traverse and took superhuman energy to make them
worth flying over, due credit must be given those pioneers who fought the good
fight and won. In company with his
brother, Joseph K. Clark, Mr. Clark was engaged in the United States contract
mail business with headquarters at Horse Plains, Montana, until 1876. That year he was engaged as bookkeeper for the
Dexter Milling Company in Butte and in 1877 accepted a position as cashier in
the bank of Donnell, Clark and Larabie, continuing
until 1886. In 1884 he had acquired Mr.
Donnell’s interest in the business, and soon thereafter Mr. Larabie
retired and the firm name became W. A. Clark & Brother, so continuing for
many years. Besides banking the Clark brothers
were interested in many business ventures of various kinds. While J. Ross Clark was always interested in public
affairs for the good of the community, he was not a politician and confined his
activities to the promotion of sound business enterprises. His fortitude in confronting and mastering
the problems which had to be met in the mining and banking business before the
railroad and telegraph facilities came into being, shows his determination to
push to success whatever he undertook rather than to give up for a more
convenient season or to abandon the projects he had started. He was interested in a number of mining
deals, the building of smelters, and other industries adapted to Montana
Territory in the early days. There were
visions of greater things than industries alone. He was identified with the building of
cities, the organization of territorial government and the development of the
entire northwest.
In 1892 Mr. Clark came to Los
Angeles to make his home and here he saw opportunities in an immense field for
development, and where his family could live in more comfortable
surroundings. He organized the Los
Alamitos Sugar Company in 1896, built the factory and had the actual management
of the business for many years. Later
his sons, Walter Miller Clark, assumed the management. Mr. Clark early became a stockholder in the
Citizens National Bank and the Citizens Trust & Savings Bank and at the
time of his death was president of the board of directors of the Citizens
National Bank. He had a vision of a
direct railroad line from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City and in association with
his brother, W. A. Clark and friends this project was put through by the
floating of a seventy million dollar bond issue, a stupendous accomplishment
for that time. Mr. Clark was vice
president and executive head of this road for a number of years. Later it became an important part of the
Union Pacific Railroad System. He was
president of the Montana Land Company which owned large tracts of land on the
Signal Trail. He had a deep and sincere
faith in Los Angeles and his interest in many southern California corporations
and with many of the larger movements of Greater Los Angeles had indelibly
placed his name in the annals of the history of California’s growth and
development. When the Young Men’s
Christian Association was in financial straits it was Mr. Clark and his
associates who put their shoulders to the wheel. Mr. Clark took charge of its affairs and
after a hard struggle he brought the organization through with funds adequate
to establish branches in various parts of the city. He served as its president for a time and was
also a director of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. While Mr. Clark accumulated a fortune he was
a hardworking man and every dollar was earned by honest endeavor. It has been said of his that “his labors gave
to the west, that he loved, a profit of one hundred dollars for every dollar it
gave to him.” He was lovable, gentle and
kindly to all with whom he came in close contact and those nearest to him were
those who loved him best.
On April 16, 1878, at Butte,
Montana, J. Ross Clark was united in marriage with Miss Miriam A. Evans, who
was born in Ohio but was residing in Montana at the time of her marriage. Two children grew to years of maturity: Ella Harriot, who
married Henry Carlton Lee and is deceased; and Walter Miller Clark, who died a
hero with the sinking of the Titanic, leaving a son, J. Ross Clark, II. Mr. Clark died in Los Angeles on September
18, 1927, aged seventy-seven years. He
was a staunch Democrat and was a member of the First Congregational Church,
which he liberally supported but without ostentation, as he did all other
worthwhile charitable and civic organizations.
He was a member of the Masons, the Jonathan Club, the California Club,
the Midwick and the Los Angeles Country Club, and the Sierra Madre Club, all of
Los Angeles; the Bohemian Club of San Francisco, and the Silver Bow Club of
Butte. In the passing of J. Ross Clark,
Los Angeles and the entire West lost one of its most progressive men, but his
achievements and benefactions will live after him as monuments to his
progressive ideas and labors.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 5-8, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES