San
Joaquin County
Biographies
HARVEY SMITH CLARK
In the long years since Harvey S.
Clark came to California, he has taken an active and helpful interest in the
development of the central section of the state, being numbered among the
prominent and influential citizens of the Lodi section of San Joaquin
County. He was born at Janesville,
Wisconsin, May 8, 1869, a son of Harvey Spencer and Mary (Smith) Clark, both
natives of Michigan. The maternal
grandfather Smith was a frontiersman in the lumber region of Michigan, and the
father, Harvey Spencer Clark, was born and reared there. When he was married to Miss Mary Smith, he
moved to Wisconsin, where he worked at his trade as a printer; later he moved
his family to Detroit, Michigan, and worked at his trade there. In 1875 the father came to California, and a
year later was followed by his family.
He engaged in farming in the vicinity of Lodi; later he was appointed
postmaster of Lodi, and served in that capacity for sixteen years. There were three children in the family: Luella, Mrs. Burkholder; Harvey S., of this
sketch; and Wallace, who died in October, 1922, all of Lodi. The father passed away at the age of seventy-eight
years, while the mother is still living at 315 East Pine Street, Lodi.
The father purchased a
quarter-section of land in the Elliott district, two and a half miles northeast
of the Elliott schoolhouse, and Harvey S. attended this school for three years;
after the family removed to Lodi he attended the Lodi grammar school. Three years were spent in learning the
printing trade with the Lodi Sentinel.
Then he became a journeyman printer and worked at Woodland and
Sacramento, afterwards coming to Stockton and working two years on the Stockton
Independent. On account of his father’s
failing health, he then returned to Lodi and assisted his father in the post
office. He was appointed postmaster
several years before his father’s death, and served for thirteen years, during
which time the city and rural delivery system was inaugurated. When a change came in administration he was
succeeded by a Democratic postmaster.
Mr. Clark was then elected to the office of city clerk, and served for
seven years, resigning this position on February 1, 1921, to devote his entire
time to his ranch, southeast of Lodi on Wyandotte Avenue, consisting of
thirty-five acres planted to vineyard of the Tokay, Alicante and Cornichon
varieties of grapes, with some fruit and alfalfa. He has a fine and complete irrigation system,
consisting of one five-inch and one three-inch pump, driven by a twelve
horsepower and a seven and a half horsepower engine, respectively.
The marriage of Mr. Clark occurred
on June 25, 1916, in Sonora, California, where he was united in marriage with
Mrs. Minnie I. Murray (nee Chaney), born and reared in Des Moines, Iowa. Mrs. Clark has one son, Paul Murray, a
graduate of Stanford University, class of 1922, where he majored in
geology. Mr. Clark is a Republican in
politics, and is prominent fraternally, being a member of the Masons, a past
chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, and a member of Modern Woodmen, of Lodi.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
912. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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