San Joaquin County
Biographies
ASA CLARK, M. D.
ASA CLARK, M. D., proprietor
of the Pacific Hospital, Stockton, was born in Essex County, New York, June 29,
1824, a son of Curtis and Electra (Meacham) Clark, both natives of Vermont.
Some few years after marriage they moved to the State of New York, living for a
time in Essex, and afterward in Oswego County. Later on they moved to Illinois,
and settled on a farm near Park Ridge, in Cook County. Still later they moved
to Minnesota, and there also settled on a farm. The mother died at her home in
Minnesota in 1862, aged about seventy years; the father survived her twenty
years, dying there also about 1883, aged ninety-three years. Grandmother
Meacham,--by birth a Miss Standish, directly or collaterally related to the
historic Miles,--and one of her sisters lived to about ninety-three years old.
The subject of this sketch was educated in
the local district schools in his youth, afterward receiving an academic
education in Wilson’s Seminary in Chicago. He then studied under the able and
distinguished Dr. Brainard, of that city, and attended lectures in Rush Medical
College, getting his diploma in 1849. He practiced a little in Illinois before
graduation as assistant to a Dr. Todd, an elderly physician then in practice in
the country near Kankakee.
Dr. Asa Clark came to California in 1849,
and practiced in Placerville, where, in partnership with some others, he was
among the first to establish a store, and had some interest in mines.
By reason of ill-health, as well as with a
view to see more of California, he moved to Santa Clara in 1850, and to Santa
Barbara in 1851. He returned in 1853 to Placerville, where he had some
interests during his absence in the south, and practiced there until 1861. In
that year he was elected by the Legislature as assistant physician of the State
Insane Asylum in Stockton. Here he first became interested in the treatment of
that class of unfortunates, and his interest in them has deepened ever since.
He resigned in 1871, and in partnership with Dr. Langdon took charge of the
insane of Nevada, until then harbored in the Stockton institution. By
arrangement with that State the firm of Langdon & Clark were intrusted with
the care of the insane, then numbering about thirty, and such others as should
be committed to their care. They first moved them to Woodbridge, and after four
years to Stockton. A similar contract was made with Arizona, and both contracts
remained in force until each built its own asylum,--Nevada, about 1882, and
Arizona in June, 1888. The Pacific Hospital was capable of accommodating 200
patients , and was sometimes nearly full, including some private cases. The
partnership between Drs. Langdon and Clark was dissolved by the death of Dr.
Langdon in 1880. Since the withdrawal of the Arizona insane Dr. Clark has
conducted his institution for the treatment of private patients in that line,
as well as less pronounced cases of mental and nervous disorders. A private
asylum is believed to possess certain advantages over public institutions, such
as greater dispatch in gaining admission in urgent cases, and the use of extra
accommodations when required. The Pacific Hospital commands the confidence of
the community as a well-regulated and well equipped institution. The buildings
are numerous and spacious, as well as comfortable, the male and female
departments being separate, and each provided with detached buildings and
grounds. It is pleasantly situated just south of the city limits, and
surrounded by forty acres, a large part of which is intersected by pleasant
walks through cultivated gardens, and an excellent orchard for the exclusive
use of the quieter patients and the convalescent. Nearly thirty years of
continuous experience in this class of cases have made Dr. Clark an expert in
their control and treatment, and the institution he owns and presides over is
as quiet and orderly as a first-class hotel or private mansion. The Doctor has
an office at 236 Main street for private practice and consultation.
Dr. Asa Clark was married in Placerville
in 1856, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Mountjoy, born in Ohio about 1838, a daughter
of Columbus and Bathsheba (Pope), both Virginians. They came to California
about 1852, and died in this State, the mother about the year 1873, aged
fifty-eight years, and the father in 1882, aged seventy-two years.
Dr. and Mrs. Clark are the parents of
three living children, viz: Hattie Electra, now Mrs. William Montgomery Baggs,
of San Francisco (see sketch of W. M. Baggs, Sr.); George Curtis, educated in
the public schools, and afterward for a couple of years in Bates’ school in
Berkeley, has been superintendent of the Pacific Hospital since 1885. He was
married in 1887 to Miss Laura Crofton, a native of this city; Fred. Pope, a
graduate of Cooper’s Medical College in San Francisco, and now a practicing
physician in Angel’s Calaveras County, is married to Miss Cross, a daughter of
Dr. L. E. Cross, of this city.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 656-658. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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