Ventura County
Biographies
THOMAS S. CLARK
For many
years a member of the board of supervisors, Thomas S. Clark has rendered
service of much importance and value to Ventura County in that connection and
also occupies a place of prominence in business circles of Ojai. He was born in Lafayette County, Wisconsin, October 18, 1865, a son of
Michael H. and Margaret Clark. The
father, a native of Ireland,
was born in 1845 and as a young man of nineteen immigrated to America. He taught school in Lafayette County, Wisconsin,
for two years and afterward followed agricultural pursuits in that state. Leaving Wisconsin
in 1878, he journeyed westward to California and
purchased land in the Ojai Valley, Ventura
County, where he engaged
in ranching until his death, which occurred in 1910, at the age of sixty-five
years.
Thomas S.
Clark was reared and educated in his native county and in 1881, when sixteen
years of age, came to Ventura
County. Soon after his arrival he secured employment,
becoming the driver of the stage from Nordhoff to Santa Barbara, which was the only mode of
transportation at that time, for no railroads traversed the region in those
early days. In 1895 Mr. Clark took up
the occupation of farming, and has one of the best ranches in this part of the
valley. He was the proprietor of the
livery stable from 1895 to 1917 and has since conducted a garage in Ojai. Carefully and wisely managing his interest,
he has prospered in business and owns considerable real estate in Ojai.
On the 10th
of April, 1894, Mr. Clark was married to Miss Ella Bakman, by whom he has nine
children: Dorothy, Jack, Richard,
Margaret, Elizabeth, Thomas, Louise, Hortense and Edward. Fraternally Mr. Clark is an Elk, with
membership in the lodge at Santa
Barbara. His
fellow townsmen, appreciative of his ability and worth, selected him as
supervisor from the third district in 1904 and because of his exceptionally
effective work he was been retained for twenty-eight years on the board, to
which he was again elected in 1932.
Laboring untiringly for the improvement of the public highways, Mr.
Clark is responsible for the fine roads in the valley and over the mountains
and has well earned the commendation of the farmers of this district and also
the motoring public. He has expressed
his loyalty and public spirit in terms of actual achievement for the general
good and considers Ventura County and the Ojai
Valley the garden spot of California.
Transcribed
By: Michele Y. Larsen on April 6, 2012.
Source: California
of the South Vol. II,
by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 273-274,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Michele
Y. Larsen.
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