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1915 Index
Recollections and Sketches of Notable Lawyers and Public Men of Early
Iowa
by Edward H. Stiles. Des Moines: Homestead Publishing Co., 1915.
C
Unless noted, biographies submitted by Dick Barton.
Samuel M. Clark
pp 348-349: Samuel Clark was educated
for a lawyer, but he never practiced much. He early entered upon
journalism and it became the great and absorbing work of his life,
for while he was drawn into official life, served two terms as member
of Congress and in some other positions of honorable trust, the diversions
were but temporary. As a graceful, classical, as well as virile writer,
I do not think he has ever had his superior in the State. He was highly
educated, his scholarly instinct strong, his reading wide, his classical
and historical researches thorough and extensive. Many of his editorials
were gems of literary productions. Withal he had the imagination of
a dramatist, which enabled him to unfold the panorama of events in a
most charming manner. The fame of a newspaper writer is decidedly ephemeral.
Articles upon which have been bestowed the best fibres of his brain
and are fairly alive with convincing thoughts, are for the most part
consigned to the waste basket and they and their writer pass into oblivion.
If some deft and skilful hand could select from the files of the "Gate
City," the choicest articles of Mr. Clark, I think that it would make
one of the most attractive of books. I hope someone will do it. Specimens
of his writings will occasionally be found in quotations embodied in
the "Annals of Iowa," and sometimes an original contribution, such as
his sketch of the Rev. Samuel Clark, his father. Another specimen will
be found embodied in my sketch of Judge Samuel F. Miller. The last time
I had the pleasure of seeing him was at the dedication of the new courthouse
in Ottumwa; he sat on the platform while I delivered one of the addresses,
and after the close of the ceremonies, we had an interesting conversation.
He was a delightful man to be with, his presence a charm. He and the
late Charles Aldrich, founder and first curator of the State Historical
Department, were close personal friends, and in place of my own, and
as better than anything I could write myself, I, with pleasure, adopt
the following sketch of Mr. Clark by Mr. Aldrich:
Samuel M. Clark was born in Van Buren County, Iowa, 1842; he died at
Keokuk, 1900. He was the son of the Rev. Samuel Clark, the most distinguished
Methodist Episcopal clergyman of Southeastern Iowa during our pioneer
days. The father resided upon a farm a few miles from Keosauqua, where
the subject of this notice spent his early years. In 1894 there appeared
in the pages of the Annals (Vol. 1, Third Series, pp. 454-466) an appreciative
sketch of the life of the Rev. Samuel Clark, from the pen of his gifted
son who has now followed him to the grave. Young Clark was educated
in the public schools near his home and in the old Des Moines Valley
College at West Point, Lee County. He was an all-around product of this
State. It is recorded that he sought to enlist in the Union Army during
the Civil War, but was rejected owing to his lack of health and strength.
At the age of eighteen he entered the office of George G. Wright,
who then resided at Keosauqua, and began the study of the law. He completed
his law studies in the office of Rankin & McCrary, of Keokuk, and
was admitted to the bar in 1864. Immediately afterwards he was invited
by J. b. Howell, who had published a paper several years earlier at
Keosauqua, to join the staff of The Gate City, as associate editor.
This invitation was accepted. Journalism and not the law was his proper
field of effort, and it was not long until he had won an enviable reputation
throughout the State. He was a keen-eyed observer, an omnivorous reader
and a clear-headed, philosophic thinker. He became one of the ablest
and most versatile editorial writers in Iowa. His early life on
the farm, his habits of close observation, his appreciation and love
of nature, and his wide acquaintance with the pioneers of our State,
had given him a fund of out-of-the-way knowledge possessed by no other
Iowa journalist. And above and beyond all this, he was a man of the
purest morals and the kindest heart. There are hundreds of men throughout
the State who will say today: "The kindest words ever written about
me were from the pen of Sam Clark." We once heard him reproached by
a great Iowa jurist for so constantly "saying and doing things for other
men and seldom anything for Sam Clark." But he enjoyed the opportunities
that fell in his way to act generously toward friends - and who was
not his friend? If a friend called upon him at a busy moment in Washington,
while he was serving in Congress, he was certain to be invited to a
longer visit before he left the city. Nothing so pleased him as a long
evening's visit with a valued friend. In 1894 he was elected to a seat
in the National House of Representatives and re-elected two years later.
He was always an important factor in his party's state conventions and
councils, and very frequently the author of its platform of principles.
When fit names were mentioned for Governor or United States Senator
his would come first or close to the head of the list. He was a delegate
to the Republican National Conventions of 1872, 1876, and 1880. The
President appointed him Commissioner of Education to the Paris Exposition
of 1889, which gave him a long coveted opportunity of travel in Europe.
He was four years postmaster of the City of Keokuk. That he served twenty-one
years as a member of the public school board of Keokuk, fourteen of
which he was its president, shows the high confidence of those who knew
him best and his own absorbing interest in the cause of education. It
also shows that he shrank from no public duty, however laborious and
unremunerative. In all the characteristics of a grand manhood he was
admirably equipped. For fully thirty years he was recognized as one
of the foremost Iowa editors, in many respects without an equal. He
was possessed of that sublime patience which always enabled him to bide
his time - and the fruition of his hopes doubtless came to him as far
as was possible to one who was racked with acute pain during most of
the years of his manhood. He was one who could "suffer and be strong."
The Clarksons
Coker F. Clarkson,
who became as generally and as favorably known as any man in Iowa, was
a New Englander by birth, but had early settled in Indiana, where for
many years he was a prominent journalist of great influence. When past
middle life he emigrated to Iowa and engaged in farming on a large scale
in Grundy County. It was my fortune to be a fellow State Senator with
him during the session of 1866, and to become better acquainted with
him, perhaps, than any other member of that body, for in addition to
our official associations, we boarded at the same private boarding house.
He had been personally acquainted not only with the leading men of Indiana,
but with many of the nation. In physique he was large and commanding,
and his mentality was as rugged and commanding as his physique. His
convictions were deep and abiding, and his opinions based thereon held
with such tenacity as to sometimes subject him to the charge of stubbornness.
And it must confessed that he did not brook opposition with a very good
grace. But it was always known just where he stood. Equivocation had
no part in him, and there was not a false fiber in his make-up. He could
not have prevaricated if he would, and would not if he could. His morals
were rigid, but he prescribed none to others that he was not willing
to be governed by himself. He was seemingly stern and austere, but beneath
his exterior there beat a kindly heart. His long observation of affairs
and his wide acquaintance with public men made him a very interesting
personage. He could tell of little events relating to the inner life
of distinguished politicians, lawyers and statesmen not told in books.
One now occurs to me: He, with others, had been constituted a committee
to accompany Henry Clay on a speaking tour. On them devolved the duty
of looking after the preliminaries at the different places, and at the
request of Mr. Clay there was on each occasion placed before him on
the speaker's stand a pitcher of white Catawba wine instead of water,
from which the "Gallant Harry of the West" might occasionally
refresh himself. Brother Clarkson said that while the efforts of Mr.
Clay were generally grand, they were sometimes miserable failures. As
to whether this was because too little or too much wine had been drunk,
he gave no opinion, though I thought I knew what his opinion was. Doubtless
the real cause was that great orators, like other mortals, experience
at times a state of mental lassitude which renders them unable to reach
the desired apotheosis or climax.
He was born in the
State of Maine in 1810. When he was seven years of age the family removed
to Indiana, going across the country in wagons. At the age of seventeen
he entered the office of the Lawrenceburg Statesman to learn the printer's
trade, and at the end of three years took charge of the paper. In a
few years he became the owner and proprietor of the Brookville American
at Brookville, Indiana, which he raised to great influence and wide
circulation. He disposed of his paper in 1854, and in the following
year came to Iowa and located in Grundy County. His large tract of land,
which he brought to a high state of cultivation, was known as Melrose
Farm. His dominant character, his sterling qualities and strong presence
soon brought him into general notice and inspired a general respect
for his sound judgment upon all matters of public interest. This became
the case before he had been in the State scarcely more than a year.
In the summer of 1856 he was chosen a delegate to the Republican convention
held at Eldora to nominate a candidate for delegate to the State Constitutional
Convention. Cyrus C. Carpenter, afterward Governor of the State, and
some of his associates concluded that Mr. Clarkson, by reason of his
experience and evident ability, would make a useful member of the convention
to frame a constitution for the State, and without Mr. Clarkson's knowledge,
who had been appointed and was acting as the Secretary of the convention,
succeeded in securing his nomination on the first ballot. On the announcement
of this result he warmly thanked the convention for the favor conferred
upon him, but absolutely declined to accept it for the reason that his
brief residence in the State had not enabled him to gain that information
regarding its institutions that a delegate to such a convention should
have. It was perfectly characteristic of the man. In 1863 he was elected
to the State Senate from the district comprising the Counties of Hardin,
Grundy, Blackhawk and Franklin. He served with great efficiency for
four years. In 1870 he and his two sons, James S. and Richard P. Clarkson,
purchased the Iowa State Register. Of this he became the Agricultural
Editor, and through the regular columns which he devoted to that interest
elevated the standard of both agriculture and horticulture, and endeared
himself to the people of the entire State. In the notable contest between
the farmers of the West and the Barbed Wire Syndicate, he was the leading
spirit in the inception of the fight that ensued. The syndicate, backed
by millions of dollars, had formed an iron-clad combination for the
absolute control of the manufacture and sale of barbed wire material.
The object was to absorb all independent manufactures. For a time it
looked as though the farmers were to be compelled to pay 200 per cent
profit to the syndicate. Mr. Clarkson saw clearly the situation and
opened his guns upon the combine. Acting in concert with others and
as a leading spirit in the movement, a public meeting was called. Mr.
Clarkson opened it with a vigorous speech. It was a clear statement
of the controversy. He proposed the organization of a Farmers' Protective
Association to resist the extortions of the syndicate; his advice was
followed, the association was formed, and a factory established to supply
farmers without the intervention of the syndicate. Then ensued the most
stubborn legal battle in the history of the State. This contest has
been referred to in the sketch of Albert B. Cummins, for in it he won
a national reputation. The farmers' free factory never closed its doors
until the battle was won and the combination broken. Mr. Clarkson may
be justly credited with inaugurating the plan which led to this beneficial
and widespread result. He continued to reside in Grundy County until
1878, when he removed to Des Moines, continuing his editorial work to
his last sickness, in which he died in 1890.
James S. Clarkson,
familiarly known as "Ret," in many respects, especially with
the pen, surpassed his father as much as Alexander did his parent Philip
with the sword. There were two editorial writers in Iowa that in grace
and felicity of expression excelled their compeers. One was Samuel M.
Clark, of the Gate City, the other "Ret" Clarkson, of the
Register. The story of Clarkson's public acts is neither long nor tortuous,
but that of his private ones, of his good deeds and tender offices,
brimming with helpfulness, there would be no end of telling. I shall
make no attempt to recount them. I recollect distinctly when I was introduced
to him by Frank Palmer of the State Register, more than fifty years
ago. He was then about twenty-three and had just come upon the staff
of the Register as a paragrapher; I was a little older and had just
been elected a member of the State Senate. He was of medium height,
but stockily built. He had blue eyes, light hair, a complexion bordering
on floridity. He seemed to me a rather backward and quiet young man
who had not much to say, but his keen and observant eyes denoted that,
like the Irishman's owl, he kept up a de'il of thinking. This trait
was highly characteristic of him throughout his life. He entered the
Register office as a tyro; he left it one of the most brilliant and
graceful editorial writers of his time. Frank Palmer was himself an
able editor and newspaper man, and thereby brought his paper to a high
standard in the public estimation; but when he left it and "Ret"
took full rein, he eclipsed all previous efforts and advanced the Register
to the highest domain of journalism and made it one of the best known
and most potent organs of the Republican party. It advanced from the
status of a local or state to a national journal, and such was the recognition
given it. It furnished a passport to Mr. Clarkson for almost any reward
he might have desired at the hands of his party. But he neither asked
nor would he accept office save that of a nature purely utilitarian
to it rather than advantageous to himself. In this spirit he accepted
the chairmanship of the Republican State Central Committee, in which
he exhibited remarkable executive ability; in the same spirit he became
a member of the National Republican Committee in 1880; in 1884 one of
the national managers of the Republican party; later, chairman of the
Republican National Executive Committee, and in 1891, President of the
Republican League of the United States. He was a warm supporter and
an ardent personal friend of James G. Blaine, and it was said at the
time that to his efforts as the head of the national committee, more
than any other executive factor, was due the election of President Harrison.
He refused to accept the portfolio of Postmaster-General under that
President, but reluctantly consented to accept the place of first assistant,
in order that he might have the opportunity of benefiting the service
of that department by removals and appointments of post-masters, of
which it is said he made so many that he was pictured by the caricaturists
as the "Headsman" of the administration. By the Republican
Presidents he was repeatedly tendered prominent federal positions. By
President Grant he was offered the appointment of Minister to Sweden;
by President Garfield his choice of several missions; and by President
Harrison not only that of Postmaster-General, but a choice of Minister
to China or Russia. There are but few instances where men have been
offered and refused so many high offices.
Personally considered,
he was one of the noblest and most generous of men. He had few saving
qualities and dispensed his bounties with an open hand. Many men now
living could testify to his kindly aid, though there are a few whom
I could mention who seem to have forgotten it. He was too warm hearted
and liberal to ever become a rich man, or acquire the habit of much
accumulation. His accomplished wife, who was Miss Anna Howell, of Pella,
was an whole-souled and generous as her husband. She was a beautiful
as well as gifted wife and mother. She gave to the public a highly meritorious
volume, entitled "A Beautiful Life and Its Associations,"
published under the auspices of the Historical Department of Iowa in
1899, and some other writings. One of their sons, named for his grandfather,
Coker F. Clarkson, is a promising young lawyer of New York, and was
for a time and perhaps is yet the Secretary and Treasurer of the "Iowa
Society" of New York. He married a granddaughter of justice Samuel
F. Miller of the Supreme Court of the United States.
In 1891 Mr. Clarkson
sold his interest in the Register and took up his residence in New York
City. During the administration of Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt
he accepted and filled for several years the office of Surveyor of Customs
of the Port of New York. He performed the duties of this important office,
as he did every other, conscientiously, and left it without the smell
of smoke upon his garments. The last time I saw him was on a most enjoyable
occasion; we had come to be old men; it was in April, 1911, upon the
return of myself, wife and daughter from a trip in Europe. While in
New York we became the guests of Judge Dillon and as such with him were
invited to a family dinner by Mr. and Mrs. Clarkson. There were present
Mr. and Mrs. Clarkson, their two sons, the wife of their son Coker,
Miss Touzalin, another granddaughter of Judge Miller, Judge Dillon,
my wife, daughter and self. Old scenes and men were gone over and altogether
an evening that will always be vividly remembered.
Richard
P. Clarkson
I was not nearly
so well acquainted with as with his brother and father whom I have mentioned,
but enough to know that in some respects he was quite different from
his brother. He was rather cold, unbending and reserved, though a man
of worth and superior intellectual endowment. He was associated with
his father and brother in the purchase of the Register in 1870, and
became and acted throughout as its Business Manager. He stood behind
and directed the finances of the paper, and with decided success. He
did not have the liberal traits of "Ret." Along with his being
a man of steadfast purposes and great earnestness in everything he did,
he was a rigid economist. These characteristics were prominent, and
constituted the basis of his successful life. His earlier discipline
and experience had been severe, and had tended, I think, not only to
impair his health, but to make his disposition less cheery than his
brother's. He was early placed in the printing office of his father
and kept there until he had learned the craft. After the removal of
the family to Grundy County in 1855, when Richard was only fifteen years
of age, and their settlement upon "Melrose Farm," he was put
to work and labored upon it for some years, until he came to Des Moines
in 1861, where he worked for several months as a printer on the Des
Moines Register. In October of that year he enlisted in Company A of
the Twelfth Iowa Infantry and participated in the Battle of Shiloh,
in which he was captured in April, 1862, and languished for seven months
in Confederate prisons. He was finally exchanged, returned to his regiment
and served until the end of the war, having fought in many battles,
suffering various hardships and privations. Upon his return from the
army in 1865, he resumed his labors upon the farm, where he remained
until he joined in the purchase of the Register as above stated. When
his brother sold his interest, it was to him, and he became sole proprietor,
and so remained until he in turn sold the paper in 1902. After he became
sole proprietor and editor he demonstrated that he had fine editorial
as well as business qualities, and was classed as one of the leading
journalists of the State. It is said that while editing the Register
he brought to the attention of the farmers of Iowa from his actual experience
the fact that they were losing large amounts every year by the use of
poor seed corn. Despite the sneers with which this announcement was
met, he persisted in its discussion and lived to see his ideas carried
into practical operation. It became of great profit to the agricultural
interests of the State. "As a practical printer, and later as an
editor, earnestness and devotion to duty as he comprehended the situation,
marked his entire career."*
He was a patriot
in love of country and gave himself to die if necessary in her defense;
a Puritan in character; a radical in principle; a partisan in politics;
a valuable friend; a disagreeable enemy. Though charitable to the needy,
and a most generous and loving husband and father, he was cautious in
expenditures, and left a comfortable fortune. He was born in Brookville,
Indiana, in 1840, and died in Des Moines in 1905. _________
*Annals of Iowa,
Third Series, Vol. 7, 315.
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