Souvenir Edition, The Williamstown Courier, Williamstown, Ky, May 30, 1901,
reprinted September 19, 1981 by the Grant County KY Historical Society.

T. L. CLARK.  From 1812 to 1901 is a cycle of time covered by the lives
of but few men.  Within this sweep of years the civilization of the
world have been revolutionized by the necromancers' inventive art. While
it is a long time, measured from any standpoint, Governor T. L. Clark,
better known as "Uncle Tom" has seen all of these years come and go.
The storms and snows of ninety winters have left their impressions upon
his gigantic frame and the flowers and sunshine of as many summers have
gladdened a long life well spent.
     T. L. Clark was born in what is now Grant county, on the farm near
Hardscrabble owned by William Sparks, Nov. 4, 1812.  He is a son of John
N. Clark and Cynthia (New) Clark.  They were among the pioneers of Grant
county and helped to clear the soil of its virgin forest and pave the
way for our modern civilization.  Three terms of school of three months
each was all of the education that Uncle Tom could get in that early day.
The schoolhouse was built of logs and the teachers and the appliances
were very primitive indeed.
     Uncle Tom was built after a broad pattern.  As he grew up to
manhood and got his full stature he became a Kentuckian of gigantic mold.
He stood six feet six inches in his stocking feet and was big and broad
in proportion.  While bent a little by the weight of his ninety years, he
is still a man of commanding presence.
     He was united in marriage to Eliza Davis, daughter of John and
Catharine Davis, of Missouri, in 1839.  While no children came to bless
their home, they lived a long and happy life together, celebrating
their golden wedding many years before the death of Mrs. Clark.
     In politics Uncle Tom was an old line Whig.  When asked why he
became a Democrat, he laughingly says that he had just bought two young
negroes when Lincoln issued his famous emancipation proclamation, and
that he quit Mr. Lincoln in the middle of the fight.  He has since been
a Democrat, but has taken no very active part in politics.
     Mr. Clark has been a member of the Methodist Church for many years,
and his wife, with him, for years and years before her death.  It was
mainly through his liberality that the present splendid church building
for his denomination was erected in Williamstown.  First and last he
bore more than half of the expense of erecting the building, and the
parsonage was a gift of his to his people at even a later date.
     A few years ago Uncle Tom was considered one of the rich men of the
county, but he has wisely distributed much of his surplus to the Kentucky
Wesleyn College and to his church and people.  He is still a rich man. He
was one of the organizers of the Bank of Williamstown, and has been a
member of the board of directors from the day of its organization until
now and one of its largest stockholders.
     The prodigious sweep of the memory of a man who has lived and been
in active life for ninety years is wonderful.  Uncle Tom Clark was in
Williamstown and saw the town laid off in 1820.  He saw the Marquis
Lafayette when he passed through this part of the country in 1834.  He
remembers all of the old people who have lived and died in Grant and
who have helped to make its history and create its wealth.
     There is no man who enjoys a joke or witticism better than Uncle
Tom, and he can tell some pretty good ones himself.  He is a splendid,
good citizen of the old school.

Clark New Sparks Davis
=
MO

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