Houton W. Clarke, a successful farmer and dairyman, residing near Jefferson City, Mo., was born in the "Buckeye State," Clermont County, in 1848, being the youngest of five children born to R. M. and Eleanor (Clarke) Sinks, who were natives of Ohio. The mother died when our subject was an infant, and he was reared by her brother, Hon. Reader W. Clarke, whose name he adopted. His father was a merchant of Bethel for many years, and is still residing there. The paternal grandfather moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio at an early day and the maternal grandfather came from England, and located first in Kentucky, and then moved to Bethel, Ohio, where he died. Houton W. Clarke was reared in the village of Batavia, and there attended school until sixteen years of age; then spent two years in college. In 1867 he secured a clerkship in the patent office at Washington, D. C., for two years, after which he resided in Batavia for two years, and was united in the bonds of matrimony, in 1872, to Miss Mattie Van Deren, after which he moved to near Williamsburg, where he purchased land and engaged in tilling the soil. Thinking he could better his financial condition, he moved to Missouri in 1879, and bought an excellent farm of 240 acres on Moreau Creek, about four miles from Jefferson City, where he farmed successfully for several years, but gradually gave more and more of his attention to the dairy business, until at the present time he is the most extensive dairyman in this section. He is constantly improving his grade of cattle, and has fifty milch cows. In the fall of 1888 he bought a fine piece of property and an elegant residence two miles from Jefferson City, on the Moreau gravel road, where he is now living. He has erected a large barn, and has made other valuable improvements, and in connection with his dairy business is engaged in raising small fruits. He and wife are members of the Baptist Church, and have a nice little family of three children: Callie, Reader Wright and Eleanor Frances. Mrs. Clarke is a daughter of Barnard and Frances Van Deren. The father was a Kentuckian, and one of the few Union men of his section during the war. He is yet living, but the mother died when she was quite small.

Transcribed from:
History of Cole, Moniteau, Morgan, Benton, Miller, Maries, and Osage Counties, Missouri, Goodspeed Publishing Company (1889).