U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: --------------------------------------------------------------------- History of Wetzel County, West Virginia by John C. McEldowney, Jr., 1901 Pages 84-85 EBENEZER CLARK. Ebenezer Clark was born on Wheeling Creek, in Washington county, Pennsylvania, May 4th, 1802, and died at his home in the county of Wetzel, August 30th, 1878. Perhaps no man was so long and so prominently identified with the history of the county with which we deal in this volume as the subject of the present sketch. When but an infant his father removed to the Scioto Valley, Ohio, afterwards going further West; but the boy, Ebenezer, then thirteen years of age, came to West Virginia, living with his mother's people in Marshall county. In early manhood he married and settled near Fanlight, in Wetzel (then Tyler) county, on what is now known as Clark's Ridge. Here the remainder of his life was passed. Mr. Clark was one of the largest land owners in the county, and managed extensive business affairs with rare good judgment; but he was a public spirited man who was never so busy that he could not find time to devote to public affairs. For a generation, perhaps, he officiated as Justice of the Peace, under the old regime, when men served faithfully for honor and not for profit. Nature had given him a legal mind, and he easily grasped complicated cases, going unerringly to the heart of the controversy. In addition to this, few men in similar positions have attained as honorable distinction as a peacemaker. Countless controversies were brought to an end without litigation through his discreet advice and counsel, the universal confidence of the community in his integrity and sound judgment enabling him to make this most enviable record. Before Wetzel county had come into being, Mr. Clark served as a member of the County Court of Tyler county; and for four years he was Sheriff of Wetzel, also serving his constituency faithfully at Richmond as a member of the Legislature of Virginia. Through his influence in that body a bill was passed providing for a turnpike road from New Martinsville to Burton. If carried through, this would have largely influenced the development of the county; but the project was defeated, through the jealousy of local politicians. Mr. Clark's first wife was Harriet Anderson, and among their children are Josephus Clark, C. E. Clark, and Friend E. Clark, prominent citizens of Wetzel at the present time. His second wife was Mary Richmond, who, with their children, now resides in the State of Missouri. The following was written of Mr. Clark at the time of his death by Robert McEldowney: "For almost fifty years he has been a prominent and influential citizen, and has left during all this period of public life not a blot on his fair name. In politics Mr. Clark was a Democrat of the old school, and in religion an old fashioned Methodist, who believed in experimental religion and was not afraid to say so. He was a prominent member of the Church for a half century and was for a generation a local preacher. He was a man hospitable and generous, fond of the truth and fearless in its defense and in the support of what he believed to be right. He was such a man as, take him all in all, we may not look upon his like again." He was a strong man and a sincere Christian, whose memory is a benediction. His life brings to mind the lesson enforced by the greatest preacher of the nineteenth century: "Value the ends of life more than its means; watch ever for the soul of good in things evil, and the soul of truth in things false, and beside the richer influence that will flow out from your life on all to whom you minister, you will do something to help the solution of that unsolved problem of the human mind and heart, the reconciliation of hearty tolerance with strong positive belief." ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other articles in this book by going to the following URL which contains a linked index for the book. http://www.us-data.org/wv/wetzel/history/mceldowney.html -------------------------------------------------------------------