San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 912
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 10/29/2009
HARVEY SMITH CLARK
In the long years since Harvey S. Clark came to California, he has taken an active and helpful interest in the development of the central section of the state, being numbered among the prominent and influential citizens of the Lodi section of San Joaquin County. He was born at Janesville, Wis., May 8, 1869, a son of Harvey Spencer and Mary (Smith) Clark, both natives of Michigan. The maternal grandfather Smith was a frontiersman in the lumber region of Michigan, and the father, Harvey Spencer Clark, was born and reared there. When he was married to Miss Mary Smith, he moved to Wisconsin, where he worked at his trade as a printer; later he moved his family to Detroit, Mich., and worked at his trade there. In 1875 the father came to California, and a year later was followed by his family. He engaged in farming in the vicinity of Lodi; later he was appointed postmaster of Lodi, and served in that capacity for sixteen years.
There were three children in the family: Luella, Mrs. Burkholder; Harvey S., of this sketch; and Wallace, who died in October, 1922, all of Lodi. The father passed away at the age of seventy-eight years, while the mother is still living at 315 East Pine Street, Lodi.The father purchased a quarter-section of land in the Elliott district, two and a half miles northeast of the Elliott schoolhouse, and Harvey S. attended this school for three years; after the family removed to Lodi he attended the Lodi grammar school. Three years were spent in learning the printing trade with the Lodi Sentinel. Then he became a journeyman printer and worked at Woodland and Sacramento, afterwards coming to Stockton and working two years on the Stockton Independent. On account of his father's failing health, he then returned to Lodi and assisted his father in the postoffice. He was appointed postmaster several years before his father's death, and served for thirteen years, during which time the city and rural delivery system was inaugurated. When a change came in administration he was succeeded by a Democratic postmaster. Mr. Clark was then elected to the office of city clerk, and served for seven years, resigning this position on February 1, 1921, to devote his entire time to his ranch, southeast of Lodi on Wyandotte Avenue, consisting of thirty-five acres planted to vineyard of the Tokay, Alicante and Cornichon varieties of grapes, with some fruit and alfalfa. He has a fine and complete irrigation system, consisting of one five-inch and one three-inch pump, driven by a twelve-horse-power and a seven-and-a-half-horse-power engine, respectively.
The marriage of Mr. Clark occurred on June 25, 1916, in Sonora, Cal., where he was united in marriage with Mrs. Minnie I. Murray (nee Chaney), born and reared in Des Moines, Iowa. Mrs. Clark has one son, Paul Murray, a graduate of Stanford University, class of 1922, where he majored in geology. Mr. Clark is a Republican in politics, and is prominent fraternally, being a member of the Masons, a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, and a member of the Modern Woodmen, of Lodi.
History of
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
With A
Biographical Review
of
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present
HISTORY BY
George H. Tinkham
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1923
San Joaquin County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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