Convention Member Wareham Clark

Convention Member
Democrat
Born January 16, 1813, in Westfield Parish, Middletown, Connecticut. Mr. Clark engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York City for several years prior to coming west in 1840. On August 23, 1843, at Troy, Van Buren County, Iowa, he married Jane L. Rankin, a native of Ohio, and of Scotch-Irish parentage. This worthy couple were among the very first to come to the newly opened territory of Iowa, taking up their abode in Monroe, or, as it was then called, Kishkekosh County, at a place afterward known as Clarks Point, three miles northwest of Albia, where young Mr. Clark made a claim on May 1, 1843. He was the representative of Monroe and Appanoose counties in the second constitutional convention held in Iowa City in May, 1846. Mr. Clark was always an observant man, and had thus supplemented the knowledge which he obtained in his youth so as to be prepared for a successful business career. He engaged in farming, threshing and sawmilling for some time, and later, with his older brother, W. Grant Clark, opened an agricultural implement store in Albia under the name of Clark Brothers. On March 2, 1883, Mr. Clark was married at Creston, Iowa, to Miss Lilla E. Boggs, who was born and reared in Monroe County. Mr. Clark has always been interested in political matters and has mainly voted with the Democratic Party since he attained his majority. In November 1892, he was elected county auditor and served two years, but was defeated in the race for re-election by the Republican landslide in 1894. In 1896 and 1900 he was one of the delegates from the sixth district of Iowa to the national Populists’ conventions. In 1896, he became the owner of the Monroe County News, the only Democratic paper in the county, and was largely due to his management that the paper had gained such a foothold in Monroe County and had become one of the leading Democratic organs of southern Iowa. Mr. Clark is a member of the Masonic Order and in religious matters assumes liberal views. Mr. Clark was one of the enterprising farmers of the county, and remained there until his death, June 16, 1890.