The 1857 Iron County Militia Project: Content / Other MMM Militiamen / John Wesley Clark

John Wesley Clark

Biographical Sketch of John Wesley Clark
on Wednesday May 19 2010
by The Editors

in MMM Militiamen > Other MMM Militiamen
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John W. Clark, his personal and family background, and his involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre

John W. Clark (1818-1880)

Biographical Sketch

John Wesley Clark was a native of Warren County, Indiana with American forebears from Kentucky and the backcountry of western Pennsylvania. In his early years he moved from Indiana to Arkansas and Texas, then back to Arkansas. Joining the Mormons he moved with them through Iowa and Nebraska territories to frontier Utah. He was an American frontiersman and pioneer of southern Utah.

Clark was born in Williamsport, Warren, Indiana. He may have been christened in 1820 in White County in central Arkansas. His mother and her forebears were from Kentucky. His father’s mother was born in Ireland. His father was from Bedford County, part of the upper Appalachian Mountains in south-central Pennsylvania. Thus, the majority of Clark’s forebears were Scots-Irish.

In 1841, Clark married Evaline Brown (1822-1893), a Arkansas native, in White County in central Arkansas. They lived in White and Van Buren counties, then later moved to Grimes County in the newly-formed Republic of Texas. By 1851, they returned to Arkansas, settling in Galveston County, Arkansas. Some time they joined the Mormons. Twins were born to them at Chimney Rock during their immigration to Utah Territory. They moved to Tooele County, then joined the colony of southern settlers in Washington County in southern Utah.

In September 1857, Clark, 39, was a private in a Washington platoon, in Harrison Pearce’s Company I in John D. Lee’s 4^th Battalion. Clark among those recruited from Washington, setting out for Mountain Meadows on Monday, September 7, and arriving there on Tuesday, the 8th, and encamping there. According to James Pearce and John D. Lee, Clark was at Mountain Meadows. His role in the massacre is unknown. Clark was not named in the 1859 arrest warrant.

Clark and his family remained in Washington County until his death in 1869. He was buried in Washington, survived by his wife and ten children. In later years his children were in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.

References: FamilySearch.org; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled; Lee Trial transcripts; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Appendix C.

Further information and confirmation needed.

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