Calvin James Clark (1864 - 1944)

Born 19 Apr 1864 in Watauga, North Carolina, United States

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Descendants

Died 3 Apr 1944 at age 79 in Burley, Cassia, Idaho, United States

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Biography

Calvin Clark was born in North Carolina.

Calvin James Clark was born in 1864. He married Elvira Jane Bumgarner.

Calvin, Elvira, and their family are mentioned in the book "Jeremiah and Alexander Clark of North Carolina" published in 1997. The story follows with the author's (Robert Bradley Clark) permission.

"Calvin James “Pat” Clark was the son of the John W. Clark and Nancy Williams. He was born on April 19, 1864, in Foscoe, a small community in Watauga County. His mother, Nancy Williams Clark, died when Calvin was just five years old. He grew up loving to hunt and fish. When he turned twenty-five he met a beautiful mountain girl named Elvira “Vira” Jane Bumgarner.

Seventeen year old Elvira was the daughter of Wesley Bumgarner and Celia Emeline Teague. She was oldest among fifteen brothers and sisters. Elvira assumed a large responsibility in the home. She helped care for the younger children, picked berries, cooked, scrubbed floors and made clothes. On July 11, 1889, Elvira and Calvin were married in Montezuma over in Ash County. The newlyweds lived in Montezuma where they farmed. Calvin also bought and sold cattle and sheep to generate some additional income. He even worked in the mines down in Georgia to help provide for the family.

Elvira remembered her days in North Carolina with fondness. She would tell of the times she would go berry picking when she was a young girl in North Carolina. There were many bears up in the mountains around Montezuma where she lived. There were so many bears that on one occasion she was picking berries from one side of the bushes while a bear was eating berries on the other side! Nobody was hurt during this berry picking incident. The story never did tell who was more surprised, Elvira or the bear.

Elvira was left home alone with the children for extended periods of time when husband Calvin was out working. The challenges which confronted Calvin and Elvira were the same exhausting challenges facing many mountain families. How do you make a decent living and provide for your family? Somewhere along the way Calvin heard that money was good in the west. A man could make a handsome wage in the mines out there.

Calvin and Elvira packed up and moved to the west in 1898. They brought with them their five children, Ronald Grover, Florence Abi, Geneva Edna, Ira Glidden and Ernest Melbern Clark. That same year there was a famous saying plastered in all the newspapers around the country - “Remember the Maine!” Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders packed their rifles and went to Cuba where they gained fame on San Juan Hill. The westward movement eventually included at least three other siblings and their families including Frances Marion and Martha Jane Clark; Benjamin and Mary Arminda Clark Greer; and Samuel Kelly and Martitia Clark.

Calvin found mine work in the Bunker Hill Mine in Wardner, Idaho. Again, Elvira was left alone with the children on many occasions. Elvira’s sister Lizzie Bumgarner came to stay with her. Times were dangerous in the untamed frontier of Idaho. Cougars and other wild animals would prowl about and even climb on top of the roof of the Clark home. Elvira would hit the ceiling with her broom to frighten the wild beasts away. Hugh France Clark, their sixth child, was born while the family was in Wardner.

Mining work is generally considered one of the most hazardous of all occupations. It did not spare Calvin as he fell down a 65 foot shaft and injured his back. He could have easily been killed. After the fall, Calvin could no longer work in the mines. The Bunker Hill Mine was blown up while Calvin and Elvira lived in Wardner. The family next moved to LaCrosse, Washington. They purchased 620 acres of farm land and Calvin raised wheat. They also planted fruit trees, a big garden and made a wonderful home. While living in LaCrosse some more children, Oliver, Jessie, Georgia and Albert Clark, blessed the home of Calvin and Elvira. Calvin also started a new occupation. He purchased well drilling equipment and started to drill wells.

During these early days in LaCrosse some very unusual things happened to the family. One of their cows had a calf and the story goes that a black snake started nursing the cow. The cow abandoned the calf and it starved to death. On another occasion, a large hot black rock fell from somewhere into their field making a large hole. This strange incident caused people to come for miles just to see the hole in the ground. Ronald, the oldest child, died of a heart ailment and was buried in LaCrosse. His grandfather John Clark also was laid to rest in LaCrosse.

In 1909, Calvin moved the family to Rockland, a small town in the desert region of southern Idaho. Well drilling prospects seemed promising in this hot, dry area. Irrigation was common in this region. Calvin and Elvira had a small home along with some land. They added five bedrooms, constructed a large kitchen and a built a porch across the front of the house. The family also planted an orchard and set out a large garden. Everyone was very busy doing garden work, farm work and drilling work. Calvin also raised prize winning pigs. When harvest time came the men were out in the extreme heat thrashing the wheat. The women had no easy time they were back at the house cooking a big dinner for the thrashers on an old wood or coal burning stove.

Back in those days there were no refrigerators or freezers. The women were wonderful cooks and they taught their daughters to be wonderful cooks. They made fresh baked bread which was so delicious. The fresh vegetables and apples were cooked with love to feed their hungry families. Milk and butter was kept cold by lowering it down into the cold water of a cistern.

While in Rockland the children got their education at a one-room school house but there was no school bus to pick them up at the door. The children would walk four miles to school when the weather was nice and rode horses to school during the winter. The winters could be very severe! One bitter winter there were huge snow drifts and a biting north wind. Georgia and Albert walked to school together. One would walk ahead to serve as a wind break while the other would walk behind. The one in back would pull the stocking cap down over their face to keep warm and would hold on to the belt of the one in the front. The one in the lead would break a path through the growing snow drifts and would eventually get tired and cold. Then they would trade places so the other would take the lead for a while. The snow was so high that there were no fences to be seen!

There was a little time for some fun too. The Clark boys were getting a older and were growing a little stronger. They were ready to grapple with Dad. Two or three brothers would gang up on their father in those great wrestling matches of courage and strength. The large lawn with all those shade trees was the site of many wrestling events and all manner of other fun times for the Clark children. The family was also talented singers. They would gather around the piano at home and sing. They would also sing at church and social events.

Idaho was ranch country. This meant riding horses and working cattle was a way of life. The Clark boys enjoyed riding calves, bulldogging, riding bucking broncos, roping and running races. The Clark ranch was where Homer Holcomb, the World-Famous Clown, learned most of his tricks. All this roping and riding would draw a crowd as the fences would be lined with boys and girls watching the fun. They were at the Clark rodeo!

While living in Rockland, Calvin and Elvira had one more child, a daughter named Ruby. Sadness came to the home when little Ruby died at just three years of age. About this time Calvin purchased a dry farm. He also had two well drilling outfits. Calvin ran one of the drills and his brother John Clingman, “Uncle Cling,” ran the other. Calvin, Uncle Cling and the boys of the family were on the road for substantial periods of time as they traveled to sites to drill wells. Elvira managed the house and they hired a man to help around the farm.

During this time the sounds of war rumbled in Europe. Great armies were engaged in the war to end all wars. In 1917, the United States sent soldiers under General Black Jack Pershing to fight the aggression. Ira Glidden and Ernest Melbern Clark were among the soldiers who fought in World War I. They were among the fortunate who returned home alive.

Around 1918, Calvin and Elvira moved to a dry farm near Stone, Idaho. They remained here about three years then returned back to Rockland. After the children were married and out of the home Calvin and Elvira moved into a small two-bedroom home. Elvira’s health began to slip as she had diabetes and she passed from this world in 1933. Calvin sold the family property and moved to Burley, Idaho. He passed away on April 3, 1944.

As the old folks passed from the scene a new generation of Clarks was growing up. Florence Abi Clark married John Wesley Luper. Geneva Edna Clark married Charles Dawell and their children were Dulcie and Mildred Dawell. Ira Glidden Clark took Ellen Marie Harvey to be his wife and they had the following children: Luella Jane, Ila Mae, Dallas Dean, John Harvey and Calvin James Clark. Ernest Melbern Clark married Nettie Laverne Wolfenbarger and their children were Melbern Junior and Vaughn Lavere Clark. Hugh France Clark and Rosetta Baggett were married and their children were Wanda Faa, Arba Elvira, Alice, Hugh Forrest, Jessie Rose and Bonnie B Clark.

Oliver Rex Clark married Mary Schaeffer and their children were Philip James, Albert Rex, Harry, William Ray, Mary Jane, Rex Wayne, Dell Oliver and Dewey Edward Clark. Jessie Emeline Clark married Harold Weatherford. Georgia Opal Clark married Lewis Reed Cannon and their children were Iva Gayle, Lila Rae, Mary Louise, Reed C., Colleen, Jennie and Steven Cannon. The Cannon family claims ancestry which goes back to William the Conqueror and Charlemagne. Albert Whitman Clark married Wilma Laub and their children were Jack Whitman, Gerald (Cole) Rex, Donald, Judith and Jim Clark.

The new generation lived in a more modern time yet they suffered hardships just like their ancestors. Georgia Opal Clark Cannon, like her Clark brothers and sisters, worked hard to support her family. While living in Utah, she worked in a canning factory then in a turkey plant. Her wage was 33 cents per hour. Her husband Reed Cannon was at times working for the WPA for $44 per month. This was the time of the Great Depression and many worked long, exhausting days for a very minimal wage. In fact, most were happy to have a job that paid any wage." ^[1]

Another account of Calvin James Clark comes directly from his daughter. It follows.

"Calvin James Clark was born 19 April 1864 in Fosco, Watauga County, North Carolina, son of John Washington Clark and Miss Williams. He was the sixth child in the family of eight. His mother died when he was young and his father married Sarah Green. Several children were born to them but how many, and names are unknown. The family lived and were raised in the mountains in North Carolina under very poor conditions and had very little education. I have heard my Dad jokingly tell of crawling out between the school house logs to go hunting or fishing, for which he neither learned to read or write. When young and as a young man, he and all the young folks went barefoot. He would go to see his girlfriend barefoot, even in the snow. When he was twenty-five years old he met Elvira Jane Bumgarner, a beautiful girl of seventeen, daughter of Wesley Bumgarner and Celia Emeline Teague. They were married 11 July 1889 in Montezuma, Ash County, North Carolina.

They lived in Montezuma where Dad farmed, bought and sold cattle and sheep and also worked in the mines in Georgia. Mother and the children were alone a lot. He heard of good wages in the West so he, Mother, and their five children came West about 1898. Dad worked in the Bunker Hill mine in Wardner, Idaho. Mother was alone with the children so much, her sister Lizzie came to stay with her. The cougars and wild animals would get on the house so she would hit the ceiling with the broom to frighten them away. Their sixth child Hugh was born here. Dad fell down a 65-foot shaft in the mine and injured his back, so couldn’t work the mines any more. The Bunker Hill mine was blown up while they were still there.

The family moved to La Crosse, Washington, where they bought 620 acres of farm land, where Dad raised wheat. They planted fruit trees, a garden and made a nice home. It was here that I was born on 8 December 1906. Dad bought a well drill and drilled wells as a trade. While here, one of the cows had a calf and a black snake got to nursing the cow so she abandoned the calf and it finally starved to death. One night a big black hot rock fell from somewhere into the field, making a large hole. It was such a strange incident that people came for miles to see it. Our oldest brother, Ronald, died of a heart ailment and was buried in La Crosse, also our Grandfather Clark who had been living with us.

In 1909 Dad heard about good prospects of well drilling in southern Idaho so went to find out, found it good, so the family with nine children now, moved to Rockland, a small town in southern Idaho, where Dad bought a small home with some irrigated land. He had the house remodeled, having five bedrooms instead of two, large kitchen, living room and full length porch on the front . He cut down some shade trees, planted an orchard and Mama started a big garden. Everyone was busy. Sometimes the boys would challenge Dad for a wrestling match, usually two or more boys against Dad. There was a large lawn, plenty of shade and lots of room if or fun.

Another baby girl was added to our family but she died when three years old which was a sad time for Dad and Mother. About this time Dad bought a dry farm. Also, by now he had two well drills. Uncle Cling worked one and Dad ran the other with my brothers helping. They were away most of the time. Mama managed things while he was away. We usually had a hired man at home to help out.

In about 1918 we moved to Stone, Idaho on a dry farm but only stayed three years then back to Rockland. All the family were married from the old home. Then the folks bought a small two bedroom home close by and moved into it. Our youngest brother lived in the old home when it burned down a few years later. Another small house was moved on the place but it never seemed the same. Mother was not well now having diabetes and passed away 23 December 1933. Dad finally sold the two homes and dry farm and went to Burley, Idaho to live. He was never satisfied here and passed away 3 April 1944. Dad and Mother were both buried in Rockland beside other family members." ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ Clark, Robert Bradley. Jeremiah and Alexander Clark of North Carolina. West Des Moines, Iowa: 1997. Pages 65-67.
2. ↑ Forsberg, Georgia Opal Clark Cannon. The Life Story of Calvin Japes Clark. May 1978. As of September 18, 2022, a digital copy is in the possession of Robert Bradley Clark. Story of Calvin James Clark's life with names and dates. Written by his daughter.

See also:

• "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWDW-FP9 : 29 May 2021), Calvin Clark in entry for John W Clark, 1870.

• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCXC-RV4 : 14 January 2022), Calvin J. Clark in household of Marion H. Clark, Linville Township, Mitchell, North Carolina, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .

• "United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MM5S-3RM : 11 March 2022), Calvin J Clark, 1900.

• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MLH5-T55 : accessed 17 September 2022), Calvin J Clark, Rockland, Oneida, Idaho, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 233, sheet , family , NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll ; FHL microfilm .

• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDCB-2MP : 1 February 2021), Calvin J Clark, 1920.

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH69-G9H : accessed 17 September 2022), Calvin J Clark, Rockland, Power, Idaho, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 13, sheet , line , family , NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll ; FHL microfilm .

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/78728079/calvin-james-clark : accessed 08 May 2022), memorial page for Calvin James Clark (19 Apr 1864–3 Apr 1944), Find A Grave: Memorial #78728079, citing Valley View Cemetery, Rockland, Power County, Idaho, USA ; Maintained by Margaret Gagliardi (contributor 46930826) .