Galen Clark (1814 - 1910)

Born 28 Mar 1814 in Shipton, Estrie Region, Quebec, Canada

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 24 Mar 1910 at age 95 in Oakland, Alameda, California, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Patrick McCann [send private message]

Galen Clark is Notable.

Biography

Galen Clark was born on March 28, 1814 in Shipton, Estrie Region, Quebec, Canada. He was the son of Jonas and Mary "Polly" (Twitchell) Clark, the seventh of eleven children. Though born in Canada, he spent his early life in Dublin, New Hampshire, where his parents were from. He removed to Missouri, where he married.

Marriage

He married Rebecca McCoy on April 23, 1839 in Clark, Missouri, United States.^[1] Together they had five children:

Children

1. Elvira Missouri Clark
2. Joseph Locke Clark
3. Mary Ann Clark
4. Galen Alonzo Clark
5. Solon McCoy Clark

Clark was of restless nature, and, feeling the urge of great cities, moved from Missouri to Philadelphia, where his wife died. He drifted west again and prospected for gold in California, but with little success. His health failed, and the doctors gave him a year to live. Sick and discouraged, he sought the heart of the Sierras.

While hunting in the vicinity of Yosemite Valley, in May, 1858, he fell in with a party of friendly Native Americans who told him of a nearby stand of gigantic trees, which no white man had ever seen. Clark doubted their veracity, but his curiosity was aroused, and he investigated. Almost before he realized, he was walking among an impressive growth of evergreens averaging two hundred and sixty-five feet in height and of proportionate girth. Their stature, stateliness and venerable mien, overawed him, and he removed his hat in reverence.

Clark lived among these mammoth Sequoias for a year, surprised his physicians, and completely recovered his health. When the great trees passed into public ownership as Mariposa Grove, he became their custodian and was later appointed Guardian of the Yosemite Valley.

Galen Clark was a friend of Theodore Roosevelt, whom he escorted through the grove during one of Roosevelt's trips through the West; and a friend, too, of John Burroughs, the naturalist.

2nd Marriage

He married Isabella F Pearce on February 28, 1874 in Sacramento, Sacramento, California.^[2][3]

Death

Galen Clark died on March 24, 1910 at the home of his daughter Dr. Elvira M. Lee in Oakland, California.^[4] He lived to a great age, being nearly one hundred years old when he died. He was buried at a spot near Yosemite Falls which he personally selected and dug decades prior to his death.^[5] He had also selected the granite tombstone marker and planted around his gravesite seedlings from the Mariposa Grove sequoias. Four Sequoia seedlings, now grown to stalwart giants, mark the corners of his grave.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ Missouri, County Marriage, Naturalization, and Court Records, 1800-1991 [online database] FamilySearch, Galen Clark, 23 Apr 1839; citing Marriage, Clark, Missouri, United States.
2. ↑ California, County Marriages, 1850-1952 [online database] FamilySearch, Galen Clark and Isabella F Pearce, 28 Feb 1874; Sacramento, Sacramento, California, United States.
3. ↑ United States Census, 1880 [online database] FamilySearch, Galen Clark, Mariposa, California, United States.
4. ↑ California Death Index, 1905-1939 [online database] FamilySearch, Galen Clark, 24 Mar 1910; citing 6050, Department of Health Services, Vital Statistics Department, Sacramento.
5. ↑ Find A Grave, memorial page for Galen Clark (28 Mar 1814–24 Mar 1910), Find a Grave Memorial ID 6170137, citing Yosemite Cemetery, Yosemite Village, Mariposa County, California, USA.
6. ↑ Allison, Henry Darracott. "Dublin days, old and new ; New Hampshire fact and fancy". New York : Exposition Press, 1952. pp. 97-99

see also:

• "United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9PP-HC8 : 23 January 2022), Galen Clark, 1900.

• C. Frank Brockman. "Yosemite Nature Notes, Vol. XXVI". March 1947. p. 53
• Twitchell, Ralph Emerson. "Genealogy of the Twitchell family: Record of the descendants of the Puritan - Benjamin Twitchell, Dorchester, Lancaster, Medfield and Sherborn, Massachusetts, 1632-1927". New York, N.Y.: Priv. print. for H.K. Twitchell, 1929. p. 127
• Locke, John G. "Book of the Lockes : A genealogical and historical record of the descendants of William Locke, of Woburn". Boston : J. Munroe and co., 1853. pp. 144, 262

See also

• Wikipedia: Galen Clark
• Wikidata: Item Q5518351, en:Wikipedia