Notes for Robert J. CLARK

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Notes for Robert J. CLARK

ROBERT J CLARK MD The subject of this sketch is an able representative of the medical profession He comes of a family of physicians his father and grandfather before him having followed the same profession and his qualifications are both of a natural
and acquired order Dr Othinel Clark his father was a native of Clarksburg Harrison county West Virginia who removed to Tippecanoe county this state in 1823 and became a prominent physician of the county He died here in December 1866 The mother of
Robert J nee Charille Durkee was a native of Vermont and her father was a physician and surgeon in the army during the war of 18 12 She died at the age of eighty four years Dr Othinel and Charille Durkee Clark were the parents of nine children namely
John D who died in 1862 at the age of twenty nine years Cornelia wife of Noah S Thompson San Francisco California Jane a widow living at Tacoma Washington Allison a merchant in this state William R deceased Robert J whose name heads this sketch Mary
deceased Frank a druggist who died in early manhood and Fannie M of Lafayette Robert J Clark was born in the city of Lafayette May 24 1844 and in that city his boyhood days were spent He received his education in the public schools and in the
University of Notre Dame In 1862 at the age of eighteen he entered the Union army for thirty days and served during the Morgan raid and in March of the following year he enlisted for three years as a member of the Twenty second Indiana Battery the
fortunes of which he shared until the close of the war This battery was assigned for duty to the Army of the Ohio Twenty third Corps and therefore was in many engagements and not a few hard fought battles During his army service he was wounded a number
of times and has that knowledge of war and army service which comes only by actual participation At the close of the war our subject was honorably discharged and returned to his father's home on a farm near Lafayette He remained there till the death of
his father the following year when he gave exclusive attention to the study of medicine for which he seemed to have a natural inclination His progress was rapid his study thorough and he was regularly graduated by the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati
Ohio in 1870 He then served one year as resident physician in the Cincinnati Hospital where he had a large experience in all manner of diseases and surgical operations This opportunity well improved was invaluable in that it gave him the benefit of
actual practical work and enabled him to commence the actual practice with experience and confidence He located in Monticello White county Indiana in February 1867 and this place has since been his home In the science of medicine he keeps fully abreast
with the times is not only familiar with the best known remedies but knows how and when to apply them His ability is not confined to the practice of medicine but he is a skillful surgeon and in difficult or complicated operations he is almost
universally depended upon to the extent of a large territory Dr Clark was married to Mary E Reynolds a daughter of James C and Miranda Sill Reynolds of Monticello They have two children Cornelia R a teacher and Frederick A an electrical engineer and a
graduate of Purdue University Fraternally the Doctor is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic Tippecanoe Post No 5 and the White County Medical Association State Medical Association and American Medical Association Dr Clark is a genial
companionable sympathetic gentleman and possesses in rare degree those characteristic elements which indicate the true physician He detests fraud and hypocrisy and has always taken a commendable interest in every endeavor to have laws enacted for the
protection of the people He believes that to administer strong medicines or attempt difficult surgical operations without requisite knowledge is a crime and that laws of the state should prohibit persons from committing murder cover of pretended
qualifications. [Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton ..., Volume 2
By Lewis Publishing Company]
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ROBERT J CLARK MD was born in La Fayette Ind May 24 1844 and is one of nine children six yet living born to Dr Othiniel L and Charille Durkee Clark natives of Virginia and New York Dr 0 L Clark came to La Fayette when a young man in about 1825 entered
upon the practice of his profession and acted as agent for the county in the sale of town lots for the county seat He was active in politics was elected to the State Legislature and then to the Senate and served in both many years he was also a member
of the State Constitutional Convention of 1852 as was also his brother Dr HW Clark of Hamilton County Dr 0 L Clark was well known to the people of the State outside of his county and his name was on a par with those of Oliver P Morton Schuyler Colfax
Caleb Smith Albert L White and others He was an Old Line Whig and then a Republican until Johnson's administration when he became an advocate of the reconstruction acts and remained a Democrat until his death December 29 1866 at La Fayette where his
widow still survives him He was Indian Agent in Miami County for many years and was also appointed Postmaster at La Fayette by President Lincoln but declined the office Dr Robert J Clark received his literary education at the schools of La Fayette and
at Notre Dame University In March 1863 he enlisted in the Twenty second Indiana Light Artillery he was iu the Atlanta campaign and afterward with Gen Thomas in Hood's campaign in Tennessee He was then transferred to North Carolina where he remained
till Johnston's surrender and was finally discharged at Indianapolis July 7 1865 He began the study of medicine in 1867 in the office of Dr WS Hammond at Mon ticello attended two terms of the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati and was one of the six
graduates who were examined and selected from about thirty to serve as resident physicians of Cincinnati Hospital fiom 1870 to 1871 He then returned to Monticello and became a partner of his preceptor but since 1872 he has been alone He was married in
July 1871 to Miss Mary E Reynolds who has borne him two children Cornelia R and Frederick G Dr Clark is a Democrat and a member of the GAR and his wife is a member of the Presbyterian Church. [Counties of White and Pulaski, Indiana: Historical and
biographical
By Weston Arthur Goodspeed, F.A. Battey & Co]
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