McDonough ILGenWeb

CLARKE, Davis H., a prosperous farmer and stock-raiser of Emmet Township, McDonough County, Ill., and who is the owner of the homestead farm bought by his grandfather from a soldier of the Revolutionary War, was born in Emmet Township, October 19, 1854. He is a son of Samuel and Nancy A. (Hardin) Clarke, who was born in Washington County, Ky., and a grandson of James and Mary (Lewis) Clarke, the former being a native of Lincoln County, Ky., and the latter, of the State of Virginia.

Davis and Eliza (Webster) Hardin, the maternal grandparents, were born in Virginia and the District of Columbia, respectively. The great-grandfather, John Clarke, who was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, married a lady whose maiden name was Ann Whitten. The maternal great-grandfather, Harry Hardin, was a native of Virginia.

Grandfather James Clarke came to McDonough County in the spring of 1830, and for several years held official positions which brought him prominently before the people. In Washington County, Ky., he had learned the trade of a hatter, which he followed a number of years. He bought land in Emmet and Sciota Townships, living in the former, where he built what was called at that time the finest log house in the county. He afterwards moved to Macomb, where he lived the rest of his life. He sold the Emmet Township property to Samuel Clarke, who lived there until he died in 1862.

Davis H. Clarke, who is the eldest of a family of four children, was a mere child when his father died, and after that event, he remained with his mother until he was twenty years old, living five years of the time on another farm in Emmet Township. In his twenty-first year he came to the homestead farm, where he had an interest and has since bought out the other heirs. On the original homestead, first owned by a veteran of the Revolutionary War, he has one of the finest country residences in McDonough County, containing all city conveniences. On December 16, 1875, Mr. Clarke was married to Melinda Russell, who was born in Emmet Township, where she pursued her youthful studies in the district school. Two children are the offspring of this union, namely: Myrtle, who is the wife of M. M. Burkhart, a farmer of Sciota Township, and James W.
In religious faith, Mr. Clarke is identified with the Baptist denomination. In political matters, he takes an independent course. Fraternally, he is connected with the I. O. O. F. He is one of the most substantial and progressive farmers in his vicinity, and is a man of much stability of character.

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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McDonough County, compiled by Dr. Newton Bateman, and Paul Shelby, 1907.