San Diego County Biographies

San Diego County

Biographies

ALFRED G. CLARK,

a prominent citizen of San Diego, is a native of Trenton, Butler County, Ohio, born November 10, 1818. His father, Jonathan Clark, born in New Jersey, September 5, 1776, was a blacksmith. Mr. Clark's grandfather, David Clark, was born in New Jersey, and was a descendant of the Clarks who came to America from England before the Revolution. His great uncle and his father's uncle were signers of the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Clark's mother, Mrs. Catherine (Jonas) Clark, was born in Maryland, in 1780. Her ancestors were German. She was married to Mr. Clark in 1800, and had a family of fourteen children, two of whom are still living. Mr. Clark was the eleventh. When he was but six years of age his father removed to Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana, and it was there, in a most primitive school‑house, that he received his education. The windows of the school-house were closed with greased cotton cloth, and the floor and seats were made of puncheon. That section was then a heavily timbered country. He attended school winters. He afterward attended a seminary taught by an Episcopal minister. He then attended the Wabash College at Crawfordsville. Mr. Clark has always been a student of men and books, and is still engaged in study. In 1835 he became clerk in a general merchandise store in Crawfordsville, and then removed to Michigan City, where he continued to clerk. His life previous to this had been spent on a farm. In October, 1838, he went to Jackson County, Iowa, by way of Chicago. There was no railroad then and he rode on the first through stage from Chicago to Galena, Illinois, and from there to Belleview, crossed over into Iowa, and located on a Government tract of land, 160 acres. He remained on this land five years, when he proved up on it, sold it, and went to Andrew, the county seat of Jackson County, where he engaged in the general merchandise business. He continued in this business for five years, when he sold out, bought a California outfit, and went with oxen to the Missouri river, where he wintered. The following May he was one of a company of thirty-two who crossed the plains. In the Black Hills the company separated for lack of feed for teams, but three of them stayed together till they reached Dallas, Oregon. He sold his teams and went in a yawl boat to Cascades, and from there took the only steamer that had ever run on the Columbia river. It was run by a little four-horse-power engine. He then came around to San Francisco on the steamer Panama, and arrived September 29, 1850. Here he left his family and went to the mines at Woods Creek, seventy-five miles from Stockton. Then he returned to San Francisco and went to Cortemardera and assisted in building two steam saw-mills. He received $1 per hour wages, and remained here eighteen months. He had never learned the carpenter's trade, but was naturally an architect, and had learned the use of tools. He again returned to San Francisco and purchased an interest in Port Orford of Captain Tichnor, commander of the Sea Gull steamer, and took passage with him for Port Orford January 24, 1852. They went into Humboldt to discharge freight and passengers, and on their way out of Humboldt bay the steamer struck, and was so disabled that she became a total wreck. He never reached Port Orford, but went to Eureka, California, where he built the first family residence, and engaged in the lumber business for two years, when he sold out and again went to the mines. He was in the northern mines of California during the year 1855. In 1856 he sold out and went to San Francisco. He purchased land in Napa valley and engaged in farming and stock-raising. He also had a hardware store in Napa City. In 1856 he came from Humboldt with the intention of purchasing the land where San Diego now stands, which was offered for sale at ten cents per acre. In 1881 he sold out and went to Texas on a land speculation. He was there four years. In 1886 he arrived in San Diego, where he engaged in real-estate speculation, both for himself and others, which he still continues. He also owns mining interests in this county.

He was married in Iowa, March 13, 1842, to Miss Cyrena Philips, daughter of William Philips, a native of Ohio, but of German descent. She was born January 18, 1826, and has been with him in all his wanderings to comfort and help him, enduring all the hardships of settling a new country. Cheerfully they have just passed the forty-eighth milestone of a very happy life. They are the parents of five children: Agnes E., born in Andrew, Iowa, August 29, 1844, married to Samuel G. Clark and resided in St. Helena, where she died in 1880, leaving four sons: William G., born in Andrew, Iowa, in 1847, and died in 1860; Tomenend Delos, born at same place, February 20, 1849; Alfred Jonathan, born in Eureka, Humboldt County, California, March 18, 1853, and died April 24, 1874, in Napa valley; and Susie Cyrena, born in same place July 8, 1855. She married R. H. Willey, an attorney, and is now living at Monterey. Mr. Clark helped to establish Methodism on the coast. The first Sunday after arriving in San Francisco, he went out to see what he could see, and, hearing talking, he drew near. A man, who proved to be William Taylor, the street preacher, since one of the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Africa, was preaching from the porch of an adobe house. Mr. Clark has always lent a helping hand to organize, not only the Methodist Church but other churches, assisting them in every way in his power: In the early days when no vacant houses could be obtained, he has solicited saloons to cover their bars and set aside their gambling tables for ministers to preach on the Sabbath, using the billiard tables for a desk. After securing a place for preaching he usually took his stand beside the minister. He has traveled all over California, and has frequently talked with saloon-keepers, and never one has yet turned the cold shoulder to him. They have always acknowledged the business to be had, and expressed their intention to leave it as soon as they could. Ever since he became of mature age he has been a worker in the Sunday-school. He is now a teacher of the first bible class in the First Methodist Episcopal Church of San Diego, besides being a member of the official board and class-leader of the church. He has been a most faithful temperance worker, and has helped to organize the first temperance societies on the coast. He has helped to organize the State League, the State Alliance, the Good Templars, and was among those who helped to institute the Good Templars' Home for orphans in Vallejo, and was a trustee of that home for fourteen years. He has been in every office of the Good Templars except the Grand Templar. He has been twice elected to the Right-Worthy Grand Lodge of the world. He represented the State at Minneapolis, Minnesota, and represented more territory than any other delegate, including California, Nevada, Sandwich Islands, Japan and China. He helped to organize the Republican party on this coast, and was a strong supporter of John C. Fremont for President in 1856. He was a member of the Home Guards, ready to go on duty any moment, and was regularly mustered in and out. He helped to organize the first temperance political party in the State, and was a candidate for Governor of the State on the first ticket of the Prohibition party. He was also a candidate for Congress from the third district. He is now seventy one years of age, is very strong and bright in body and mind, and has not relaxed in any of the good works in which he has been engaged.

SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 174-176

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

S. O. PRINCE

was born in Westbrook, Cumberland County, Maine, within one and one-half miles of the city of Portland, August 21, 1844. His father, Thomas R. Prince, was born in Yarmouth, Maine, and was of English descent. Mr. Prince's mother, Abbie S. (Oakes) Prince, was also born in Maine. The father's ancestry on the maternal side traces back to Miles Standish, the Puritan. They were married in 1840. Mr. Prince was the second of seven children. He attended the public schools of Maine and afterward of California. His father went to California in 1852, and the mother and children followed in 1856. The subject of this sketch was then twelve years of age. He learned early how to work, and when eighteen years of age he lost his father and was thrown upon his own resources. He has been engaged in mining in Arizona, where he owned an interest in the McCracken mine. He was in Arizona twelve years and was engaged in the general merchandise business at Signal, Arizona. He sold out, and in 1888 he came to Florida, San Diego County, California, and took stock in the Fair View Company, and also owned other lands, which he is farming. He is the manager of the company's hotel in Florida. He was married in 1884 to Mrs. Eda Kimble, born May 28, 1856, in San Joaquin County, California. Her father, Mr. G. D. Compton, is a leading member of the Fair View Company, who owns the Florida tract and town site. She had one child by Mr. Kimble, G. E. Kimble, born August 14, 1875, and Mr. and Mrs. Prince have one child, Claud R., born July 24, 1889.

While in Arizona, Mr. Prince held the office of Justice of the Peace, and also the office of Deputy County Assessor. He is a man of good habits and a worthy citizen.

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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