Insight into Elder John A. Clark

In both homes the spiritual ideals of the father were equally respected. Although eleven children came to the first family and ten to the second, neither tea, coffee, tobacco, nor liquor were used in either home. Joseph, one of the oldest sons, says he never heard one of his brothers profane. There was but one son in each family that did not fill a mission. One from each family died in the mission field-the eldest, Ezra James, of sunstroke in New York in 1868, the other, John, of smallpox in Haifa, Palestine, in 1895. 

When John was called on a mission in 1894 he was teaching school in Minersville, Utah. After the Christmas holidays, his brother Charles took his place. John was delighted to go to Palestine. He was ambitious for an education and offered to relinquish all claim on the family property if he could realize his desire. 

An incident is told that illustrates John's personality and his father's understanding of him. One of the older boys manifested a little impatience at John's delay when they were getting ready to round up the cattle in Bear Lake.

"Don't mind his careful preparation," said the father. "When John gets off on a trip he never comes back for something he should have taken." 

John Clark was buried in a beautiful cemetery at the foot of Mount Carmel, Palestine, where a monument marks his grave. It was a great regret to his father that he could not bring the body home. Only one of the family has ever visited his grave.

From A Biography of Ezra Thompson Clark by Annie Clark Tanner

copyright 1975