Henry H. Clark, M.D.
Henry H. Clark, M.D.
Henry H.
Clark, M.D., a well known and prominent physician
of McGregor, has been local surgeon for the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad for almost eighteen
years. Though he conducts a large general practice he
is especially qualified in surgical cases, to which
he is often called from distant points. He was one of
the organizers of the State Board of Health, having
been appointed by the Governor. In this capacity he
served for thirteen consecutive years and acted as
President for one term. Also on the State Board of
Medical Examiners he served from the time of its
organization until 1892, when his term expired.
The members of the Clark family have been from early
days prominent and influential citizens in
Pennsylvania, where the first representatives settled
on coming from Scotland. Our subject's paternal
grandfather was James Clark, an attorney-at-law and a
leading politician in the Keystone State. His son, J.
K., the father of our subject, was born in
Pennsylvania and followed the occupation of farming.
In 1852 he went to Illinois, where he made
settlement, and continued his former vocation in
Stephenson County. His wife, Helen (Wolf) Clark, was
of German descent, being a daughter of John Wolf and
a native of Susquehanna County.
Dr. H. H. Clark was born in Centre County, Pa.,
October 12, 1843, and spent his boyhood up to the age
of twelve years in that state. Coming west with his
parents to Illinois he there continued his education
in the public schools, supplementing the same by a
course of study at the Rock River Seminary in Mt.
Morris. In the fall of 1866 he entered the Medical
Department of the Northwestern University at
Evanston, Ill., from which he was graduated in 1870,
and spent some time acquiring a practical knowledge
of his profession in Mercy Hospital, Chicago, in the
capacity of House Surgeon and House Physician. It was
in 1870 that the Doctor came to McGregor, where he
opened an office and conducted his large and paying
practice. He has always continued his studies and has
taken an active part in medical matters, being at the
present time a member of the North Iowa Medical
Society, the State Medical Society, and the American
Health Association. In 1893 he was elected delegate
to the International Medical Convention held in the
City of Mexico in that year, and his long trip to
that picturesque and noted metropolis was a very
pleasant and profitable one.
In the summer of 1862 Dr. Clark enlisted in Company
G, Ninety-second Illinois Infantry, a part of the
famous Wilder Brigade. He participated in fifty-two
engagements, among which we mention the important
battles of Atlanta, Chickamauga and Jonesboro, and he
also served through Sherman's entire campaign. After
three years of valiant and capable service in defense
of the Stars and Stripes he was mustered out at
Chapel Hill, N. C., and then returned to his medical
studies, which had been thus interrupted.
In politics he is a true-blue Republican. Fraternally
he is a Mason, belonging to Beezer Lodge No. 135, A.
F, & A. M., Clayton Chapter No. 27, and Honorius
Commandery No. 8, K. P.
In the fall of 1871, Dr. Clark married Miss Judith,
daughter of Judge Downing Baugh. The latter was a
native of Kentucky and settled in Iowa at an early
day, locating at Mt. Vernon. Later he came to
McGregor and occupied an influential place in local
affairs. He was prominent as a Mason and stood high
in the legal profession. Mrs. Clark's mother, who was
a native of Ohio, was before her marriage Miss
Sophronia Davis. A family comprising four daughters
and two sons has blessed the union of Dr. and Mrs.
Clark, and the family circle is as yet unbroken. The
two eldest daughters, Alice May and Florence Lillian,
are now students in Northwestern University, at
Evanston; Harry H.; Maude Geneva, a student in the
high school; William Clarence and Ethel Baugh
complete the number.
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