Lincoln Clark

Lincoln Clark (August 9, 1800 – September 16, 1886) was a lawyer and one-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa's 2nd congressional district. His life began and ended in the same small town in western Massachusetts, but included service in every branch of Alabama state government, the U.S. Congress, and the Iowa General Assembly.

Born in Conway, Massachusetts, Clark attended the district and private schools. He was graduated from Amherst College in 1825. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1831 and commenced practice in Pickensville, Alabama. He served as member of the Alabama House of Representatives in 1834, 1835, and 1845. He moved to Tuscaloosa in 1836. Clark was elected Alabama Attorney General by the Legislature in 1839. He delivered an oration in Tuscaloosa in 1845 commemorating Andrew Jackson. Clark was appointed circuit judge by Governor Benjamin Fitzpatrick in 1846.

Clark moved to Dubuque, Iowa, in 1848. Two years later, in 1850, he was elected as a Democrat to represent Iowa's 2nd congressional district, defeating Whig candidate John Parsons Cook by only 150 votes out of over 15,000 cast.^[1] Clark served in the Thirty-second Congress, from March 4, 1851 to March 3, 1853. In a rematch in 1852, Cook unseated Clark. Two years later, Clark tried again to regain his seat, but was defeated.

In 1857, Clark was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives, and played an important role in adapting the laws to the new Iowa Constitution.^[1] In the 1860 presidential election, he participated in the Iowa state Democratic convention (declining to follow the breakaway faction supporting the John C. Breckenridge candidacy), where he was elected as a potential presidential elector for U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas.^[2] During the Civil War, he sided with his party's "War Democrat" faction, in opposition to the pro-secession "Mahoneyite" faction of followers of jailed newspaper editor D.A. Mahoney.

Clark eventually left Iowa to practice law in Chicago, Illinois. He was appointed United States Register in Bankruptcy in 1866.

In 1869, he retired from active business and returned to Conway, Massachusetts. He died in Conway on September 16, 1886. He was interred in Howland Cemetery.

References

• Lincoln Clark at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa 1st W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum 2nd Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack 3rd Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young 4th Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King 5th Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thruston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King 6th A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy 7th Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle 8th McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven 9th Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey 10th Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist 11th Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell AL Hastings and Leffler Terr Chapman A. Dodge

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.