BENJAMIN F. CLARK, engineer, Cairo, Ill., was born in Ohio County, Va., January 19, 1824. He is the youngest of a family of eleven children of Samuel and Elizabeth (Anderson) Clark, who were born and reared in Maryland. He was left an orphan at the age of twelve years by the death of his mother, the father having died about seven years previous. He thus early in life was thrown, comparatively, upon his own resources, and soon after began an apprenticeship to the trade of blacksmith, which he pursued until the year 1852. He worked at his trade, in the employ of the Government, during the Mexican war, remaining with the United States Army through the entire contest. In 1852, he began what has ever since been his occupation, that of marine engineer, on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and during the late civil war was a regularly commissioned engineer in the United States Navy, participating in several severe naval engagements. Since the war, he has been a resident of Cairo, Ill., and employed on local vessels; now in the employ of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad Company, as engineer of their transfer vessel. In 1845, at Ravenswood, Jackson Co., Va., he married Miss Mary E. Merryman, daughter of Caleb Merryman, formerly of Baltimore, Md. She is a native of Virginia.
Extracted 31 Mar 2017 by Norma Hass from 1883 History of Alexander, Union, and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part V, pages 11-12.
| Cape Girardeau MO |
Union | |
 |
Pulaski | |
| Scott MO | Mississippi MO | Ballard KY |
