CORNELIUS CLARKE, the second son of Joseph and Catherine (Andrews) Clarke, was born in Franklin township, Washington Co., Penn., November 21, 1823. His boyhood days and early youth were passed in assisting his parents in the improvements of the home farm, and in attending, during a few months, in the winter season, the old-fashioned subscription school of the neighborhood. The school-house in those days was an old, dilapidated building, with an uninviting exterior, the interior being furnished in a very rude and primitive manner. The seats for the scholars consisted of simple slabs supported by pegs, the floor being made of puncheons, far from being closely jointed. The writing desk was a slab resting on pegs which were inserted into the wall, and placed so high that the younger scholars could barely reach it; while the fireplace, located at one end of the school-room, was a generous and comfortable amplitude. On October 21, 1851, Mr. Clarke was united in marriage with Marjory, daughter of John Wilson, and the children born to this union are: Alice, Joseph J., Fannie (Mrs. E. Horn), Almeda (Mrs. David McNairy ), Emma,. Catherine (Mrs. James Magill), Cornelia and John W. On November 24, 1870, Mr. Clarke married, for his second partner in life, Eliza Lyons, of Beaver county, Penn. In politics Mr. Clarke was originally a Whig, and since the formation of the party has been an active Republican. In church connection he was first an adherent of the Presbyterian congregation at East Buffalo, but on the organization of the Second Presbyterian Church he united with it. His farm consists of 250 acres of highly cultivated land, having thereon many improvements, and the present large and comfortable two-story brick residence was built in 1857. "Omnia vincit labor" may be correctly given as Mr. Clarke's motto, for hard work and good management have placed him in the front rank of Washington county's most prosperous citizens.

Text taken from page 180 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed March 1997 by Bobbi Steele of Indianapolis, IN as part of the Beers Project. Published March 1997 on the Washington County, PA pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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