RANSOM CLARK
Ransom Clark received his education in Vermont and remained there for a considerable period after reaching mature years. At length, however, he manifested the pioneer spirit that had characterized his ancestors and removed to the west, where he believed there were better opportunities. He first located in Wisconsin and then went to St. Louis and later to New Orleans. He was in St. Louis in 1843 at the time Lieutenant Fremont was fitting out his company for his trip to the Pacific coast and although the greater part of his men were French and Canadian frontiersmen, Mr. Clark and about a half dozen other Americans enlisted for the expedition. Mr. Clark remained with the Fremont party until The Dalles were reached and then, with two other Americans, left the command and joined the American emigrants just coming into the country. In the spring of 1844 he took up his residence upon a farm near Lafayette and was successful in adapting himself to the conditions of that frontier locality, growing good crops and also engaging in stock raising. The Oregon Spectator of July 4, 1846, contained the following advertisement: "Ransom Clark, at his home on Yamhill river, offers for sale wheat, oats, corn, white beans, peas and potatoes, also bacon, salt pork, hogs and breeding sows." At the time of the discovery of gold he went to the mines in California, where he spent two years, after which he conducted a hotel in Linn, Oregon, and still later became one of the proprietors of the Columbian Hotel in Portland. In 1855 he went to the Colville country, in which gold had been discovered, and returning by way of Walla Walla, took up a donation claim of six hundred and forty acres just south of the present site of Walla Walla. However, the country had not yet been formally opened for settlement and he was compelled to leave by Nathan Olney, Indian agent. In 1888, however, he learned that the country would soon be opened up and in that spring went to his claim with a full outfit of farming implements, fruit trees, nursery stock, etc. He took with him John Haley to fence and care for his place and, leaving him there, soon returned to Oregon. The following spring he again came to this region, and this time was accompanied by his son, Charles W., whom he left on the place. In May he returned to Portland to make final arrangements for removing to his land, but while there became ill and died on the 24th of May, 1859, at the early age of forty-nine years. He was a member of the famous Lyceum and Debating Society of Oregon City and, as he wrote to a friend, "always advocated those principles which are best calculated to promote the cause of education, to promote the greatest good to the greatest number." He was quite prominent in civic affairs, served as a member of one of the early legislatures and in 1844 was one of three commissioners to view out and survey a road from the Willamette falls to the falls of the Yamhill river. He realized that a great future was in store for this section and was among the men who laid broad and deep the foundation for its future development.
Ransom Clark was married in 1845 to Miss Lettice Jane, the eldest daughter of Elijah and Lucinda (Crisp) Millican. She was born in Canehill, Arkansas, October 3, 1830. In 1843 the family joined the Whitman train and after a journey of weary months reached Oregon. The following year the Millican family settled near the town of Lafayette, Yamhill county, and there in 1845 Lattice J. Millican became the wife of Ransom Clark. Following the death of her husband in 1859, she made the journey to Walla Walla in order to make arrangements for subsequently locating upon the farm which Mr. Clark had taken up and which was known for many years as the Ransom Clark donation claim. She was given a place in the government ambulance from Wallula to Walla Walla and her first night in the latter place was spent in the fort. The following morning she was driven out to her claim and remained there for two weeks. She then returned to Portland, where the birth of her daughter occurred the following summer. In October, 1859, she again came to Walla Walla in company with her family. They were passengers on the first stage from The Dalles to Walla Walla, with John F. Abbott as driver. Later she received a letter from Judge E. D. Shattuck of Portland advising her to sell her claim for two hundred and seventy-five dollars and abandon the idea of developing it. However, she disregarded this advice and continued to reside upon the farm with her children. On the 23d of May, 1861, she married Almos H. Reynolds, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. She was one of the earliest pioneer women at the head of a ranch in Walla Walla county and the fact that she had been privileged to witness more of the growth of the northwest than others seemed to give her an added interest in everything pertaining to public welfare. She contributed much to the upbuilding of the various institutions of the city and by reason of her force of character and her many liberal and well advised benefactions she was recognized as a most prominent citizen of Walla Walla. The erection of the Young Men's Christian Association building was made possible by a twenty thousand dollar donation from her and after its completion she was one of the chief contributors toward its upkeep. At the rally and jubilee held when the association had raised the forty-five thousand dollars necessary to pay off its debt the speech that she made expressing her great joy in the knowledge that the association was free of all debt will long be remembered by all who heard her. She was also a loyal friend and patron of Whitman College, contributing generously at various times to the support of the institution and paying off a debt of six thousand dollars on the girls' dormitory, which is named in her honor Reynolds Hall. She was a woman of the highest ideals and also had the keenness of intellect and strength of character to realize her ideals and the memory of Lettice J. Reynolds will long be held in honor in Walla Walla.
William S. Clark received his education in the public schools and Whitman Academy, his parents realizing the value of liberal training and giving their children the best advantages possible. After leaving school he went to work in the drug store of Dr. J. H. Day of Walla Walla, and there studied pharmacy. Later he was for two years clerk in a drug store in Portland and then returned to Walla Walla and continued to engage in the drug business here until 1877. He was then employed for some time on the railroad from Walla Walla to Wallula, owned by Dr. Baker. The latter recognized that with the settling up of the country land would rapidly increase in value and advised Mr. Clark to invest his savings in land. Accordingly he began buying farm lands, to the operation of which he gave close personal supervision for many years. He now, however, leaves all the actual work of cultivation to others, confining his attention to the business management of his properties.
On the 6th of June, 1900, Mr. Clark was united in marriage to Miss Ella H. Seelye, a teacher for seventeen years in the Walla Walla public schools. She was born in Minnesota and is a daughter of Stuart Seelye, who had the distinction of building the first lumber, shingle and flour mills in Little Falls, Minnesota. The Seelye family have been prominent in educational circles in the east, Julius Seelye being president of Amherst College and Clark Seelye president of Smith College. To Mr. and Mrs. Clark has been born a daughter, Evelyn.
Mr. and Mrs. Clark are members of the Congregational church and its work profits greatly by their material and moral support. Mr. Clark is a republican in politics and has taken quite a prominent part in public affairs. He was assistant secretary of the constitutional convention of Washington territory which met in 1878 and has never ceased to be an earnest student of the questions and issues of the day. For two years he was president of the Farmers Union of Walla Walla and in 1873 he was a member of the party under the leadership of Major Truax which surveyed the land around Colfax. He also saw military service, serving in the Nez Percé Indian war in 1877 and in the Bannock war in 1878. His record proves that he is in all respects worthy of his ancestors. among whom were numbered soldiers of the Revolutionary war, and he has taken advantage of the privilege which his descent affords of joining the Sons of the American Revolution. The first member of the family in America, Lieutenant William Clark, who came to this country in 1630, also participated in Indian fighting, taking part in a war which occurred in the year of his arrival. Mr. Clark is a member of the different Masonic orders. He feels the greatest loyalty toward his city and state and nothing gives him more pleasure than to cooperate with movements for the public benefit.