“Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County,” published:  
Chicago;  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892.

There are age discrepancies in this Bio.  -------


MOSES M. CLARK, of the firm of Curfman & Clark, Garland, was born in Cocke 
county, Tennessee, in 1843, the tenth child of Moses and Hannah (Robinson) 
Clark, natives of North Carolina.  The father was a farmer by occupation, and 
came to Tennessee prior to the birth of our subject, in 1841, and settled in Cocke 
county, where he engaged in farming.  The paternal grandfather of Moses Clark 
died at the age of 104 years, and his son, the father of our subject, was 
eighty-eight years of age at his death.  He was twice married, and of his 
eleven children nine grew to years of maturity, viz: Mary P., the widow of Alex. 
Block, of Arkansas; George, deceased; Rachel, widow of Louis Coats, of 
Tennessee; Betsie, wife of D. Lillard; Nancy, wife of Monroe Lillard; Sarah, widow 
of James Clark; Eliza J., wife of Royal Black; Isaac, deceased, formerly a 
minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church of North Carolina, and for some time 
a Presiding Elder of the church.  Mrs. Clark died in 1865, and Mr. Clark was 
afterward married to Mrs. Varina Lillard.  Mr. Clark died in 1875, at the age of 
eighty-six years, and his last wife died about the same time.

M. M. Clark, our subject, received his education in the common school of 
Tennessee, and at the age of twenty-one years commenced life for himself.  He 
entered the Confederate army at the age of seventeen years, joining Company 
C, Twenty-sixth Tennessee Regiment, commanded by Colonel John M. Lillard, of 
Meigs county, and Captain Ed Allen.  Mr. Clark participated in the battles of Fort 
Donelson, where he was captured and taken to Camp Morton, and after eight 
months was exchanged at Vicksburg, Mississippi; his next battle was 
Murfreesboro, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, and other engagements.  His company 
was one of the five who captured the artillery and wagon trains of the late 
General Gillam, at Russellville, routing the opposing forces and running the fire 
over thirty miles.  Mr. Clark was captured at Asheville, North Carolina, but 
succeeded in making his escape.  His captain was captured at the same time, 
and the two were confined in a house, and while the guards had their back 
turned they jumped through the door, and thus succeeded in making their 
escape.  Mr. Clark was paroled at Kingston, Georgia, after which he went to 
Tennessee, but again returned to Georgia for four or five months.  His first 
farming was done in 1866, in Marshall county, as a hired hand, but after one year 
he returned to Giles county, Tennessee, and remained until 1870.  In that year 
he came to this State, locating a quarter of a mile from Garland, where he 
worked for two years on shares; next he rented land until 1883, when he bought 
seventy-five acres of partly improved land, paying $11 per acre, to which he 
afterward added seventy-seven acres and twenty acres of timber land.  The 152 
acres are now worth from $40 or $50 per acre.

The firm of which Mr. Clark is a member was organized under the name of 
Williams, Curfman & Clark, but the latter has since bought Mr. Williams’ interest 
in the business.  For three years the firm has been Curfman & Clark, dealers in 
dry goods, groceries and hardware, carrying a stock of from $5,000 to $10,000, 
and doing an annual business of about $40,000.

Mr. Clark was married in Giles county, Tennessee, August 8, 1867, to Miss 
Louisa Mull, a daughter of John Mull.  She died July 4, 1875, and in 1878 Mr. 
Clark married Miss Adeline D. McDonald.  Mrs. Clark is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Clark is Past Master of the A. F. & A. M., 
Duck Creek Lodge, No. 441, and also a member of the I.O.O.F., Garland Lodge, 
No. 304.

Submitted by: L. Pingel