CLARK OLNEY TERRY

BIOGRAPHY

AS RECORDED IN:

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF
TOLLAND AND WINDHAM COUNTIES CONNECTICUT.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS AND OF MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLED FAMILIES
PUBLISHER: J.H.BEERS & CO., CHICAGO; 1903 P. 542

CLARK OLNEY TERRY, general manager of the J.A. Lewis vegetable and fruit farm at Willimantic, Windham county, is one of the reliable and industrious citizens of that modern and progressive center of industrial activities. Mr. Terry has lived in Willimantic since 1870, the year in which he entered into connection with the business of Mr. Lewis, of which he had been for some years the manager, and in which he commands the confidence of the public.

Mr. Terry was born May 5, 1848, in Exeter, R.I., a son of Seth W. and Dorcas (Crowell) Terry. This is one of the old New England families, his ancestor having been among the early settlers at Plymouth, Mass., from whom Mr. Terry is the seventh generation.

Seth W. Terry, noted in the preceding paragraph, was in his active years a farmer and a lumber dealer, and did a large business in ship timber, which was cut and delivered at the docks. He was the father of nine children, of whom three boys and four girls lived to reach mature life. One of these children, William H., is a dairyman in Lebanon, Connecticut.

Clark O. Terry was early initiated into genuine work, and was trained to habits of industry which have ever been of value to him. When a boy he attended the Pine Hill district school, where for a number of terms he had Joseph A. Lewis for his teacher, a gentleman who subsequently became his employer, and one for whom Mr. Terry entertains the most reverent and grateful feeling, declaring that always and everywhere Mr. Lewis exercised the best influence and worked for the public good. When but a lad of twelve years young Terry drove a double yoke of oxen for his father, hauling lumber to Wickford in Rhode Island. In 1870 Mr. Terry came to Willimantic, and found employment with J.A. Lewis, engaging with him first by the month, but soon making a five-year contract. Mr. Lewis and Mr. Terry harmonized very closely, and as long as Mr. Lewis lived that harmony was unbroken. Mr. Terry had so long been closely identified with the management of the extensive business of Mr. Lewis that when that gentleman died the entire charge of the estate passed into his hands, an arrangement that has worked to the satisfaction of all concerned, and which is still continued. The fine appearance of the farm and gardens gives evidence of a master hand in charge.

Clark O. Terry was married Nov. 5, 1879, to Miss Cora A. Lewis, oldest daughter of Joseph A. and Caroline (Frye) Lewis; she was born Jan. 22, 1855, in Dighton, Mass., and was but a child when her parents removed to Willimantic, where she was reared, and there is still living. Mr. Terry cast his first presidential vote for Horace Greeley, and for a time following that campaign voted the Republican ticket, but for some years he has been a Prohibitionist, a principle he heartily upholds. He is a man of the best habits and the soundest morals, and his influence for good is pronounced. The closest attention has always been given by him to his business, and he is familiar with its every detail. Mr. Terry is a member of the Baptist Church, and his life brings no shame to his profession of faith. Since coming to Willimantic his home has always been with the Lewis family, and he now resides on the old Lewis homestead.

Reproduced by:

Linda D. Pingel

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