Clark, Daniel A

Clark, Daniel A.

A.M., a Congregational and Presbyterian minister, was born at Rahway, N. J., March 1, 1779, and graduated at Princeton in 1808. While a student at Andover Theological Seminary he was licensed by the Presbytery of New Jersey, and in 1812 he was ordained and installed pastor of the Congregational Union Ch. of Braintree and Weymouth, Mass. Thence he removed in 1815 to Hanover, N. J., and in 1816 to Southbury, Conn., where, in addition to his work as a minister, he taught gratuitously "with a view of elevating the standard of education." In 1820 he was installed pastor of the west parish of Amherst, Mass., where he was involved in certain difficulties, and in 1826 he accepted a call to Bennington,Vt., where he was very active and useful. Leaving Bennington in 1830, he supplied Dr. Beman's pulpit in Troy, labored for a time in Utica, N.Y., and was installed pastor in Adams, Jefferson Co., N. Y., in 1832. In 1833 his health obliged him to withdraw from the ministry. He devoted the remainder of his days to literary pursuits, and died March 3, 1840. "Though practically a Congregationalist while he exercised his ministry in New England, he always retained his preference for the Presbyterian form of Church government, and resumed his relations with the Presbyterian Church as soon as he had the opportunity." Dr. Osgood (in Sprague, cited below) says: "The published sermons of Mr. Clark, I believe it is generally admitted, take rank with the ablest sermons which our country has produced." For his publications, see His Complete Works, with a Biographical Sketch, etc., by Revelation Geo. Shepard, D.D. (1846, 2 vols. 8vo); 5th edit. edited by his son J. H. Clark, M.D. (N. Y. 1855, 2 vols. 8vo). — Sprague, Annals, 4, 460.