Clark, John

Clark, John a Baptist minister, was born near Inverness, Scotland, Nov. 29th, 1758. Having from his early boyhood a strong propensity for a seafaring life, he was for about one year on board of a privateer, afterwards sailed as second mate to the West Indies, and arriving at Barbadoes, was impressed into the British navy. Here he deserted, and the next vessel on which he engaged being captured by the Spaniards, he was for nineteen months a prisoner of war at Havana. Soon after his exchange he was a second time impressed, and, deserting again, reached Charleston, A. C. In 1785 he taught school in the back settlements of Carolina. Revisiting England, he became acquainted with Mr. Wesley, and after his return to this country in 1789 he became an itinerant preacher in Georgia. Finally he became a Baptist, and a member of the so-called "Baptized Church of Christ," or "Friends of Humanity," on account of their opposition to slavery. Remaining a few months in the "Florida Parishes," Louisiana, where he preached almost daily and with great acceptance, he traveled to Illinois on foot, and in 1811 revisited Louisiana, preaching wherever he had an opportunity, and travelling great distances, always on foot. He died in St. Louis Co., Mo., Oct. 11th, 1833. Sprague, Annals, 6, 490.