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- Sherrill Joseph CLARKE was the
eldest child born to Alvit and Sarah DAVIS
- CLARKE.
He was born in Plainview, Otsego Co., N.Y., December 8, 1827.
At nine-thirty on Wednesday morning, November 9, 1921, while
sitting in his easy chair, suddenly and quietly he slipped away
into his eternal rest, just as a ripened leaf releases its hold
upon the parent stem and silently flutters to its place among
those who have fallen. His going was "a beautiful taking
off."
- He is survived by two sons, Irving
Benton of Milton Junction, Judson Dwight, of
- Milton, and a daughter, Ann Cora of
Milton; five grandchildren, Mrs. Alice CRANDALL, of Los
Angeles, Cal.; Howard I. CLARKE, of Arlington, Cal.; Roy
C. CLARKE, of Minneapolis; Harlow and Walton, of Milton;
eight great grandchildren, and by two brothers, Wellington, of
Milton, and Henry, of Waterloo, Iowa.
- Sherrill because he was the eldest
of the family of ten children, had to take a big share
- in the support of the large family.
Wages were low, products were cheap and the maintenance of the
home required the closest economy and the utmost united efforts
of the able-bodied members of the household. Sherrill had an
aptitude for mechanics and found employment in shops and sometimes
in the old-fashioned upright sawmills. Often he rolled logs into
the sluice and tended the saws until long into the night while
"the head of the water was on". Because he was so employed
and his help was so much needed at home, his schooling was limited
to a few terms in the district schools. Before he came west he
was employed in the woodworking shops of John Babcock, of Leonardsville,
N.Y. 'Twas here, as he used to relate, that he built one thousand
and fifty of the revolving wooden horse rakes which were in great
demand by the farmers in that vicinity.
- On October 13, 1852, Sherrill was married
to Miss Harriet SAUNDERS, the eldest
- daughter of Spicer SAUNDERS,
of Plainfield Center, N.Y. This devoted couple began their homemaking
in Leonardsville where they lived four years. In 1856 they came
to Wisconsin and established a home south-east of Milton on a
farm purchased by Deacon Levi BOND, a part of which is
now owned by James Bennett. Ten years later they built a home
on the farm now owned by their son Dwight. In 1904 they moved
to the village of Milton to the home in which each of them died.
For more than sixty-four years they lived together, interested
in every progressive helpful cause, devoted to each other, their
family, to religious and spiritual objects. Mrs. CLARKE
died January 23, 1917.
- Brother CLARKE early expressed
his determination to live a Christian life. It was
- during the pastorate of Elder William
B. MAXSON that he publically professed Christ and became
a member of the First Brookfield Seventh Day Baptist Church at
Leonardsville. He brought his letter of membership with him when
he came to Milton and entered into the activities of the church.
Full heartedly and conscientiously he has, in this relationship,
honored his God, his Christian profession, and the church to
which he was earnestly devoted.
- In his youth he was passionately fond
of music and was a singer of no mean ability.
- While he was living in central New
York he became one of a male quartet who styled themselves the
"New York Harmonians". They were in especial demand
for temperance rallies and campaigns. Mr. Clarke was choirister
of the Milton church for twenty-five years and helped establish
and maintain a high standard of church music.
- Politically, for the greater part of
his life, he was a staunch supporter of the temperance
- movement and an ardent uncompromising
third-party prohibitionist. He early signed the pledge of the
"Washingtonian Movement". "He came to believe
that the saloon was a public curse; that to license a public
evil by taking money is a weak and nonsensical way to decrease
crime and misery and to elevate morally the people of any nation".
- Mr. and Mrs. CLARKE were loyal
supporters of the cause of education. At one
- time when Milton College was in financial
straits they mortgaged their farm to obtain money to help relieve
the distress of the college.
- Some of the outstanding characteristics
of his life were, his self-reliance, his absolute
- integrity, his honest effort to be
on the square with himself, with his family, with his fellow-men
and with his God. He showed at all times an unhesitating and
an uncompromising hostility towards all forms of evil. He never
sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Unswervingly he adhered
to the Bible, the Sabbath, truth and righteousness.
- Farewell services were held at the
church on Sabbath afternoon, November 12, 1921.
- Elder George W. BURDICK spoke
of Mr. CLARKE's loyalty to principle. Pastor E. D. VAN
HORN offered prayer. Pastor JORDAN read messages from
the Scriptures and made a brief address. The songs which the
male quartet (C. A. NELSON, Leslie BENNETT, Prof.
G. CRANDALL and Prof. A. E. WHITFORD) sang had
years before been selected by Mr. CLARKE for the service.
Henry N. Jordan [Vol. 91, No. 25, pp. 777-778]
-
- Courtesy of Jon Saunders
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