William Thomas CLARK, Congress, TX (1831-1905)

CLARK, William Thomas, a Representative from Texas; born in Norwalk, Conn., June 29, 1831; self-educated; taught school in Norwalk, Conn., in 1846; studied law in New York City; was admitted to the bar in 1855 and commenced practice in Davenport, Iowa, the same year; during the Civil War served in the Union Army; commissioned first lieutenant and adjutant of the Thirteenth Iowa Infantry November 2, 1861; successively commissioned captain and assistant adjutant general, major and adjutant general, and lieutenant colonel and assistant adjutant general; brevetted brigadier general of volunteers July 22, 1864, and major general November 24, 1865; engaged in banking in Galveston, Tex.; upon the readmission of the State of Texas to representation was elected as a Republican to the Forty-first Congress and served from March 31, 1870, to March 3, 1871; presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Forty-second Congress and served from March 4, 1871, to May 13, 1872, when he was succeeded by De Witt C. Giddings, who contested his election; postmaster of Galveston from June 19, 1872, to May 7, 1874; employed in various offices of the Government at Washington from 1876 to April 12, 1880, when he became chief clerk of the Internal Revenue Department, serving until June 30, 1883; moved to Fargo (now in North Dakota) in 1883 and continued the practice of law; also served as assistant editor of the Fargo Daily Argus; moved to Denver, Colo., in 1890 and practiced law; went to Washington, D.C., in 1898 and was employed in the Internal Revenue Service as a special inspector and served until his death in a hospital in New York City, October 12, 1905; interment in Arlington National Cemetery.

Bibliography

Avillo, Philip J., Jr. “Phantom Radicals: Texas Republicans in Congress, 1870-1873.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 77 (April 1974): 431-44.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present