SAMUEL G. CLARK, Livingston County, is a native of Roane County, Tenn., and a son of George M. and Hannah (Grinnette) Clark, both parents born in the same State. His ancestors on the father's side were from North Carolina; his grandfather, John Clark, immigrating to Tennessee many years ago and settling in Roane County, where he was one of the early pioneers. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and died in the county of his adoption about 1827. George M. Clark was born in 1823. He moved to Crittenden County, Ky., in 1852, and settled in Dycusburgh, where he followed the occupation of wagon-making and blacksmithing. In 1869 he came to Livingston County, locating at Pinckneyville, where his death occurred in 1875. Hannah Clark, subject's mother, was a daughter of Samuel Grinnette, of Lynchburgh, Va. She was born in 1827, and is still living. Mr. and Mrs. George M. Clark reared a family of ten children: Caroline, Samuel G., Anna J., Martha L., Philip A., Sarah (deceased), John, William, Charles and an infant (deceased). Samuel G. Clark, our subject, was born August 6, 1847, and remained with his parents until his twenty-fourth year, learning the wagon-maker and blacksmithing trades with his father. He was educated at the common schools and at Salem Academy, and commenced life for himself as a mechanic, working at the carpenter's trade, which he learned after his eighteenth year. He followed carpentering for seven years, at the end of which time, in 1872, he purchased a farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits. Mr. Clark is in every respect a self-made man, as he commenced life with no capital, except a pair of willing arms and ready hands, backed by an untiring energy. He was married December 29, 1875, to Ellen Dorroh, daughter of C. C. and Nancy Dorroh. Five children were born to this union, viz.: Buena (deceased), Ernest R., Frank E., Clara and Emmett (deceased). In 1878 Mr. Clark was elected magistrate of Salem District, a position he still holds. He and wife are members of the Pinckneyville Baptist Church, of which he is also clerk, and in politics votes with the Democrats.
Source: J. H. Battle, W. H. Perrin, & G. C. Kniffin. Kentucky. A History of the State. Louisville, KY, Chicago, IL: Battey, 1885. Page 813.