From "Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana"

JOHN I. CLARK, farmer and stock raiser, section 18, Liberty Township, was born
in Huntington County, Indiana, August 12, 1840, the eldest son and second
child of Sargent and Eunice (Irwin) Clark, natives of Guilford County, North
Carolina. The father was born in 1813, a son of John Clark, also a native of
North Carolina, and of Scotch-Irish ancestry. The mother was a daughter of
John Irwin, a native of the same state, and the same ancestry. They removed
to Indiana in 1837, settling in Huntington County, where Mr. Clark entered
eighty acres of Government land, which he cleared and improved, and where he
passed the remainder of his days. He died November 2, 1884, an honorable,
Christian man, who won the confidence and esteem of all who know him. He was
seventy-one years of age at the time of his decease. Politically he
affiliated with the Democratic party. His wife still resides on the farm he
entered from the government in 1837, and is sixty-eight years old. Of their
eight children, four still survive. Our subject reared on a farm, and his
youth was passed in assisting his father in clearing and improving his land.
He received a common-school education, and remained at home until he attained
his majority, after which he worked out four years, then purchased his present
farm of sixty-nine acres of heavily-timbered land. He has since added to his
first purchase, and now owns 266 acres. He was married February 17, 1870, to
Miss Nancy A. Helm, daughter of George and Nancy Helm, who came from Tennessee
to Indiana about the year 1834, settling in Jefferson Township, Huntington
County, where the father passed the remainder of his days. He was elected to
many offices of trust during his life, and acquitted himself creditably. Mr
Clark settled upon a farm and has since been engaged in agriculture. Mr. and
Mrs. Clark have four children--Viola P., Rufus B., Garnet E., and Lester E.
Mr. Clark is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge at Bluffton, No.114; of the
Rebecca Lodge, No.83; Patrons of Husbandry, Salem Grange, No.760. Politically
he affiliates with the Democratic party. Although not a member of any church,
he donated the land and a good part of the timber to build one. His
improvements are among the best in the township.