Evening Bulletin, San Francisco, December 20, 1880, p. 3, col. 4
Marriages
CLARK—DUTCHER—In this city, December 18 [1880], by Rev. Dr. Scott, Frederick A. Clark, U.S. Geological Survey, to Sarah L. Dutcher.
How and when Sarah Dutcher, a future wife of Frederick Clark, has reached California, remains unknown. She doesn't appear to be registered in the U.S. Census of 1870. San Francisco directories show her in the city for the first time in the edition printed in April of 1874, and her last listing is in April of 1880. During most of those years she lived in the Hubbard House (139 Fourth Street, S.F.). While her name in official documents is usually quoted as Sarah, in the San Francisco directories she is presented as "Miss Sallie L. Dutcher", or simply, "Miss S. L. Dutcher". Her occupation is listed as "saleswoman with Carleton E. Watkins" in April 1874 and March 1875. It appears that her job brought her to Yosemite in the summmer of 1875. Shirley Sargent in her Pioneers in Petticoats, published in 1966, describes her as "a San Franciscan who sold Watkins' photographs in the valley". No source for this statement was given. Her Half Dome ascent took place shortly after her 31st birthday. In April 1876, Sarah's job description in the San Francisco Directory is "photographic retoucher", but in March 1877 and April 1879, she is again a "saleswoman with Carleton E. Watkins" (there was no listing for her in the February 1878 Directory). In April of 1880 she runs a gallery connected to Watkins, and is listed as an "agent for Watkins' photographic views, 8 Montgomery [Street], room 1".
In the Census of 1880, taken in June, Sarah is listed as "Sarah Dutcher, age 33, single, born in Australia from English parents, working in a 'photograph. gallery', home address 139 Fourth str." It was by no means unusual that people would present themselves younger than they actually were in census data. Sarah's true age at the time of the census was probably 35, not 33. She was still single, but that was going to change soon. On December 18, 1880, she married Frederick Clark, a recently appointed full time employee of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Evening Bulletin, San Francisco, December 20, 1880, p. 3, col. 4
Marriages
CLARK—DUTCHER—In this city, December 18 [1880], by Rev. Dr. Scott, Frederick A. Clark, U.S. Geological Survey, to Sarah L. Dutcher.
Among things that could have brought Sarah and Frederick together, it is easy to identify two: They both knew and esteemed Watkins, and they both shared love for mountains. Sarah clearly was an adventerous outdoorswoman, and Frederick, in his capacity of a topographer, had made trips and climbs all over California and the South West. At the time of their marriage, Sarah was about 35, and Frederick about 40 years old. It appears that this was the first marriage for both.
Fred was a native of La Porte, Indiana, born in June 1840.
He was one of many children in the family of Amzi and Harriet Clark.
During the 1860 Census, he was a student, but we don't know which school
and which specialty had he chosen.
In the fall of 1864, Clarence King
desperately needed more helping hands in order to complete
his Yosemite Survey in time, and he borrowed a young man
(a budding civil engineer?) Frederick A. Clark from Mariposa Mining Company.
Interactions between Clark and King are thoroughly described in
Clarence King's Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada, first
printed in 1872. The book not only describes Clark's participation
in the Yosemite Survey, but also Frederick Clark's trip with King
to Mount Shasta in 1870. At that time,
Mount Shasta came in focus of King's interest. In
the fall of that year he assembled a party which consisted of
geologists Arnold Hague and Samuel Emmons, clerks O. L. Palmer
and Albert Clark, and topographers Frederick Clark and Allen Wilson. King also
engaged the Yosemite-famous photographer Carlton Watkins
and invited the landscape painter Gilbert Munger as an unpaid
expedition guest. Watkins' frequently reproduced photo from that
Shasta trip is now in the Special Collections at
Stanford University Libraries. A detail of that photo,
showing Frederick Clark testing his equipment, is attached. (Importance of
Gilbert Munger's presence on that trip will be discussed below).
Between 1874 and 1876, Clark was working all over the South West
for Wheeler's "West of the One Hundreth Meridian Survey"
(see annual reports of the Wheeler Survey,
for years ending June 30, 1875, and June 30, 1876).
Since George M. Wheeler was an officer
of the Corps of Engineers, Frederick was surrounded by
military personnel on these missions, and was directly working
(as a civilian employee) under Lieutenant Rogers Birnie, Jr. (1874),
Lieutenant Charles C. Morrison (1875), and Lieutenant Eric Bergland (1876).
A long article in the New York Times of July 3, 1875, p. 3,
describes C. C. Morrison's division of the Wheeler expedition, and
mentiones Clark: "The outfit consists of nine men and twenty-two mules,
the men including Mr. Frederick A. Clark the topographer, a meteorologist, and
the Times correspondent..."
This experience may have incited Clark to join the Army Corps of Engineers and
pursue, at least briefly, a military career.
In 1877/78, Frederick may have been assigned to a project of surveying
the area of the Hot Springs of Arkansas. An article in Volume 61 of the
Harper's New Monthly Magazine from 1877/78, p. 210, describes that
project, and states that "the corps of engineers and surveyors is in charge of
Major Frederick A. Clark".
I hope that there were no two surveyors with the
same name Frederick A. Clark
in that era, but I don't have any independent source
that would confirm or explain Frederick's new rank "Major".
However, there are indirect indications that "Major Clark"
was the same person as Frederick Clark from King's Survey in 1864.
Documents show that Major Clark was actively corresponding with
Frederick Law Olmsted at the time of the Hot Springs survey
(see, e.g., Jacob Weidenmann, by Rudy J. Favretti, pp. 99-100).
On the other hand, we know that
Olmsted used to be the supervisor of the Mariposa Company,
when Fred Clark from the Company was "on loan" to Clarence King's team.
Fred A. Clark, together with Gustavus R. Bechler,
also produced the first topographic (with contour lines) map of the
Teton Range in 1878.
We have the following description of Clark from the time immediately before his marriage to Sarah. It was written by his assistant, Alonzo Welles (see Reminiscent ramblings, by A. M. Welles, Denver, 1905, p. 167):
The Major was a man now approaching middle age and had spent many years upon the survey under Hayden, Wheeler and Powell. He was rather slight in build, though decidedly erect. He wore a dark moustache and beard of medium length. The beard was parted in the middle, after the style of a German field marshal, and brushed so abruptly apart that each particular hair occupied a position at absolutely right angles to its line of natural growth. In fact, the Major was noticeably a la militaire in all his movements and appearance, and as it developed later, in his system of operations also...
When Clarence King became the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey in mid 1879, he appointed Fred A. Clark on July 9, 1879, as a topographer at the anual salary of $2,500 [King's salary was $6,000 per year; from the U.S. Geological Survey Annual Report, 1880]. Clark was then immediately assigned (July 17, 1879) to a two-year project of topographical survey of Eureka, Nevada. The Census of 1880 found him still in Eureka, and he is described as single, age 40, born in Indiana, working as "Topographer USGS". His wedding to Sarah probably had to wait until that work has been completed. In a letter from Eureka, Nevada, of September 30, 1880, Arnold Hague wrote to King: "...The topographical party, under Mr. F. A. Clark, is well organized, field work is progressing rapidly, and will be completed, unless the weather proves exceptionally bad, by the 20th of December [1880]". [Annual Report, cited above, pp. 31-32]. Apparently, the weather had cooperated, because Clark's wedding took place two days before that deadline. There are no listings of Clark in San Francisco Directories in 1879 or 1880 (or earlier), but in 1881, he is presented as "Clark Frederick A., topographer [with] U.S. Geological Survey, 320 California, room 13, r[esidence] Occidental Hotel". Sarah is not listed, but we can assume that the young bride was also living in "Occidental". In an article on the occassion of the 75th anniversary of the U.S. Geological Survey, published in Science Vol. 119, May 28, 1954, pp. 741-758, by John C. Rabbitt and Mary C. Rabbitt, short biographies of all early employees of USGS were given. There is only a brief note about Clark (p. 747): "Fred A. Clark, topographer, began making triangulation, leveling, and topographic surveys in the Eureka district, Nevada, under general supervision of Arnold Hague [who was geologist-in-charge, with headquarters in San Francisco]". The Rabbitts probably didn't have much luck in tracing Mr. and Mrs. Fred Clark.
The San Francisco Directory entry from 1881 is his last
mention of Clark that I know of, for the next seven years. Where was he?
Where was Sarah? Did they have any children? Was Sarah traveling with him
around the country? All those questions remain unanswered.
In 1888, a civil engineer and surveyor with the name Frederick
Clark reappears in San Francisco directories. He has an office
at 420 California, where several other surveyors had their
places of business. If we dismiss the possibility of two
different Frederick A. Clarks in the same line of business,
then surveyor Clark, Sarah's husband,
must be the same Clark that showed up in the
1888 Directory. Frederick apparently no
longer works for the U.S. Geological Survey, and lists his profession as
"civil engineer". And he is single again!
Did Sarah die in the intervening years,
or did the marriage end with a separation? I couldn't find any clues
in San Francisco newspapers. We only know that
Fred A. Clark and Mary A. Clements were united in matrimony on
January 24, 1888. This was a second marriage for both. Mary was previously
married to Robert Clements,
and had a daughter Pearl, born 1877 in San Francisco, from the first marriage.
On January 6, 1897, the Los Angeles Times, p. 7,
prints a letter signed by "Maj. Fred A. Clark, San Francisco" on how to
improve the Griffith Park. In the letter he again recalls his former
supervisor from Mariposa Company, and calls him "my friend Fred Law
Olmstead[!], 'father of American parks'..."
In April of 1897, his title in the San Francisco Directory
is expanded to "Clark, Frederick A Major, civil, hydraulic and
mining engineer and U.S. deputy mineral surveyor, 420 California, room 17".
He would keep that office space until at least 1903. According to
San Francisco Directories, he also
rents appartments in various luxury boarding houses in San Francisco, e.g.,
at 980 Pine, 1110 Sacrament, or at 30 Post. In some of the years between
1888 and 1903, his residence is simply listed as "Oakland",
where he probably had a permanent home.
During the 1900 Census, he indeed lives in Oakland,
at 811 East Twenty-second Street, and he is a widower (again?).
His stepdaughter, Pearl, lives with him. Pearl is now 22. Her occupation
is not listed in the Census. During the same Census, Frederick may also
have been registered in San Francisco, but the census taker apparently
only had a second-hand information about Clark, and didn't meet him personally.
That could explain wrong biographical data on the census page.
The census taker registered him on June 11, 1900, in a boarding house
for well-to-do singles at 30 Post Street
as "Alfred F. Clark, born in March 1845 in New York, widower, and 'surveyor'".
I couldn't find any note about Mary A. Clark's
death (or divorce) in San Francisco newspapers.
On March 3, 1904, a brief note in the San Francisco Call, p. 14, col. 7,
announces: "Bankrupt Engineer. Frederick A. Clark,
civil engineer, San Francisco, filed a petition in insolvency yesterday in
the United States District Court. He owes $2534 and has no assets".
The Census of 1910 finds him living with Pearl's family in Brooklyn
(she is now Mrs. George A. Lewthwaite). Frederick died on December 13, 1920,
in New York. Pearl's descendants allegedly kept Fred's family Bible, annotated
with many important dates from his life. This document, if found,
would shed more light on Frederick and Sarah Dutcher Clark's lives and deaths.
The following recent lead is perhaps worth investigating, and possibly could help learning more on Frederick's marriages, and about his wifes' fates. Michael Schroeder, who is an authority in Gilbert Munger's work, talks about Munger's trip to Shasta with Clarence King and Frederick Clark in 1870, and adds that "both King and Clark would later become collectors of Munger's paintings". A catalogue of Munger's oils, indeed has the following note about the painting entitled Yosemite Valley from Old Inspiration Point: "This painting descended in the family of Frederick Clark, a member of the King geological survey with Munger, to the current owners". I don't know who are the current owners, but once they are located, they would perhaps know more about the original owner.
Another possible lead is also related to that Shasta trip, on which Clarence King was accompanied by Frederick Clark. In his Mountaineering..., King lists two Clarks on that trip: Frederick, and Albert B. Clark, a clerk who would serve also as barometric observer. King doesn't elaborate about possible relationship between two Clarks, but a note in the Yreka Union on September 28, 1870, p. 3, identifies, among other members of King's team, "two brothers named Clark". Census data from 1850 and 1860 confirm that Albert B. Clark was Frederick A. Clark's younger brother. Albert's descendants would perhaps know more about Frederick. I haven't pursued any of those two leads yet.
