Javan Fox Clark (1852-1938)

                                       Portrait courtesy of the Lucy Bensley Center/Concord Historical Society.

  Possessing a unique first name, Javan Fox Clark was for many years at the forefront of political and business doings in his native village of Springville in Erie County, New York. A local sawmill operator, Clark was a church deacon and board of trustees member and entered politics with his service as superintendent of highways and village assessor. He earns placement here on the site for his time as village president of Springville, which he held for one term. Credit goes out to the Lucy Bensley Center and the Concord Historical Society for their aid in yielding further information on Clark, as well as the photos of both he and his wife shown in this write-up.

  A native of Ashford, Erie County, New York, Javan Fox Clark was born on August 31, 1852, the second of eight children of Frederick (1826-1906) and Corinna (Fox) Clark (1830-1913). He removed to Springville with his family at age 17, and in the early 1870s enrolled at the Griffith Institute in that village, where he excelled in arithmetic. Following graduation, he married on June 3, 1874, to Ann Elizabeth "Libbie" Churchill (1853-1925), and the couple's fifty-one-year union produced two daughters, Jessie (1877-1893) and Jennie Mabel (Clark) Glass (1879-1954). In that same year, Clark was named an overseer of highways for the town of Concord; his first public office.

  In the late 1870s Clark operated a sawmill at Morton's Corners, and in 1882 sold his property to Nicholas Bolender. Prior to its sale, Clark suffered a health scare in 1881 when he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous growth from his nose. After the sale of his mill, Clark assisted his father Frederick on the latter's farm, and in the mid-1880s is noted as dealing in "runners for log boats" on Main Street in Springville. In 1901 he was a candidate for highway commissioner for Concord and won the election that November. He served in that capacity until at least 1903 when he garnered the Republican nomination for village assessor. Described as a man "well qualified to estimate the value of property", Clark was one of three assessors elected that November, and in the year following Clark and his wife were gifted a new couch on the occasion of their thirtieth wedding anniversary. A gift from friends, the couch was followed by an ice cream and cake social.

  Javan Fox Clark was reelected as village assessor in November 1905 and continued in that post into 1909. In that year he was elected as superintendent of highways, where he served until 1911. In March 1915 he was elected as village president of Springville, and soon afterward saw a proposition voted on that saw $2000 appropriated for the "purpose of purchasing and installing a new pump in the pump station of the village waterworks."

From the Buffalo Evening News, March 17, 1915.

Libbie Clark (1853-1925), wife of Javan F. Clark. Courtesy of the Lucy Bensley Center.

  Following his term, Javan Clark is mentioned as an employee at the sawmill of L.J. Shuttleworth, and in 1917 watched as his employer's building was destroyed by fire. Also destroyed was the company's planing mill "and all the tools and machinery." No lives were lost in the fire, and through the actions of the Borden Fire Company, adjacent buildings and lumber were saved.

  In June 1924 Clark and his wife Libbie celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, a gathering that was attended by over sixty relatives and friends. The couple was gifted $100 in gold and were serenaded by piano and vocal accompaniment. Libbie Clark died one year later on August 27, 1924, and Javan never remarried following her death. The latter portion of Clark's life was spent devoted to working with the local Free Baptist Church, serving as chairman of its board of trustees. He was a church deacon for over thirty years and had first joined that church during his youth.

  Javan Fox Clark died in Springville on June 18, 1938, at age 86. He was survived by his daughter Jennie and was interred alongside his wife and daughter Jessie at the Maplewood Cemetery in Springville.

From the Springville Journal, June 30, 1938.