Jerome Bayard Clark (April 5, 1882 – August 26, 1959) was a U.S. Representative from

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

Early life

Born on Phoebus Plantation near

Elizabethtown, North Carolina Elizabethtown is a town in Bladen County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,583 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Bladen County. History Some hold Elizabethtown is named for Elizabeth, the wife of George Carteret, wh ...

, Clark attended

Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan� ...

, where he was a member of the

Pi Kappa Alpha Pi Kappa Alpha (), commonly known as PIKE, is a college fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1868. The fraternity has over 225 chapters and colonies across the United States and abroad with over 15,500 undergraduate members over 3 ...

fraternity, and the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

, where he studied law. Clark was admitted to the bar in 1906 and commenced practice in

. He married Helen Purdie Robinson and they had four children: Martha Holton Clark, Jerome Bayard Clark Jr., Heman Robinson Clark, and Helen Purdie Clark. From 1910-1920 Clark served as president of the Bank of Elizabethtown, and in the state

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

in 1915. Clark then moved to

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-America ...

in 1920 and continued the practice of law, serving as a member of the State Democratic committee from 1909-1919 and, later, as a member of the North Carolina State Judicial Conference from 1924-1928. Clark was an avid sailor, outdoorsman and noted short story writer. Many of his tales were published in ''The Blade Journal'' under his pen name, Mr. Bide. A nature park (Clark Park) is named in his honor in Fayetteville. His portrait is displayed in the Bladen County Courthouse in Elizabethtown.

US Congress

Clark was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-first and to the nine succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1929 – January 3, 1949). Clark served as chairman of the Committee on Elections No. 1 (Seventy-second and Seventy-third Congresses). Clark was not a candidate for renomination in 1948 and he resumed the practice of law. He died in

on August 26, 1959 and is interred in Cross Creek Cemetery No. 3.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Jerome Bayard 1882 births 1959 deaths Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina Democratic Party members of the North Carolina House of Representatives Davidson College alumni University of North Carolina School of Law alumni People from Elizabethtown, North Carolina 20th-century American politicians