Jerome Bayard Clark (April 5, 1882 – August 26, 1959) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Early life

Born on Phoebus Plantation near

Elizabethtown, North Carolina Elizabethtown is a town in Bladen County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,296 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Bladen County. History Some hold Elizabethtown is named for Elizabeth, the wife of George Carteret, ...

, Clark attended

Davidson College Davidson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after American Revolutiona ...

, 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 provisional chapters across the United States and abroad with over 15,500 undergraduate mem ...

fraternity, and the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

, 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 entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

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-Ameri ...

in 1920 and continued the practice of law, serving as a member of the State Democratic committee from 1909 to 1919 and, later, as a member of the North Carolina State Judicial Conference from 1924 to 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 Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

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 Cross Creek Cemetery is a cemetery located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, near a creek of that name that "meanders for more than a mile from downtown Fayetteville to the Cape Fear River." It was established in 1785. The cemetery is organized ...

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 members of the United States House of Representatives 20th-century members of the North Carolina General Assembly