CLARKE, Joseph (c. 1818-after 1901) and Sarah (c. 1827-1898)

Active laypersons, administrators, and pioneer educators among freedmen of Texas. First mentioned in the Review in 1855, Joseph and Sarah Clarke were farmers in Portage, Ohio. There is some evidence that both of them also taught school in the vicinity. Joseph Clarke was perhaps best known for the scores of short, practical articles that he contributed to the Review and Youth's Instructor for more than 40 years. In Ellen White's only preserved letter to Joseph Clarke she affirmed him in his writing ministry: “Much of your time, I was shown, would be occupied in writing, and improving opportunities of doing good to others.” He also served as secretary of the Ohio Conference in the 1860s and of the Missouri Conference in the 1880s.1EGWLM 809.4

Sarah Clarke served as secretary of the Missouri Tract Society in the early 1880s. In 1878, with the blessing of the General Conference, but self-financed, the Clarkes opened a small school for freedmen in Dallas County, Texas, one of the very earliest such ventures by Seventh-day Adventists. After leaving Texas the following year, they settled near Lowry City, Missouri. In 1885 the Clarkes headed up the city mission in St. Louis, Missouri, for some months.1EGWLM 809.5

See: Obituary, “Mrs. Joseph Clarke,” Review, Mar. 1, 1898, p. 146; 1850 U.S. Federal Census, “Joseph Clark,” Ohio, Wood County, Liberty, p. 129; 1880 U.S. Federal Census, “Joseph Clark,” Missouri, St. Claire County, Butler, p. 19; search terms “Joseph Clarke” and “Sarah Clarke” in Review and Herald online collection, www.adventistarchives.org; Ellen G. White, Lt 9, 1868 (Mar. 22).1EGWLM 810.1