EMMA CLARK PAPERS

Collection

Identifier: WH1912

Staff Only

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The bulk of the correspondence in this collection consists of letters from Emma Clark to her mother, Catherine (Kate) Seavey in Maine from 1878 to 1909. Also included are correspondence from Earl and Lyster Clark, Ida Davis (Emma Clark's cousin) and friends, also to Catherine Seavey. This correspondence, too, related to Emma Clark and her life in Colorado.

SERIES 1 EMMA CLARK 1878-1909 BOX 1

In early correspondence from Black Hawk and Central City, Colorado, Emma wrote to her mother of her misery. She was tired of the mountains, afraid of Indians and struggling with health problems such as a miscarriage and a bout of spinal meningitis. Twenty years later, Emma Clark wrote to her mother from Aspen, Pitkin County, Colorado. By this time, she had two sons and was busy helping her husband in his job, working as a secretary for the School Board, raising her sons and keeping house. The detailed and descriptive correspondence ranges from 1900 to 1909, when the letters end with the Clark family still in Aspen.

SERIES 2 OTHER FAMILY AND FRIENDS 1890-1911 BOX 1

Correspondence to Catherine Seavey from Lyster and Earl Clark, niece Ida Clark and Emma Clark's neighbors comprise this series.

SERIES 3 FINANCIAL 1877-1890 BOX 1

Emma Clark's invoices and receipts (sent to her mother) constitute this series.

Dates

ACCESS:

The collection is open for research.

OWNERSHIP:

Literary and copyrights - as appropriate - have been assigned to the Denver Public Library.

PUBLICATION RIGHTS:

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from material in the collection should be discussed with the appropriate librarian or archivist. Permission for publication may be given on behalf of the Denver Public Library as the owner of the physical item. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained by the customer. The Library does not assume any responsibility for infringement of copyright or publication rights of the manuscript held by the writer, heirs, donors, or executors. Reproduction restrictions are decided on a case-by-case basis.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Emma H. Seavey Clark was born November 6, 1853 in St. George, Knox County, Maine, to Catherine (Kate) Seavey (who was apparently widowed by 1860). Emma Seavey Clark had an older brother, Charles Seavey, born about 1846 and a younger sister, Ella Seavey, born about 1856. In April 1875, Emma married Thomas O. Clark (born April 1856) in Maine. In 1879-1880, the Clarks lived in Blackhawk and Nevadaville, Gilpin County, Colorado. In 1900, they lived in Aspen, Pitkin County, Colorado. By 1910, Emma and Thomas Clark lived in Grand Junction, Mesa County, Colorado with their son Lyster. In 1920, Emma and Thomas Clark lived with Catherine Seavey, Emma's mother, in Camp Bird, Ouray, Colorado. Lyster was then married (to Mary Rose) and also living in Ouray. Emma and Thomas Clark lived in Grand Valley, Garfield County, Colorado, in 1930.

Emma and Thomas Clark had two children: Earl Thomas Clark born February 14, 1884 and Lyster F. Clark, born May 3, 1896, in Aspen.

Thomas O. Clark owned the Ore Hauling and Machinery Moving Company. His company obtained contracts for building roads, digging irrigation ditches, moving machinery and hauling in Colorado, especially on the western slope. Emma Clark acted as his business manager and secretary as well as cooking and doing laundry for the men who worked as his crew. The Clarks also leased a ranch from the railroad in Pitkin County sharing the labor and profits of growing crops until the railroad sold the land in 1909.

Emma Clark worked for the Colorado School District in Pitkin County as secretary to the School Board, a salaried position, from about 1900 to 1908. She sometimes worked as a census-taker and an election judge. She belonged to Mizpah Chapter No. 22, Order of the Eastern Star.