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Collection Dates: 1855 -- 1923
(Bulk Dates: 1860s)
2 linear ft.
This document describes a collection of materials held
by the
Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1420
Phone: 319-335-5921
Fax: 319-335-5900
e-mail: lib-spec@uiowa.edu
Posted to Internet: November 1997
Acquisition
Note:
Access
and Restrictions:
Photographs: Box 5
Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but
does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this
collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections
Department.
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The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on "Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished
Materials"
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Table of Contents
Box 1 Business and calling cards -- Correspondence, 1862
Box 2 Correspondence, 1863 -- September 1864
Box 3 Correspondence, Ocober 1864 -- March 1866
Box 4 Correspondence, April 1866 -- Incomplete dates
Box
5 Correspondence, undated -- Photographs
Originally from Pennsylvania, both the families of Tillie Wise and Sam Clark moved west. Most of the Wise family settled around Wenona Station, Illinois, which they fondly referred to as Prairie Eden. The Clarks went on to Southeast Iowa where they lived in the Mt. Pleasant/Winfield area. Before their marriage in March 1865, Matilda taught school in Pennsylvania and Illinois. Sam Clark, after teaching for a short while, took over his uncle's farm during the war. His uncle was Captain Samuel McFarland, 11th Regiment Infantry, Iowa Volunteers--Mt. Pleasant Zoaves and was later promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the 19th Iowa Volunteers. In 1864 Clark served a term as a clerk for the state legislature in Des Moines and later that year joined the 45th Regiment, Iowa Volunteers for a ninety day enlistment as a quartermaster sergeant. After their marriage he farmed near Winfield, Iowa, and became a breeder of Poland China pigs. They had three children, Edwin (1866-1867), Ella (1868- ), and Wahneetah.
Their large and close knit familes were prolific correspondents and vivid letters were exchanged, especially during the war. A number of Matilda's relatives and friends fought in the seige of Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1862 and 1863. Her nephew, Thomas Jefferson Hoge, and close friend, Will Kemp, both serving in an Illinois Regiment, were wounded during the Perryville, Kentucky, battle of Chaplin Hills (1862), part of the larger assault on Murfreesboro. Kemp, who was shot in the foot, later rejoined his regiment. Hoge's injury kept him in military hospitals for many months. He returned to duty, first with the 77th Company Invalid Corps in Kentucky, then as a lieutenant in the 125th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment. Tillie's brother, George Wise, and brother-in-law, Irv Colvin, probably belonged to the 104th Illinois Regiment. During the struggle Wise was hurt while Colvin survived without injury to take part in the Stone's River campaign of 1863. Lycurgus Grim, Matilda's nephew, was a captain in Company C, 101st U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment. His letters described Murfreesboro after the conflict. Her cousin, William Ream, who also saw action there, was later promoted to lieutenant in the 12th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment. He and his wife Hattie were frequent correspondents.
In May of 1865, George Wise was stationed in Washington D.C. where he guarded Lincoln's accused assassins. He wrote his sister a detailed description of the prisoners and his own role in the proceedings.
Other major correspondents
in the Wise-Clark family papers include Matilda's sisters, Bell Wise, Mag Colvin,
and Elizabeth Grim. Sam Clark's sisters, Jennie Grant and Debbie McClelland
were also frequent letter writers. Exchanges between friends, relations, and
business acquaintances from 1855-1923 make up the bulk of this collection.
The Wise-Clark family papers consist of two linear feet of material, primarily correspondence regarding life in rural Iowa and Illinois in the second half of the nineteenth century and Civil War experiences. The collection is arranged chronologically within alphabetical divisions. Matilda (Tillie) Wise and her husband, Samuel Andrew Clark, are the two major correspondents.
Note: See also Map Case 2, Drawer 6 for letter of October 6, 1861
Business and calling cards
Correspondence
1855 -- 18581859
1860
1861
January -- August 1862
September -- December 1862
Correspondence (cont.)
January -- April 1863May -- December 1863
January -- February 1864
March -- April 1864
May -- July 1864
August -- September 1864
Correspondence (cont.)
October -- November 1864December 1864 -- February 1865
March -- April 1865
May -- July 1865
August -- December 1865
January -- March 1866
Correspondence (cont.)
April -- August 1866September -- December 1866
1867
1868 -- 1869
1870 -- 1923
Incomplete dates
Correspondence (cont.)
Undated
Diary, 1863 -- 1875, probably Tillie Wise Clark
Infant's gown
Miscellaneous. Including checks, sketch, clippings, and evelopes of the Sam Clarks.
Music
Photographs. Including Tillie Clark, Jeff Hoge, and Sam McFarland.
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