James West Clark
James West Clark (October 15, 1779 - December 20, 1843) was a United States Representative from North Carolina. Born in Bertie County, North Carolina to Christopher Clark, a successful sea captain and merchant. James Clark graduated from Princeton College in 1797, was a member of the State House of Commons in 1802, 1803, and 1811, and was a presidential elector on the Madison ticket in 1812. He was a member of the North Carolina Senate from 1812 to 1814 and was elected as a Republican to the Fourteenth Congress, serving from March 4, 1815 to March 3, 1817. Clark was a planter, businessman and slave owner. He owned several hundred acres of lands in North Carolina and at least 5000 acres in Dyer County, Tennessee. In 1835 he moved the bulk of his male slaves to Livingston, Alabama, where he made a substantial profit in the slave hire buisness. Clark's son, #REDIRECT Henry Toole Clark, helped his father manage the family plantations and their local business interests, which included a grist mill and operating a canal. His son would later become governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.
Clark was appointed chief clerk of the Navy Department by Secretary
John Branch and served from 1829 to 1831. He died in Tarboro, North Carolina.
References
Poteat, R. Matthew, Governor Henry Toole Clark: a biography (McFarland Press, forthcoming 2009).
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