From History of Jones County, Iowa, 1879, page 654, and submitted by Lori J. Mentzel

Mr. Clarke was born at Wisbeach Cambridgeshire, England, on February 22, 1877, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clarke. He and his brother Albert, came to America in 1889 and came direct to Anamosa to make there home with an uncle, Mr. J.C. Young. The Waltons, who lived in Anamosa were friends of the Clarke family in England.

Harry attended the Anamosa High School, but at the age of sixteen he became a jeweler apprentice in the Charles Weigel shop. After mastering the trade he bought the Weigel store, just thirty-one years of age, January 6, and has remained in uninterupted possession of it since.

On October 25, 1909 Miss Gesine M. Zimmerman and Mr. Clarke united in marriage. Harry has always taken part in the activities of the city. He was one of the charter members of the Wapsipinicon Country Club and has served two terms as president of the organization. At the present time he is secretary and treasurer of the Anamosa Volunteer Fire Department, of which he has been an active member for many years.

He is a member of Summer Lodge No. 92 of the Knights of Pythias and has served five years as Chancellor which entitles him to a Past Chancellor's degree. He has also served as Noble Grand of I.O.O.F., no. 40. Harry has been a member of St. Mark's Episcopal parish for thirty-seven years. He is Senior Warden, the highest lay office in that church.

From The Anamosa Eureka, in a column called "Who's Who, date unknown (probably ca. 1939) and submitted by Steve Hanken

Returning to his father's home, Mr. Clay found the family located in Hale township, Jones county, to which place they bad removed while the two young men were serving their country. This continued his residence until the spring of 1909, when he rented his farm and removed into the village of Hale.

Mr. Clay is one of a family of seven children, namely: John and William, who are deceased; D. A.; Joseph, who lives at Sioux City, Iowa; Eliza, who married Uriah Switzer and died in 1906; and George, who lives in Rome township. Mr. Clay had an elder brother by the name of George, who served in the Crimean war and died afterward in the West Indies. George Clay, the father, died in Hale township when seventy-four years old. His wife died there at the age of seventy years. By trade he was a blacksmith and in England made a practice of shoeing stage horses on a route running into London, but farmed after coming here.

On January 1, 1867, D. A. Clay married Lovisa M. Root, who was born in Connecticut, December 23, 1847. Her parents, Ozias and Emily Root, moved to Ohio while she was still young and from there came on to Iowa by ox-team, entering land in Hale township at one dollar and a quarter per acre. Ten years later they went to Nebraska, entering a homestead, and there both died. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Clay are as follows: Emma, the wife of M. P. Smith, of Marion; Josephine, the wife of Edwin Sawyer, of Cedar Rapids; Ida, the wife of James Ballou, of Clarence; Orin E., a resident of Spokane, Washington; David O., who lives at Hartley, Iowa; Lydia, the wife of Wilbur Fowlie, of Stanwood; Bertha, the wife of Louis Patton, of Yorkshire, Iowa; and Leona, at home. Two other children died in infancy.

Mr. Clay has been very successful in his work, now owning three hundred acres of land, two hundred and twenty acres being in the home farm on sections 15 and 14 and eighty acres on section 16, Hale township. For years he carried on general farming and stock raising. He began farming with sixty acres and had to grub the land before he could put it under cultivation, the timber was so heavy on it. In politics he is a republican, casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln while in the army. Mr. Clay has been road supervisor and township trustee for twelve years, and for eight years was a member of the county board of supervisors. A member of the Free Will Baptist church, he has always been prominent in its good work and is now one of its trustees and has held that position for many years. Ben Paul Post, No. 130, G.A.R., of Wyoming, claims him as one of its enthusiastic supporters, and he also belongs to the American Patriots of Wyoming. Many years have passed since this sturdy English-born man responded to the call of his adopted country and entered its service to fight for the Union, and yet the memory of those thrilling days remain with him as vividly as ever. As a private citizen he has displayed that same loyalty to law and order which characterized his action on the battlefield, and his industry and thrift have been richly rewarded not only by material advancement but by the gaining of warm personal friends and the respect and confidence of the community where he is such a well known person.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 367.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 643.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, 1879, page 662, and submitted by Lori J. Mentzel