Dennis Clark
Dennis Clark, London, proprietor London Woolen Mills, was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, April 8, 1827. His father, Ralph Clark, was a native of Maryland, and a farmer by occupation. He came to Ohio in 1813, when eighteen years of age, locating in Fairfield County, and residing there until 1833. He then removed to the "Sandusky Plains," near Upper Sandusky, and ten years later to northern part of Greene County. In 1862, he came to London, where he died February 8, 1872 in his seventy-seventh year. He married Mary Rose, also a native of Maryland. They were married in Ohio, and the parents of ten children, four living. Mrs. Clark died in January 1879, aged eighty-three years. Our subject is the only one of the family in this county and learned his present trade when seventeen years of age, at Springfield, Ohio. He completed his trade in Dayton, and in the spring of 1850, came to London. He went into the woolen mill of C. K. Slagle, one mile north of London, on the Somerford pike, and soon after the mill was rented to a man named Fish. Two or three years later, Mr. Clark rented the mill, and ran it a few years. He then purchased it, and operated it till January 28. 1864, when it was burned down. Then, with others, he formed a stock company, and built and operated the woolen mill on the site of the present London Flouring Mill, from 1866 till 1871, it being consumed by fire in the latter year. In 1872, he erected his present mill, and has operated it to the present time with good success. Mr. Clark is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge and Encampment, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, all of London. He was formerly a Republican in politics, but of late years has been an earnest Prohibitionist. He was united in marriage, February 8, 1852, to Virginia V., daughter of C. K. Slagel (deceased). Of their ten children, six are living -- Wilbur F., married Virginia Blizzard, and resides in London; Alice May, wife of John R. Manning, of London; George W., Mary F., Albert S. and Nellie MeClimans. Mrs. Clark is also a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
From HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY - W. H. Beers [Chicago, 1883]