Joseph Sylvester Clark
Joseph Sylvester Clark [1]
an eminent Congregational minister, was born of. Puritan ancestry at Manomet Ponds, South Plymouth, Mass., Dec. 19, 1800. A part of his youth was spent in teaching. He entered the academy at Amherst in 1822; in 1827 graduated from the college; in 1831 from Andover Theological Seminary, and was ordained successor to Dr. Alvan Bond at Sturbridge. His ministry there of seven years was very successful. In 1839 he was appointed secretary of, the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society,. and resigned the office in 1857. His labors in behalf of this interest were intense, and of very great value. In 1857 he was appointed corresponding secretary of the Congregational Library Association, "a position,very congenial to his taste, especially as it afforded him so good an opportunity to gather up and arrange, so as to preserve, memorials of the Puritans, in books, pamphlets, manuscripts, paintings, etc." In 1859 the association commenced the publication of the Congregational Quarterly,. and Dr. Clark was appointed one of the editors. He died at South Plymouth; Aug.' 17, 1861., Dr. Clark was noted for piety, faithfulness to every trust committed to him, and a herculean diligence. He wrote, An Historical Sketch of Sturbridge, Mass.. ( 1838, 48 pp.):- Historical Sketch of the Congregational Churches of Massachusetts, from 1620 to '1858 (1858, 12mo). He was engaged also upon a History of Amherst College. See Cong. Quarterly, 1862. p. 1; i86 . p. 384.
