Education, Godliness 

This fascinating chronicle of an adventuresome and persevering family begins in Colonial America and pauses, but does not end, in present-day Texas. It tells of three generations, descendants of pioneers who believed in and fostered the ideals of frugality, honest labor, worthy life, and the constant and growing need for education. Thomas Dyson Clark, patriarch of this modern Clark clan, was born in South Carolina near the end of the eighteenth century. After a misadventure, he was separated from his family, and his son's autobiography tells the struggle of a boy on the frontier who, when just barely in his teens, was forced to shoulder the responsibilities of manhood in order to help his mother, young sisters, and retarded brother. He worked hard for his education and so much liked to read that he changed his name to that of his favorite English writer, Joseph Addison. This young man was a religious skeptic when he moved to Texas shortly after it became a republic. There, after marrying Esther De Spain, he with his wife attended church with the Christians (Disciples of Christ), was converted to their beliefs, and eventually became a preacher and evangelist. But this is the story of people who were, above all else, educators. In September, 1869, Joseph Addison Clark and his sons Addison and Randolph began the Fort Worth Male and Female Seminary, an institution which changed its name and character after the Clarks had retired from its management. The story of the Clark family's tenacious fight to keep their school open against many odds-including financial reverses and prejudice-is enlightening and inspiring, and well worth reading. This narrative does not end with the Clarks' contribution to education in Texas but continues to absorb the reader until it ends with the story of the family of today-a family still writing history.