My grandfather, John Robert was born in Sanilac County, Michigan, the son of Moses Earl & Maria Stacy. He married Della Nancy Woodruff 10 Nov 1901. They had six children, Lola, Olive "Irene", John "Jack", Leota "Florence" (my mother), Arthur & Eldon "James".
Source: Newspaper Article (1958)
ONLY TWO MORE SALES AND HE'S OUT OF BUSINESS
"Two more tractors to sell and I'm out of the farm implement business," says John R. Clark of Colfax. And he's quite happy about it, because he's been selling them for 40 years and he feels he's just about entitled to semi-retirement.
Than's right--semi-retirement for although he's 78 years old, Mr. Clark has no notion of going out of business altogether. He wouldn't know what to do with himself if he didn't have his little village hardware and confectionery store to look after.
As long as I make a few dollars a day and get my old age pension, I'll get by," he declared. "And I don't owe anyone a cent".
Mr. Clark has two sons and three daughters, all of whom would be glad to have him join them in his native Michigan, but he won't consider it. He's spent the better part of his life in Saskatchewan, and this is where he's staying.
In all his years on the prairie --since 1908--Mr. Clark has never tried his hand at farming, because, he says, he attempted it for a few years in Michigan, just after he was married, but after having his crop drowned out in two successive years, he vowed, to use his own words, "Henceforth and forever more, no more farming."
DELIVERED TO FORD
Leaving his farm at what is now Peck, Michigan, Mr. Clark and his wife went to Detroit (1906-1907), where he took a job delivering coal and coke, and it tickles him to think that one of his steady customers was a man who has since become world-famous. This customer was building horseless buggies, in the face of much criticism, and was just switching over, in those days, from the one-engine chain drive "one-lungers" to a revolutionary new model known as the Model T. The customer, of course, was none other than the late Henry Ford.
But working for wages, and paying it all out in carfare and rent was not for John Clark, and after a few years of it, he joined the trek to the northwest, got off the train at Yellow Grass in 1908, and has been in this district ever since.
He started off plowing and threshing, then opened a blacksmith shop (I have a horseshoe made in his blacksmith shop), and combined it with implement sales during the 1930's. This was his livelihood until eight years ago, when at 70, he found he couldn't swing the hammer hard enough any more, and gave up this phase of the operation.
Since his wife passed away in 1944, Mr. Clark has found things rather quiet, for all five of his children went job-hunting in the 30's, and all of them settled in Michigan. One of them, James, is an organ salesman and repairman in the city of Detroit (Vice President/Sales-Smiley Brothers), John R., Jr. is with a bus company in the same city (Mechanic for the Transportation Department/City of Detroit), Mrs. Lola Grant is married to a hotelman in Lexington, Sanilac County, Michigan (Colonial Inn), Mrs. Irene McNulty is married to an electrician (later owned McNulty Electric, Lexington), and Mrs. Florence Wilber is a nurse. Both are in Detroit.
The oldest of eight children, Mr. Clark has survived them all, and he says he's a long way from through yet. "If I can survive the diet the doctor put me one, and lose a few pounds," he claims, "I'm good for another 20 years at least".
.......................................................................... ......................................................
John R. Clark died shortly after article was written, on October 1, 1958 and is buried, with his wife, in the Colfax Cemetery, Colfax, Sask., Canada
THE FUNERAL
Funeral Service will be held from Colfax United Church, Saturday, October 4, 1958 at 2:00 p.m. Rev. Ross Stewart will officiate. Interment in Colfax Cemetery. Friends and acquaintances please accept this intimation. Cleland's Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
Certificate of Birth listing Moses Clark (Father/Farmer) and Maria Stacey (Mother) County of Sanilac, Village or City of Marion.
Source: Newspaper Article (1958)
ONLY TWO MORE SALES AND HE'S OUT OF BUSINESS
"Two more tractors to sell and I'm out of the farm implement business," says John R. Clark of Colfax. And he's quite happy about it, because he's been selling them for 40 years and he feels he's just about entitled to semi-retirement.
Than's right--semi-retirement for although he's 78 years old, Mr. Clark has no notion of going out of business altogether. He wouldn't know what to do with himself if he didn't have his little village hardware and confectionery store to look after.
As long as I make a few dollars a day and get my old age pension, I'll get by," he declared. "And I don't owe anyone a cent".
Mr. Clark has two sons and three daughters, all of whom would be glad to have him join them in his native Michigan, but he won't consider it. He's spent the better part of his life in Saskatchewan, and this is where he's staying.
In all his years on the prairie --since 1908--Mr. Clark has never tried his hand at farming, because, he says, he attempted it for a few years in Michigan, just after he was married, but after having his crop drowned out in two successive years, he vowed, to use his own words, "Henceforth and forever more, no more farming."
DELIVERED TO FORD
Leaving his farm at what is now Peck, Michigan, Mr. Clark and his wife went to Detroit (1906-1907), where he took a job delivering coal and coke, and it tickles him to think that one of his steady customers was a man who has since become world-famous. This customer was building horseless buggies, in the face of much criticism, and was just switching over, in those days, from the one-engine chain drive "one-lungers" to a revolutionary new model known as the Model T. The customer, of course, was none other than the late Henry Ford.
But working for wages, and paying it all out in carfare and rent was not for John Clark, and after a few years of it, he joined the trek to the northwest, got off the train at Yellow Grass in 1908, and has been in this district ever since.
He started off plowing and threshing, then opened a blacksmith shop (I have a horseshoe made in his blacksmith shop), and combined it with implement sales during the 1930's. This was his livelihood until eight years ago, when at 70, he found he couldn't swing the hammer hard enough any more, and gave up this phase of the operation.
Since his wife passed away in 1944, Mr. Clark has found things rather quiet, for all five of his children went job-hunting in the 30's, and all of them settled in Michigan. One of them, James, is an organ salesman and repairman in the city of Detroit (Vice President/Sales-Smiley Brothers), John R., Jr. is with a bus company in the same city (Mechanic for the Transportation Department/City of Detroit), Mrs. Lola Grant is married to a hotelman in Lexington, Sanilac County, Michigan (Colonial Inn), Mrs. Irene McNulty is married to an electrician (later owned McNulty Electric, Lexington), and Mrs. Florence Wilber is a nurse. Both are in Detroit.
The oldest of eight children, Mr. Clark has survived them all, and he says he's a long way from through yet. "If I can survive the diet the doctor put me one, and lose a few pounds," he claims, "I'm good for another 20 years at least".
.......................................................................... ......................................................
John R. Clark died shortly after article was written, on October 1, 1958 and is buried, with his wife, in the Colfax Cemetery, Colfax, Sask., Canada
THE FUNERAL
Funeral Service will be held from Colfax United Church, Saturday, October 4, 1958 at 2:00 p.m. Rev. Ross Stewart will officiate. Interment in Colfax Cemetery. Friends and acquaintances please accept this intimation. Cleland's Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
Certificate of Birth listing Moses Clark (Father/Farmer) and Maria Stacey (Mother) County of Sanilac, Village or City of Marion.
My grandfather, John Robert was born in Sanilac County, Michigan, the son of Moses Earl & Maria Stacy. He married Della Nancy Woodruff 10 Nov 1901. They had six children, Lola, Olive "Irene", John "Jack", Leota "Florence" (my mother), Arthur & Eldon "James".
Source: Newspaper Article (1958)
ONLY TWO MORE SALES AND HE'S OUT OF BUSINESS
"Two more tractors to sell and I'm out of the farm implement business," says John R. Clark of Colfax. And he's quite happy about it, because he's been selling them for 40 years and he feels he's just about entitled to semi-retirement.
Than's right--semi-retirement for although he's 78 years old, Mr. Clark has no notion of going out of business altogether. He wouldn't know what to do with himself if he didn't have his little village hardware and confectionery store to look after.
As long as I make a few dollars a day and get my old age pension, I'll get by," he declared. "And I don't owe anyone a cent".
Mr. Clark has two sons and three daughters, all of whom would be glad to have him join them in his native Michigan, but he won't consider it. He's spent the better part of his life in Saskatchewan, and this is where he's staying.
In all his years on the prairie --since 1908--Mr. Clark has never tried his hand at farming, because, he says, he attempted it for a few years in Michigan, just after he was married, but after having his crop drowned out in two successive years, he vowed, to use his own words, "Henceforth and forever more, no more farming."
DELIVERED TO FORD
Leaving his farm at what is now Peck, Michigan, Mr. Clark and his wife went to Detroit (1906-1907), where he took a job delivering coal and coke, and it tickles him to think that one of his steady customers was a man who has since become world-famous. This customer was building horseless buggies, in the face of much criticism, and was just switching over, in those days, from the one-engine chain drive "one-lungers" to a revolutionary new model known as the Model T. The customer, of course, was none other than the late Henry Ford.
But working for wages, and paying it all out in carfare and rent was not for John Clark, and after a few years of it, he joined the trek to the northwest, got off the train at Yellow Grass in 1908, and has been in this district ever since.
He started off plowing and threshing, then opened a blacksmith shop (I have a horseshoe made in his blacksmith shop), and combined it with implement sales during the 1930's. This was his livelihood until eight years ago, when at 70, he found he couldn't swing the hammer hard enough any more, and gave up this phase of the operation.
Since his wife passed away in 1944, Mr. Clark has found things rather quiet, for all five of his children went job-hunting in the 30's, and all of them settled in Michigan. One of them, James, is an organ salesman and repairman in the city of Detroit (Vice President/Sales-Smiley Brothers), John R., Jr. is with a bus company in the same city (Mechanic for the Transportation Department/City of Detroit), Mrs. Lola Grant is married to a hotelman in Lexington, Sanilac County, Michigan (Colonial Inn), Mrs. Irene McNulty is married to an electrician (later owned McNulty Electric, Lexington), and Mrs. Florence Wilber is a nurse. Both are in Detroit.
The oldest of eight children, Mr. Clark has survived them all, and he says he's a long way from through yet. "If I can survive the diet the doctor put me one, and lose a few pounds," he claims, "I'm good for another 20 years at least".
.......................................................................... ......................................................
John R. Clark died shortly after article was written, on October 1, 1958 and is buried, with his wife, in the Colfax Cemetery, Colfax, Sask., Canada
THE FUNERAL
Funeral Service will be held from Colfax United Church, Saturday, October 4, 1958 at 2:00 p.m. Rev. Ross Stewart will officiate. Interment in Colfax Cemetery. Friends and acquaintances please accept this intimation. Cleland's Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
Certificate of Birth listing Moses Clark (Father/Farmer) and Maria Stacey (Mother) County of Sanilac, Village or City of Marion.
Source: Newspaper Article (1958)
ONLY TWO MORE SALES AND HE'S OUT OF BUSINESS
"Two more tractors to sell and I'm out of the farm implement business," says John R. Clark of Colfax. And he's quite happy about it, because he's been selling them for 40 years and he feels he's just about entitled to semi-retirement.
Than's right--semi-retirement for although he's 78 years old, Mr. Clark has no notion of going out of business altogether. He wouldn't know what to do with himself if he didn't have his little village hardware and confectionery store to look after.
As long as I make a few dollars a day and get my old age pension, I'll get by," he declared. "And I don't owe anyone a cent".
Mr. Clark has two sons and three daughters, all of whom would be glad to have him join them in his native Michigan, but he won't consider it. He's spent the better part of his life in Saskatchewan, and this is where he's staying.
In all his years on the prairie --since 1908--Mr. Clark has never tried his hand at farming, because, he says, he attempted it for a few years in Michigan, just after he was married, but after having his crop drowned out in two successive years, he vowed, to use his own words, "Henceforth and forever more, no more farming."
DELIVERED TO FORD
Leaving his farm at what is now Peck, Michigan, Mr. Clark and his wife went to Detroit (1906-1907), where he took a job delivering coal and coke, and it tickles him to think that one of his steady customers was a man who has since become world-famous. This customer was building horseless buggies, in the face of much criticism, and was just switching over, in those days, from the one-engine chain drive "one-lungers" to a revolutionary new model known as the Model T. The customer, of course, was none other than the late Henry Ford.
But working for wages, and paying it all out in carfare and rent was not for John Clark, and after a few years of it, he joined the trek to the northwest, got off the train at Yellow Grass in 1908, and has been in this district ever since.
He started off plowing and threshing, then opened a blacksmith shop (I have a horseshoe made in his blacksmith shop), and combined it with implement sales during the 1930's. This was his livelihood until eight years ago, when at 70, he found he couldn't swing the hammer hard enough any more, and gave up this phase of the operation.
Since his wife passed away in 1944, Mr. Clark has found things rather quiet, for all five of his children went job-hunting in the 30's, and all of them settled in Michigan. One of them, James, is an organ salesman and repairman in the city of Detroit (Vice President/Sales-Smiley Brothers), John R., Jr. is with a bus company in the same city (Mechanic for the Transportation Department/City of Detroit), Mrs. Lola Grant is married to a hotelman in Lexington, Sanilac County, Michigan (Colonial Inn), Mrs. Irene McNulty is married to an electrician (later owned McNulty Electric, Lexington), and Mrs. Florence Wilber is a nurse. Both are in Detroit.
The oldest of eight children, Mr. Clark has survived them all, and he says he's a long way from through yet. "If I can survive the diet the doctor put me one, and lose a few pounds," he claims, "I'm good for another 20 years at least".
.......................................................................... ......................................................
John R. Clark died shortly after article was written, on October 1, 1958 and is buried, with his wife, in the Colfax Cemetery, Colfax, Sask., Canada
THE FUNERAL
Funeral Service will be held from Colfax United Church, Saturday, October 4, 1958 at 2:00 p.m. Rev. Ross Stewart will officiate. Interment in Colfax Cemetery. Friends and acquaintances please accept this intimation. Cleland's Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
Certificate of Birth listing Moses Clark (Father/Farmer) and Maria Stacey (Mother) County of Sanilac, Village or City of Marion.
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