Edward Cabot Clark


Edward Cabot Clark was an American lawyer, businessman and investor.

Early life

Clark was born on December 19, 1811 in Athens in Greene County, New York. He was the eldest child of three sons born to Nathan Clark and Julia Clark, who married in February 1811. His younger brothers were Nathan Henry Clark, and Nathan Clark Jr., who took over their father's potter company. His father was an early settler of Athens and established the prominent and highly successful firm, Athens Pottery Works.
His maternal grandparents were from Waterbury, Connecticut and his paternal grandparents were Reuben Clark and Mary Clark.
After spending four years at the Lenox Academy in Lenox, Massachusetts where he learned Latin and Greek, in the fall of 1826 Clark began attending Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he graduated in August 1831 and later built Clark Hall.

Career

After graduation from Williams in 1831, Clark studied law with Ambrose L. Jordan in Hudson, New York, passed the bar three years later. Clark later set up a solo practice in Poughkeepsie, New York, practicing from 1833 to 1837, before becoming a partner of Jordan and moving the firm to New York City in 1838 where the firm became "the most prestigious law firm in the city."
In 1849, Clark met Isaac Merritt Singer and advised Singer in the naming and patent of his invention, the sewing machine, which "Singer assigned Edward three-eighths of it, apparently in lieu of paying legal fees that the penniless inventor could not afford." In 1851, Singer returned to Clark to defend him in patent litigation initiated by Elias Howe, who had created the lockstitch sewing machine. Later that same year, Clark and Singer co-founded the Singer Sewing Machine Company. In 1856, Clark created the hire-purchase plan, which was the first American installment plan. After Singer's death in 1875, Clark returned to the company, which had been reorganized in 1865, and guided the company to greater success as president from 1875 until his retirement in 1882.

Real estate

Personal life

On October 21, 1835, Clark married Caroline Jordan. Caroline was the daughter of Cornelia Caroline Jordan and Ambrose L. Jordan, his law partner. Together, they traveled around Europe, collecting art and renting homes, in France and in Italy where they spent a winter. Caroline and Edward were the parents of four children, three of whom predeceased him, including:
Clark died of malarial fever at his country estate in Cooperstown in Otsego County, New York on October 14, 1882. Upon his death, he left an estate estimated between $25,000,000 and $50,000,000, excluding his real estate portfolio, which he left to his grandsons. Clark bequeathed $50,000 to Williams College, $250,000 to his daughter-in-law Elizabeth, $250,000 to each of his four grandsons and left the residuary estate to his only surviving son, Alfred.

Descendants

Through his son Alfred, his only child to marry and have children, he was the paternal grandfather of: Edward Severin Clark, F. Ambrose Clark, Robert Sterling Clark, Stephen Carlton Clark.