CLARK, JAMES BENJAMIN (1831-1908). James Benjamin Clark, Civil Warqv soldier, lawyer, and university administrator, was born in Pitt County, North Carolina, in 1831 to William and Louisa Pearce (Lanier) Clark. He attended Franklin College, Tennessee, and in 1851 entered Harvard College, where he graduated in 1855 and enrolled in the law school. In 1857 he was admitted to the bar in Jackson, Mississippi. In the spring of 1861 Clark enlisted in the Eighteenth Mississippi Regiment, C.S.A.; he served for the rest of the war and became a captain. Afterward he moved to Harrodsburg, Kentucky, where he edited a newspaper and, on November 11, 1869, married Florence Anderson. On April 9, 1875, Clark moved to Bonham, Texas, where he practiced law for ten years. On the organization of the University of Texas in 1883, Clark became a member of the board of regents. On July 1, 1885, he was named proctor and custodian general of the university, a position he held until his sudden death in Austin on December 6, 1908. Clark Field, the baseball field at the university from 1928 to 1974, was named for him.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Austin Statesman, December 7, 8, 1908. H. L. Bentley and Thomas Pilgrim, Texas Legal Directory for 1876-77 (Austin: Democratic Statesman Office, 1877). Carl John Eckhardt, One Hundred Faithful to the University of Texas at Austin (197-?). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.
Marie Giles
