CLARK PRESTON, an honored citizen and representative agriculturist of Somerset township, is a native of the same, having been born October 16, 1837, a son of John Preston and grandson of Bernard Preston. Bernard Preston was born April 29, 1754, in Maryland, and was reared on the home place in his native State. On May 7, 1776, he was united in marriage with Mary Preston, also a native of Maryland, born March 19, 1759. He followed farming, and in 1784 moved to Pennsylvania, purchasing a large tract of land in Washington county, where he and his devoted wife remained the rest of their lives, rearing the following children: Sarah, Nathan, Jacob, Samuel, Anna, Elizabeth, Daniel, Jonathan, Silas, Bernard and John. The parents of this family were members of the M. E. Church; the old church building of that denomination being on the farm now owned and occupied by our subject.
John Preston, the youngest son of Bernard and Mary (Preston) Preston, was reared on the home farm, and early in life was married to Margaret, daughter of Robert and Jane Clark, the latter of whom died in 1866. To this union were born five children, viz.: Mary J. (deceased wife of Dr. W. L. S. Willes, of Washington county, Penn.),Clark (subject of sketch), Loammi (deceased), John F. (living in Neosho county, Kans.), and Lacy A. (unmarried), a resident of Monongahela City, Penn. The father died September 24, 1884, the mother in 1851, the former a member of the M. E. Church, the latter a Presbyterian.
Clark Preston grew to manhood on the home farm, receiving a common-school education. In 1862 he enlisted in Company D, Ringgold Battalion, P. V. C., was honorably discharged, and is now drawing a pension. On September 18, 1867, he was married to Catherine C. Teeple, who was born September 22, 1844, in Washington county, Penn., daughter of Isaac and Margaret (Williams) Teeple, both also natives of Washington county, and they had nine children: Thomas (a farmer of Neosho county, Kans.), Theodore (a farmer of Carroll township, Washington county), Catherine C. (wife of Clark Preston), Sarah (unmarried), Emma S. (married to A. J. Hess, a farmer of Fallowfield township, this county), Adda T. (wife of Robert McKee, deceased farmer of Allegheny county), and Josephine T. (wife of Thomas Edgar); the others died in infancy. The father died in 1881, a member of the Presbyterian Church; the mother passed away in 1868, an adherent of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Clark and Catherine C. (Teeple) Preston have had the following children: Clyde A., born July 27, 1868; Harry A., born September 26, 1869; Metta M., born July 19, 1871; Theodore A., born March 17, 1873; Isaac C., born February 28, 1875; Vance L. G., born October 28, 1876, and Cooper M., born August 27, 1879. Mr. Preston is not interested in political questions, but votes the Republican ticket and takes an active part in all matters pertaining to church or school; he has served fifteen years as school director. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. The home farm consists of 140 acres of land, in a high state of cultivation, upon which is erected a comfortable two-story dwelling, also a commodious barn and substantial outbuildings.
Text taken from page 1248 of:
Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893).Transcribed February 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project.
Published February 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.[ [Back to Beers Table of Contents] [Back to Beers Project Page]