Ezra Thompson Clark was born November 23, 1823 at Lawrence, Illinois. He was the tenth child in a family of twelve children. His parents were Timothy Baldwin Clark and Polly Keeler Clark, from Connecticut, Ohio. There were five generations of Clarks lived in that State since the immigration of George Clark from England. His grandfather, John Clark, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and his father, Timothy Baldwin Clark, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and also enlisted in the Black Hawk War. All the real schooling Ezra Thompson had was three months, except what his mother gave him.
His parents joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and moved to Missouri when he was 12 years old. He was closely related to the early history of the Church, and to the development of the State of Utah. He was a pioneer to Utah in October 1848 with his family. They settled in Farmington, Davis County and built a log cabin home. He married Mary Stevenson, May 18, 1845 his first wife. Later in 1861 he married Susan Loggett, and in 1870 married Nancy Porter Stevenson. He reared most of his large family in Farmington, Utah, but also had a ranch at Georgetown Bear Lake, Idaho.
His missionary experiences began in 1850. At the October Conference he was called on a mission to Iron County which he filled with his services and supplying wheat until released. He was very faithful and willing in missionary work. He preached the gospel and fulfilled many industrial missions. He also fulfilled a mission in England. On June 4, 1894 he was ordained a Patriarch, and he gave all of his family and many friends a Patriarchal blessing.
He died October 17, 1901 at Farmington, Utah and was buried there.
TESTIMONY OF EZRA THOMPSON CLARK
I bear you this my testimony:
“Before I left Nauvoo, I heard the Prophet Joseph say he would give the Saints a key whereby they would never be led away or deceived, and that was; the Lord would never suffer the majority of this people to be led away or deceived by imposters, nor would he allow the records of this Church to fall into the hands of the enemy. I heard Joseph say this, and I also heard him say that he would roll the burden of the Apostleship upon the Quorum of the Twelve. I heard Joseph preach many times, heard him the last sermon he ever delivered, bear testimony to the truth of the work that God had called him to. He also said that the Lord had never suffered him to be slain by his enemies because his work had not been done until a short time ago. He had now laid the foundation of this work and rolled the burden of the priesthood upon the Twelve. And having given them washings and annointings they would now bear off the work triumphantly, and it would roll on faster than ever before, and if the Lord was willing to accept of him, he was willing to go. This he spoke to the people. I was one who heard his voice and know that he spoke like an angel from Heaven. I never heard him speak with more power than then, and I have heard him many times. I was satisfied. I know him to be a prophet of God. I had heard him prophesy many times and had seen his prophecies fulfilled, and also shook hands with him and he had blessed me and I felt the influence and power of the Lord upon him and upon me, and I have never forgotten that blessing from that day to his, and I never shall. Two days later the Prophet was martyred, and two or three weeks later, when the saints held a conference and Brigham Young arose as leader of the Church, I want to bear record that he spoke as Joseph used to speak, and to all appearances, the same voice, the same gesture, and the same stature, and I bear this record to all the world and to my children, and to my children’s children, and also bear record that this work is God’s work, and that it will roll on as it has done from that day to this.
“I have never turned my face away and have always had delight in keeping the counsel of His servants in every particular. . .
I bear this testimony and wish it written that my children and my children’s children may know that I have finished my work and bear this testimony before them and all the world in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, even so, Amen.”July 24, 1901
