Plumas County Biographies

Stephen J. Clark 

Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Dec. 2004 

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
came from New York, and settled in Elizabethtown, where he engaged in mining. He 
was not successful, however, and turning his attention to politics, he sought 
and obtained the republican nomination for county treasurer in 1861, and was 
elected over C. T. Kaulback and W. S. Ingersoll: the former unconditional union, 
and the latter democratic. Clark was perhaps the best political organizer the 
county ever had, and no politician ever had more devoted friends or more 
inveterate enemies. The fusion between the two wings of the union party was 
ruptured at the union convention in Quincy in the summer of 1865, when Clark 
became the nominee for sheriff, defeating Elisha H. Pierce, who led the other 
wing. The result was a bolt, with another ticket, on which L. F. Cate�s name 
appeared for sheriff. Clark was defeated by Yeates, the democratic nominee, 
through a sell-out by others on the ticket.  Clark was again pitted against 
Yeates in the fall of 1867, and was defeated through the action of Overton, 
candidate for county clerk, who traded him off a second time. Soon after his 
retirement from office, Clark went to San Francisco, but returned in the 
campaign of 1869 to defeat Overton�s deputy, who was running for clerk, which he 
accomplished by hard work. He then went back to San Francisco, and obtained a 
position in the custom-house, where he remained several years. He is still 
residing in the city. Clark was as true to his friends as the needle to the 
pole, and the fidelity of his friends to him has never been excelled in the 
history of parties. 
 
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 
1513 to 1850. � Fariss and Smith, San Francisco,  1882. p 187-188

Yeates � Clark Contest
 
At the election in September, 1865, Stephen J. Clark and James H. Yeates ran for 
the office of sheriff. When the votes were canvassed, the supervisors declared 
Yeates elected by a majority of five. He qualified, and entered upon the 
discharge of the duties of the office. The majority was so small that William H. 
Knowles, a warm personal friend of Clark, commenced action for the office in the 
county court before Judge A. P. Moore. Peter Van Clief and H. L. Gear 
represented Clark, while John R. Buckbee and John D. Goodwin conducted the case 
for the defendant. The decision was in favor of Yeates, and Knowles appealed to 
the supreme court. Creed Haymond represented Yeates in the higher court, and 
secured a decision sustaining the decree of Judge Moore. This was not the end. A 
petition for rehearing was granted, and in October, 1866, the supreme court 
reversed its former judgment, and declared Clark the rightful possessor of the 
office upon a majority over Yeates of two votes. Yeates lost $1,500 in fees that 
the supervisors gave to Clark, on the ground that Yeates had not been in lawful 
possession of the office. The case created intense excitement in the county, and 
party feeling ran high; and in the following year, when Clark and Yeates were 
again pitted against each other for the same office, Clark was defeated, and 
Yeates held the office for several successive terms. 
 
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 
1513 to 1850. � Fariss and Smith, San Francisco,  1882. p 187