Background
Sheldon Clark was born on January 31, 1785, in Oxford, Connecticut, United States and spent practically his entire life there.
Sheldon Clark was born on January 31, 1785, in Oxford, Connecticut, United States and spent practically his entire life there.
Clark had a mind of unusual vigor, and from boyhood was eager for an education; but his father having died, he was brought up by his grandfather, Thomas Clark, a hard-headed, parsimonious farmer, who regarded schooling as a waste of time. Except for a brief period of instruction at Litchfield in 1805-1806, his only opportunity to acquire knowledge was through his own reading on Sundays, stormy days, and in the long nights of winter. His respect for his grandfather’s wishes was rewarded, however, at the former’s death; for he left his grandson an estate valued at $20, 000. Being now about twenty-six years old, he went to Prof. Benjamin Silliman of Yale and asked if he might have any of the advantages of the college without being a regular member of the institution. Through the latter’s influence, he was permitted in 1811-1812 to pursue a course of study connected with President Dwight’s classes and the lectures in natural philosophy and chemistry.
Clark decided to devote his life to the encouragement of literature and sciences in the only way circumstances had made possible for him. He worked hard on the farm, he plowed his stony fields, fatted his calves, lent his money, and, spending little upon himself, accumulated thousands of dollars, all of which he devoted to the cause of education. In 1823 he gave to Yale the sum of $5, 000 to be placed at interest until it should become the foundation of a professorship. It is now the foundation of what is known as the Sheldon Clark Professorship of Philosophy. For the establishment of a scholarship Clark donated in 1824 $1, 000, to be invested and allowed to accumulate for twenty-four years. To replace, by a better one, the telescope of the college which was lost in the wreck of the packet-ship Albion in 1822, he gave sums of money amounting finally to $1, 200. In 1835 he had the satisfaction of learning that Halley’s comet had been first observed in this country through the telescope he had provided. He also remembered the college liberally in his will, becoming at his death by far the largest individual contributor thereto. He was respected and influential in his community, representing it in the General Assembly of 1825 and in several subsequent sessions. He read and wrote much, leaving behind numerous manuscripts on economic matters and more especially upon moral and metaphysical subjects; some of these had been printed and sent to eminent men. His death which came when he was but fifty-five years old was caused by a fall from a scaffolding in his barn. Letters and papers left by him are preserved in the library of Yale University.
Clark never married.