Davis Wasgatt Clark

Davis Wasgatt Clark (February 25, 1812 – May 23, 1871) was an American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1864; the first President of the Freedman's Aid Society; and the namesake of Clark Atlanta University, an HBCU. Birth and early life Clark was born on Mount Desert Island, Hancock County, Maine. He was a grandson of Davis Wasgatt, a soldier of the American Revolutionary War. Influenced by the family altar, at the age of 16 he joined the first Methodist Class formed by the Rev. David Stimson on Mount Desert Island. Education Clark graduated from Kents Hill School in 1833. He then graduated from Wesleyan University of Connecticut in 1836. Ordained ministry After some years of teaching at Amenia Seminary in New York, Clark joined the traveling ministry of the New York Annual Conference in 1843. He served as pastor, educator and editor, including time spent as the editor of the Ladies' Repository, a Methodist Episcopal women's magazine. This appointment was spent in Cincinnati.