ABSTRACT
Charles Heber Clark was born in Berlin, Maryland, on July 11, 1841. Clark's father resettled the family in Philadelphia when Charles was fifteen. In a two-year period with the Philadelphia Inquirer Clark served as a local reporter, music critic, book reviewer, editorial writer, and author of literary "sketches". Clark eventually became a partner in the Bulletin and then sold his share in 1882 to purchase the Textile Record, a trade journal that he published and edited until 1902. Clark made his home in the village of Conshohocken on the Schuylkill River. One of his Sunday school pupils there, J. Elwood Lee, convinced Clark to invest in plans for a factory for the manufacture of medical supplies. In 1905 the company was consolidated with Johnson and Johnson of Brunswick, New Jersey, of which Clark then became a director. Clark was a major figure in Philadelphia manufacturing circles. Clark also evolved a regular cast of characters to populate his village setting.
