"THE SOUTHRON"
Vol. 1, No 39, P. 3
Sept 30, 1841
 
"Obituary"
 
"died-- In this city on Tuesday last, Mrs. Louisa Clark, consort of Gen.Wm Clark.  In the death of this lady society has sustained a great loss;  but to her family this bereavement is most afflicting-- the loss irreparable; for it was in the domestic circle of a numerous and interesting family that every virtue which could adorn the life of the wife, the mother, and the Christian shone brightest.  To the fashionable world she was less known; but to her numerous friends and relatives she was indeed a jewel."
 
 

 “The Southron”
Vol. 137, No. 40, p.3
Sept. 30, 1841

Departed this life in this city, on the 27th ult., after a short and painful illness, Mrs. Louisa P, Clark, in the 44th year of her age, consort of Gen. William Clark, formerly of Greenville, North Carolina.

Truly a most excellent one of the earth has fallen. Humanity has lost a friend, the Church of Christ a mother in Israel, and language fails when we would speak of the loss sustained by the family of which she was a member.  Their loss however is her great gain--for “blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, they cease from their labor and their works do follow them.”

Mrs. C. was a philanthropist by nature, and the cold policy of the world never checked the impulse of her generous heart, or held back her hand from extending relief where the same was within her power.  It was sufficient for her to know that humanity suffered and
that she could relieve, to insure comfort to the afflicted.  Long, long will she be remembered by many, very many, with the liveliest emotions of gratitude, who have felt the influence  of her kindness and benevolence.

Possessing naturally a strong, active and inquiring mind, that thought for itself and acted on its own conclusions, she early in life made herself acquainted with the doctrines of the Gospel, and breaking loose from the prejudice of education and the trammels of the scholastic creeds of the day, she embraced them in their simplicity and purity.  When, therefore, the principles of the reformation, as promulgated by Mr. Campbell, were first presented to her mind, finding them in exact accordance with the conclusions of her own judgment, she readily united in the work of the reformation. She with her husband were the first that espoused that cause in North Carolina, and continued a zealous, active and effective disciple up to the hour of her departure.  She lived to see four of her children
become obedient to the Gospel, and numerous friends and acquaintances join in the glorious work, influenced by her forcible arguments and Christian deportment.  Her pious and devoted husband, who was first a preacher in the regular Baptist church, and afterwards a teacher of the reformation, in the many trials, difficulties and troubles that
beset his part in consequence of joining the reformation, always found in his beloved companion one that could counsel, aid and comfort him.  Of her it may with truth be said, that she “gave all her diligence to add to her faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience Godliness, and to Godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity;” and, doubtless, “an entrance has been ministered unto her abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Could infidelity have witnessed her deathbed, it would have retired abashed at its own folly and presumption, and ceased to scoff at the religion that can “make a dying bed fell soft as downy pillows are.”  It was a scene most interesting and affecting.  The light of eternity seemed to have burst upon her soul even while it yet lingered in this tenement of clay. Surrounded by her family and numerous friends she exhorted them in the most pathetic and impressive manner, “To prepare for death:”  “To live for God:”  “That she was going to Heaven, and wanted to meet them in glory.”  She assured them “that the Bible was Sufficient to live by and die by.”  Her husband she exhorted to firmness and vigilance in proclaiming the Gospel; and her children and servants, one by one, to the discharge of all their respective duties, being in the full possession of all her mental faculties. She last asked that her youngest child, a sweet little girl about three years old, be brought to her, and although in the agonies of death, she clasped her to her bosom, smiled and caressed her, then desired that she be taken away.  She audibly and firmly then said---
                     “Jesus can make a dying bed
                     Feel soft as downy pillows are
                     While on his breast I lean my head
                     And breathe my life out sweetly there.”

and exclaimed “Glory, Glory, Glory,” and soon after expired.  so affecting, imposing and triumphant was her death, that two unconverted ladies, who were present, said they would freely take her place to die her death.

Jackson, Mississippi, October 2d, 1841

Note: this is the wife of Gen.  Wm. Clark who was the minister of the First Christian Church in Jackson as well as State Treasurer for two terms.
 
 

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