Representative women of New England/Carro M. Clark

by Mary H. Graves

CARRO MORRELL CLARK

CARRO MORRELL CLARK, the only woman publisher of note in the country to-day, is a native of Maine. Ten years ago she left the pleasant farm home in the town of Unity, where she was born, and came to Boston, having no definite purpose beyond a desire to ascertain what chance there was for a girl whose ambitions reached beyond farm life. Her bright, business-like manner carried her rapidly forward, and she was so successful in her efforts for others that she soon decided to reap the full benefit of her energies for herself. Accordingly in 1892 she opened in her own name a book and stationery store in the Back Bay, where her patronage included from the start .some of the most exclusive families of Boston. Of this very successful enterprise -she was sole owner and manager for about nine years.

In September, 1900, Miss Clark organized the C. M. Clark Publishing Company of Boston, of which she is the head. This enterprising house in its first year of existence achieved the remarkable distinction of producing two works of fiction both of which within one month from their publication were classed among the six best selling books throughout the country. The first was "Quincy Adams Sawyer," a New England story, which came out on November 3, 1900, and rapidly jumped into the very small class of books selling nearly two hundred thousand in less than one year from publication date; and the second was the famous Aaron Burr romance entitled " Blennerhassett," which was puhhshed on September 6, 1901, with a remarkable record — an advance sale of sixty thousand copies before the publication date. In less than one week from the time it ap-^ peared in the bookstores this l)(if)k had Ijecome the best selling one in New York and Boston, and within a month it was in the list of six l)est selling books in the whole country. As Christ- mas apj)roached, "Blennerhassett" was l;eing produced in editions of twenty thousand copies, and the one hundred and twenty-five thousand mark was nearly reached in the almost incredible time of two months.

A few weeks before starting ui)on this new enterprise Miss Clark had no more idea of found- ing a publishing house than she had of build- ing a railroad. The story of the undertaking is an interesting one, it seemed such a venture- some task on the part of a woman, in a field already so well filled by well-established con- cerns of wide reputation. Men of long expe- rience in the business shook their heads gravely when they heard of tiiis invasion of their hitherto exclusive circle by a woman and with the work of an entirely unknown author. Miss Clark happened to be acquainted with Mr. Charles Felton Pidgin, and partly from friendly motives, partly out of curiosity, went to hear the reading of his manuscript entitleil " Quincy Adams Sawyer." Its fresh country atmosphere, as sweetly natural as the breath of the fields, and its familiar, lovable country characters carried her mind back to the old farm in Unity. Strongly impressed with the uniqueness of the pretty love story and the natural Yankee humor in its characters and scenes, she came away from the reading convinced that it would be well worth while to publish this book.

The great success and wide re|)utation of the two books above named have brought to Miss Clark the manuscripts of authors, known and unknown, from all parts of the country, and her publishing business assumed such proportions that in the fall of 1901 she took an extensive suite of offices in Brown Building, Dewey Square, Boston, whither she transferred her business after disposing of her Back Bay store in the spring of that year.

Greatly increasing business and plans for several new publications necessitated another change in March, 1902, since which time the company has occupied the entire floor at 211 Tremont Street.

In privat(> life Carro Morrell Clark is Mrs. Charles F. Atkinson, of Beacon Street, Boston, her marriage to Mr. Atkinson, a well-known theatre manager, having taken jilace August 24, 1897.

This sketch of Mrs. Atkinson's business life may well be supplemented by a brief record of her ancestry.

Her parents, Dudley Perley Clark and Lucy- Ellen Warren, were married July 11, 1852. They had twelve children. The father (now deceased) was born in Unity, Me., October 26, 1824, the eldest son of Cudworth and Nancy (Perley) Clark. His paternal grandfather, John Clark, was an early settler in that part of the town of Nobleboro, Me., which is now Damariscotta.

In a brief genealogical paper prepared by a student of the family history John Clark is designated as a descendant in the fourth gen- eration of Elisha Clark, who settletl in Kittery, Me., as early as 1690, and from whom the line continued to John^ through Josiah,^ born in 1704, and his son Elisha.^

John Clark, of Nobleboro, married Abigail Bryant. They had a large family of children, one being Cudworth, named above. Nancy Perley, wife of Cudworth Clark, was daughter of John and Mary (Spalding) Perley. Her father, John Perley, was son of Dudley'* Perley (Asa,* Thomas,' ^ Allen') and his wife, Hannah Hale. Mary Spalding was daughter of Benja- min^ S]3alding and a descendant in the sixth generation of Edward' Spalding, an early set- tler of Chelmsford, Mass.

Mrs. Atkin.son's mother is now living at the homestead in Unity, Me. Her parents were Phineas Warren, Jr. (born in 1793), and his wife, Lucy Ellen Tibbetts (born in 1797) — the former, son of Phineas, Sr., and Betsy (Collier) Warren ; the latter, daughter of Henry and Abigail (Young) Tibbetts. Henry Young, a sea captain, was son of Lieutenant Solomon Young, of Rochester, Mass., and his wife, Sarah Adams.

Phineas Warren, Jr., was a kinsman of the late Hon. Lot M. Morrell, their common ancestors being the early Morrells of Kittery, Me. Printed antl family records and remembrances show that Phineas Warren, St., father of Phineas, Jr., was Phineas,⁵ born in Berwick, Me., in 1763, son of Gideon⁴ and Hannah (Morrell) Warren and a descendant in the fifth generation of James Warren; who came to Kittery, Me., about two hundred and fifty years ago, and in 1656 had land laid out to him in the parish of Unity, now South Berwick. From James¹ and his wife Margaret the line continued through James² and Gilbert³ to Gideon,⁴ who married in 1748 Hannah, daughter of John³ and Ruth (Dow) Morrell, and was the father of Phineas,⁵ above named, born April 22, 1763. Phineas,⁵ Warren, or Phineas Warren, Sr., was a birthright Quaker, or member of the Society of Friends, but, marrying out of meeting, he was disowned. He settled in Freedom. His wife Betsy was daughter of Samuel and Betsy (Stein) Collier.

John³ Morrell, maternal grandfather of Phineas Warren, Sr., was brother to Peter³ Morrell, a lineal ancestor of Lot M. Morrell, both John³ and Peter³ being sons of John² and grandsons of John¹ Morrell, who had a grant of land in Kittery in 1668. (See "Old Kittery and her Families," by Rev. E. S. Stackpole, and "Genealogy of Descendants of James Warren, of Kittery," by Orin Warren, M.D.)

Four of Mrs. Atkinson's ancestors above mentioned—namely. Lieutenant John Clark, of Nobleboro, Me.; Benjamin Spalding, of Chelmsford, Mass.; Lieutenant Solomon Young, of Rochester, Mass.; and his son Henry—served in the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Atkinson is a member of ' Dorothy Q." Chapter, D. R.