A Biography of Ezra Thompson Clark

Ezra Clark, page 033

EZRA THOMPSON CLARK 33 Stevenson and Nathan Porter were Clark's companions on this mission. They labored in New York and arrived home April 4, 1870. In that same year Ezra T. Clark married Mrs. Nancy Porter Stevenson. She had been married to Edward Steven- son, a brother of Ezra's first wife, Mary Stevenson. Nancy Porter had raised her family at the time of her marriage to Ezra Clark. Prior to her second marriage, Mrs. Stevenson went to President Brigham Young with her domestic troubles. President Young requested Ezra Clark to come to his ofice. It was a belief of the Church at that time that the highest exaltation in the Kingdom of God could be at- tained only through a marriage-trinity. President Young advised Ezra Clark to marry Nancy Porter, following a divorce from her first husband. It properly belongs to the biography of Ezra to add that his acquaintance with Nancy Porter dated back to the days of his early manhood in Missouri. Edward Stevenson and Ezra Clark at that time were rivals for the hand of Nancy Porter. Aunt Nancy, as she was called, was devoutly religious and al- ways interested in Church activities. She worked for years in the Logan Temple. In 1870 Ezra was asked to help colonize Bear Lake, Idaho, where he established a ranch in Georgetown. There were other missionaries who accompanied him-sent to build a town. It was characteristic of Ezra to take the lead. His consciousness of this leadership was illustrated when, of the number of men who had been cutting timber all day, Ezra was the first to leave the canyon and hasten down with his load of logs. Upon entering the townsite he remarked to his companion, "Well, this is the first load of building material for this place."