Clark was born of
New England ancestry in
Aylmer, Quebec, Canada. He was the son of Charles C. Symmes, but took the name of an uncle, the Rev. E.W. Clark, by whom he was adopted after his mother's death in 1858. He graduated from
Dartmouth College in 1873 and from
Andover Theological Seminary in 1876, was ordained in the
Congregational ministry, and was pastor of the
Williston West Church at
Portland, Maine, from 1876 to 1883, and of the Phillips Congregational church,
South Boston, Massachusetts, from 1883 to 1887. On 2 February 1881, he founded in Portland, the
Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, which, beginning as a small society in a single New England church, developed into a great interdenominational organization, which in 1908 had 70,761 societies and more than 3,500,000 members scattered throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, Australia, South Africa, India, Japan and China. After 1887, he devoted his time entirely to the extension of this work, and was president of the
United Societies of Christian Endeavor and of the World's Christian Endeavor Union, and editor of the
Christian Endeavor World (originally
The Golden Rule). Also, he famously visited the
Arcot Mission in
India. In 1893, Clark spoke at the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago, delivering the lecture
Christianity as Seen by a Voyager Around the World. On October 2, 1876, in
Andover, Massachusetts, he married
Harriet E. Clark. His
home at 379 Central Street in
Auburndale, Massachusetts is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. He died there on 26 May 1927. ==Works==