Mary Emma Woolley was born on January 31, 1862 in Salt Lake City, Utah and was the daughter of John Wickersham Woolley and Julia Searle Ensign. Her family later lived in both Centerville and Farmington, Utah.
Emma was a good student in school and had a great desire to learn and serve her family and community. She attended the University of Deseret, later called the University of Utah and enjoyed such classes as physiology, history, physics, and English. In November of 1881, Emma met Charles R. Clark and married him in June of 1883. During her marriage to Charles, she bore seven children -- Marion, Vernon, Marvin, Carl, Newell, Marie, and Julia. Carl died at birth, but the rest grew to adulthood, married and had children of their own.
During her marriage, Emma lived in two different locations, namely, Georgetown, Idaho and Morgan, Utah where she was involved with her husband and children in the business of farming. After eight years of marriage, Charles was called to serve a mission in Virginia for two years. During this time, Emma knew that it was necessary to earn extra money, so she became involved in selling encyclopedias and other books. As she traveled around the community as a saleswoman, Emma took her oldest son Marion with her to drive the horse and won. At the conclusion of her husband's mission, Emma and Marion traveled to Chicago and met Charles where the three of them attended the World's Fair and had a wonderful time together.
Eight years later in the fall of 1900, Emma was finally able to pursue a lifelong dream, that of studying medicine and becoming a midwife. She left home in Morgan and took her three oldest children with her to Salt Lake City, leaving behind two smaller children in the car of Charles and his plural wife, Annie. Emma enrolled her boys in school in Salt Lake City, and they also worked at odd jobs to make what money they could while their mother studied diligently for eight months to complete her medical training.
Emma and her family moved to Georgetown in May of 1901 where they lived permanently. A few months after getting settled in her new home, Emma began her practice as a midwife and loved being of service to the pregnant women in her community. At age 40, Emma gave birth to a baby of her own (Julia) in July of 1902.
As the years went by, Emma's life was very busy raising her children, working hard as a farmer's wife, delivering many babies, and serving faithfully as a leader in both Relief Society and Young Women. In 1916, while Charles was serving a second mission, Emma moved to Paris, Idaho to be near her three youngest children who were attending school at the Fielding Academy.
Emma enjoyed many fun times with her family, especially trips to Soda Springs, Yellowstone, and Salt Lake City. She suffered from various health problems over the years and passed away at age 66 on November 19, 1928.
