Ezekiel Clark (1817-1898)

Biography
Ezekiel Clark is credited with being father of the greenback. Uniform federal currency didn't exist until Iowa City banker Ezekiel Clark recommended it to Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)'s treasury secretary Salmon P. Chase during the Civil War. Clark thus became the father of the U.S. greenback dollar bill. Iowa City pioneers faced money problems every day, not just from being poor, but from a lack of coins and paper money in circulation. Barter was common. The merchant traded goods for a chicken later.