Clarence Dillard was born in Talladega County, Alabama, about 1862. (Other sources say his birthplace was Winsboro, South Carolina.) A graduate of both Howard and Lincoln universities, Dillard was a Presbyterian minister (ordained in November 1884) and principal of the segregated grade school in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Reverend Dillard died on October 1, 1933, in Goldsboro.