Descendants of Wm & John Clark of Yorkshire, England & Jackson - Randolph Co, Illinois

Descendants of William & John Clark
of
Yorkshire, England
&
Jackson - Randolph Counties, Illinois

The things we don't know about William Clark and his wife, Mary Elizabeth, are as intriguing as the things we do know. We know that he was born 1 Jan 1801 in England. Where in England? We didn't know. We know that William and Mary and their small son, William, sailed on the ship Washington from Liverpool, England and arrived in New York on 7 May 1832. While aboard the ship, Mary gave birth to a child who, unfortunately, didn't live and there was a burial at sea for this baby. We don't have the baby's name. We know that William and Mary had another daughter, Mary Anna, in New York but we don't know if this is New York City or another town in New York state. We know for few years that the Clark family lived in Cincinatti, Ohio where he was a shoemaker. Between 1844 and 1850, the Clark family moved from Ohio to Jackson County, Illinois where William was listed as a farmer instead of a shoemaker. Again, we don't know why. William Clark, Senior died on 21 Oct 1850 leaving his wife, three sons and two daughters. We know that Mary was a large woman who became blind in her later years. Thanks to Bill Hinton who uploaded photos and a cemetery transcription Hinton Genealogy Research for Zion Cemetery in Campbell Hill, Jackson County, Illinois. This not only helped in researching this family but also provided one of the first clues that John Clark was probably a brother of William Clark.

In census records, for a white, I found a little but not much. Then, in later censuses that there was another Clark family living close to where William and Mary had lived - John Clark. Turns out that he and his wife and a grandchild were also buried in the Zion Cemetery! By now, I felt pretty sure that William and John were brothers. John and Jane came later to the United States and lived in Dearborn County, Indiana right across the border of Cincinnatti, Hamilton County, Ohio. I traced as much of John's children as I could and, as luck or fate, would have it, the 1870 census was taken right before his daughter, Ann, died. In that census, she states that she was born in Yorkshire, England! Yeah! Sure, it's the largest county in England but it's a start. I also found a christening or birth record for an Ann Clark with the same birth date but I'm not sure that it's her since it seemed like a christening record and few babies were christened on the day they were born and I'm not sure Methodists christen their children. I need to study more about that.

My husband descends through Mary Anna Clark who married John Wilson McLaughlin. As always, any new, documented, information would be greatly appreciated as this is definitely a work in progress.


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