Notes for Richard CLARKE

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Notes for Richard CLARKE

"Richard Clark seems to have come from Salem, Massachusetts [to Southold, L.I.] with the group led by the. Reverend John Youngs in 1649."
*****
Charles Carroll Gardner, in Genealogical Collections 1665-1800, Vol. 29, CLARK, writes:
"Richard Clarke the founder of the Elizabethtown Clark family and great-grandfather of Hon. Abraham Clark, signer of the Declaration of Independence, is first found at Southampton, L.I., in 1661. It has been stated that Richard Clarke was a
grandson of the thirty-sixth signer of the Mayflower Compact, who bore the same name. This statement is absolutely incorrect. Bradford's "History of the Plymouth Plantation", a contemporary work, tells us plainlyenough that Richard Clarke of the
Mayflower died soon after the arrival at Plymouth, without issue. This fact is stated in two different places in Bradford's work, and can be relied upon as absolutely correct. There has been no clue to the ancestry of Richard Clarke of Long Island
and New Jersey discovered as yet. The name was an exceedingly common one, and there were hundreds of Richard Clarkes living in various parts of England at the time of the settlement of our Richard on Long Island."
"Richard Clarke was married about 1660 to Elizabeth -----, but whether the marriage took place in Southampton or elsewhere does not appear. In 1664 he owned uplands there bounded by Wm. Oliver, Chas. Ludlow, and Geo. Ross. By 1675, he had
removed to Southold, L.I. and about 1678 he took his family to Elizabethtown, Essex Co., (now Union Co.), New Jersey where a party composed largely of Southampton people (including Clark's former neighbors Wm. Oliver and Geo. Ross) had settled in 1665.
Under date of Feb. 13, 1679/80 Richard Clarke was patented 300 acres of land in E.T. in right of himself, wife, and children Richard, John and Elizabeth, they being 14 year olds. On Mar 11, 1685-6, a warrant was issued to John and Richard Clarke, Jr.
for
120 acres each "which probably was their fathers and mothers and their own two shares, for which the father had the former patent." In 1694, the name of Richard Clarke appears as a contributor to the support of Rev. John Harriman, pastor of the E.T.
Church.
*****
From "Southold Town Records copied and Explanatory Notes added by J. Wickham Case, Volume II, Printed by Order of the Towns of Southold and Riverhead [Long Island, New York]. 1884, p. 442:
Page 279 [Abstract]
"This Indenture made ye 22nd day of May 1683, between Richard Clark of Elizabeth Town, East New Jersey, carpenter, and Elizabeth, his wife, of ye one part, and William Coleman of Southold, Planter, of ye other part. Witnessth that the said Richard
Clark and Elizabeth, his wife, in consideration of a competent sum of money, to him in hand paid, by these presents doth grant and sell unto William Coleman all that his first lott, lying in Ochobogue, will all and singular the dwellings and fenses
thereupon.
In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals the day and year above written.
Witnesses Richard Clark (seal)
John Woodrufe, Jun. E. C. (seal)
George Rosse
Entered July ye 18th, 1712
pr Benj: Youngs, Town Cler.
*****
"Richard Clarke was a shipwright. The Will of Wm. Miller of E.T. dated 1711, bequeaths to son Andrew an interest in "my sloop called Tryall, built by Richard Clarke." . . . [This quote is from the collection of C.C.Gardner, found in N.J.
Historical Society,
and a Xerox copy is on file in Westfield N.J. Memorial Library].
Elmer S. Clark was of opinion that Richard Clarke (whom we have included in this program as #2362) was the father of Richard Clarke, but we have found no compelling evidence to substantiate this. In view of the large number of Richard Clark(e)s
found in England, and the fact, as Savage has pointed out, that there were some 40 different Clark families who emigrated from England to the colonies, E.S.Clark's conclusions as to the Richard Clark/Ann Winston parentage has to be just speculation.
Pierson, who was a compiler and not a genealogist, elected to accept it, but without proofs. The problem is that the Clark/Winston speculation then had found it's way into two separate volumes, which does not give it substance.
We have also seen speculation as to Richard Clarke's origins, prior to his being "in Southampton, L.I. in 1661", in such places as New England and the Barbadoes. Again, we have found no documentation for any of these, and we have not included
any ancestors or origins for Richard Clarke other than as set forth in C.C. Gardner.
Sources: Charles Carroll Gardner, Genealogical Collections, Vol. 29, CLARK 1665-1800. Photocopies in N.J. Historical Society and Westfield Memorial Library. See also C.C. Gardner cards and volumes in Special Collection Room of Rutgers, The
State University of N.J., Library, New Brunswick, NJ. Richard Clarke was the founder of this line of Elizabethtown Clarks, and there are numerous volumes which refer to him. Some of these are undocumented and seem more designed to advance some
position, such as trying to tie in a family with the Mayflower, or as a descendant of Abraham Clark, the Signer of the Declaration of Independence. In this compilation, we have given little credence to the work of H. Ruth Cooke, entitled "Richard
Clarke of the Mayflower 1620 and his descendants in New Jersey", or the short typewritten document entitled "The Fighting Clarks of Westfield, New Jersey" by Beatrice MacGeorge, both on file in the Westfield Memorial Library. The reader is also
cautioned about "Histories" of various counties, which came out in the late 1800s, and which featured biographies of "leading citizens" and often recited their genealogy. These were not really histories or researched, but relied almost solely on what
was told them, and then used boiler-plate laudatory lauguage about the men featured, who, of course, were expected to buy the books for their library shelves. We have found the History of Union County, edited by Honeyman, to contain numerous errors,
though Honeyman himself had a reputation as a genealogist and historian, but apparently mainly lent his name to that work.-
Abstract of Will: NJA 23:97. 1697 Apr 1. Clerke, Richard, of Elizabeth Town; will of. N.J. Archives, XXL, p. 260.
Abstract of Inventory: NJA 23:95 1697 April 9. Clarke, Richard, of Elizabeth Town. Inventory of the estate of, Ł159.5.1 1/2, all personal, incl. a negro woman and child, valued at Ł32; made by Jonathan Ogden and And. Hamton.
It has been said that Richard Clarke was a "whale striker" when he lived on Long Island. See Alexander Starbuck's "History of the American Whale Fishery", printed c. 1877, which tells of this industry on Long Island in the 1600's, especially in
Southampton.

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