Seventh Day Baptist Clarke/Clark Family

 In 2018 I discovered that the father of Dr Adam Clark (1790-1860) was Rev Adam Clark (1764-1837), a Seventh Day Baptist minister in Albany County, New York who was born in Rhode Island.  He was the Great Great Grandson of Rev Joseph Clarke (1618-1694), born in Suffolk, England who arrived in Massachusetts in 1637 and settled in Rhode Island with his wife Margaret Turner who was born there.

This small religious group lived close to each other and moved from Newport to Hopkinton and Westerly, often intermarrying.  By the late 1700s some of them moved further west to New York and eventually some of them settled in Wisconsin.  Some other SDB family names:  Babcock, Burdick, Hiscox, Hubbard, Maxson, Pendleton.

Our line:

Rev Joseph Clarke b Eng  1618-1694        Margaret Turner  b RI  1621-1694

                                                       their son

Rev Joseph Clarke Jr b RI  1642-1726       Bethia Hubbard  b Mass  1646- 1707

                                                        their son

Rev Thomas Clarke b RI    1686-1767        Elisabeth Babcock b RI   1691-1728

                                                        their son

Joseph Clarke  b  RI  1728-1795                  Deborah Pendleton b RI  1737-1793

                                                        their son

Rev Adam Clark b RI 1764-1837                Olive Burdick  b RI  1770-1838

                                                        their son

Dr Adam Clark  b NY  1790-1860               Harriet Watson b  NY  1800-1865

                                                        their son

George Watson Clark b NY 1821-1877         Julia Comfort  b NY 1826-1910

                                                        their daughter

William Hill b NY  1847-1910                      Eliza Clark b  NY  1849-1924

                                                        their daughters

Elsworth McDole b  NY  1866-19109            Julia Hill b  NY  1877-1947

Junius Craddock b VA  1889-1976                 Gertrude Hill b NY  1887-1967

Searching for the children of Adam Clark and Olive Burdick of Westerlo, NY

I am a descendant of Adam Clark, MD 1791-1860 and his wife Harriet Watson. It took me a number of years to confirm that his father was Rhode Island born Rev Adam Clark Sr 1764-1837, a Baptist minister, who relocated to Albany County, NY.  A post identifying Adam’s gravestone in the Tan Hollow Cemetery in Westerlo, NY along with that of his wife Olive, naming her as Burdick, was a bonus. Both the Clark(e) and Burdick families were part of a tight-knit community of Seventh Day Baptists primarily living in Hopkinton and Westerly, Rhode Island. I have yet to confirm Olive’s parents, their marriage date + place, and their offspring.

 

As I went back to view early census records I could see that various children were in the Adam Clark household in Coeymans and later Westerlo, though some of the ages were confusing and contradictory. Since both Adam and Olive died before 1840, there are no names in the census records.

Through links on Findagrave (thanks to all the contributors !!) I discovered two of Adam Sr’s daughters, Dorcas and Marinda, both of whom married ministers and had obituaries that mentioned their father. Yeah !!  Dorcas,1799-1863, wife of Deacon Charles Lapaugh,  remained in Westerlo.  Marinda, 1807-1872, wife of Rev Nelson Ferguson, moved around NY state ending up in Monroe County about 200+ miles from Westerlo. Their brother Adam, 1791-1860, moved around a bit also and and died in Westchester County. 

Now, if I could just find the rest of the assumed siblings.

 

Who were the parents of Anna Orr Coyle of Zanesville, Ohio ? 

In my ongoing research regarding sisters Margaret and Ann Sheils who were born in County Roscommon, Ireland and emigrated to Zanesville, Ohio, I encountered the household of Thomas and Anna (Orr) Coyle in a 1893 newspaper death notice. The funeral of Mrs Margaret Orr (presumed wife of John Orr and sister of Ann) departed from the Coyle home on Zane Street. That made me wonder if Margaret could possibly have been Anna’s mother.

I have quite a bit of information regarding other members of Margaret and Ann Sheils’ birth family, most of whom lived in New York State. The sisters were 2 of the 10 children born to John Sheils (who died on the transatlantic voyage in 1853) and Hannorah Feeney (who died in New York in 1870).  Their brother John was a prosperous hotelier in Ulster County, New York who hosted many Tammany Hall cronies of their NYC Alderman brother Thomas.  Quite a bit has been documented and published regarding these brothers. A local biographical sketch of John, published in 1896, noted that his sister Margaret had married an Ohio foundryman, John “AWER”. 

I have found records of John and Margaret Orr living in Zanesville but they are incomplete and somewhat conflicting regarding their children. I did not find assumed daughter Anna living with her parents in any census record.  Could it be that Anna was with her mother in the 1860 census but mistakenly listed as Emma, born Ohio? From other records it seems that Anna may have been born in New Jersey. In 1863 she married Thomas Coyle and is listed in many records of her children as Anna Orr Coyle. She died in 1897, not too long after her mother. I have found no death record for her father, John, but assume he outlived Margaret whose death record listed her as married. Thomas and Anna Coyle were likely buried at Mt Calvary Cemetery but no findagrave listings or photos have been found; uncertain about Margaret and John Orr. The search continues.

What happened to the Moran and Bennett families of Glasco, NY ??

 Irish born John Bennett and Mary Moran married in Saugerties, Ulster, New York about 1870.  Mary had arrived with her mother Elizabeth and older brothers in 1853 joining her father Michael who had emigrated 2 years earlier. The Morans all worked in the local brickyard as did John Bennett. I have discovered no immigration information for John and wonder if the younger (by 12 years) Thomas Bennett listed with he and Mary in the 1870 census might be a brother or other relative.  No record of the three has been found after that census.  

Curiously, Mary’s parents, Michael and Elizabeth Moran, have two young Bennett grandsons with them in the 1880 census, James 8 and Michael 3. I assume they must be the sons of their only daughter Mary and her husband John Bennett. But what happened to the couple?

 

The Moran grandparents died in 1881 and 1882, when the boys were both under 10 – so, who took them in then? Mary Moran Bennett’s brothers had problems of their own and may not have been able to step-in to care for the boys. 

 

            Her brother James was murdered in 1879, leaving his wife with 5 young children.

            Her brother Michael Jr died in 1882 also leaving 5 children.

            Her brother Patrick married in 1881 leaving no further record of he and wife Mary.

            Her youngest brother Thomas married in 1880 and soon had several children himself.

 

So the mystery of the Bennett brothers is still open. The older son, James, has not been found in any record after 1880. Michael, however, seems to have joined the military in 1899 serving in the Spanish American War in the Philippines. In 1901 he married Irish immigrant Emily Catherine Blue in Brooklyn. And then their trail ran cold …..

The Mysterious Natalia Acosta 1861 - 1945

I first encountered the name Natalia Acosta while researching my Lake family members Maria Lake and her husband Robert Carley.  Maria (1839 -1917) was a daughter of Schuyler Lake and his wife Caroline Morse, the 5^th of their 10 children born in Ulster County, NY.I  Maria and Robert married in 1854 and raised their 4 children in or near Fallsburg, Sullivan County.

In my effort to link as many family members together as possible, I review Findagrave entries and add parental information and maiden names, if known.  Maria Lake Carley’s FAG entry #176176881 was rich with information.  She was linked to her parents, 7 siblings, her husband and all 4 of her children; none were new to me. However, I was quite puzzled when I looked at the attached photo and clearly saw the name Natalia A Acosta listed with Maria and Robert. Unfortunately her dates were not visible and she did not have a FAG record. The NY Death Index listed: Natalia A Acosta, 27 July 1945, Fallsburg which was a start, but it didn’t really identify her nor provide a link to Maria and Robert.

In reviewing Maria Lake Carley’s census records I found that a 13 year old niece named Nettie Lake was with them in 1875. Who was she?  Could this be Natalia? She was not with Maria in the 1880 census, but I wondered if she was the dressmaker, Netty Lake, recorded in NYC as a boarder. I decided to see if I could find a Natalia Acosta in New York and work backwards.

What happened to the Moran siblings of Saugerties?

My great grandfather, Thomas William Moran, was born in Saugerties NY in 1855. His parents, Michael Moran and Elizabeth Cunningham, immigrated from Ireland with their 3 oldest children Michael, James, and Mary about 1852. Their son Patrick was born in NY in 1853, followed by Thomas. All seven were recorded together in the 1855 and 1860 Saugerties census.  In 1870 only Patrick and Thomas were with their parents; their sister Mary was listed in the next household with her Irish husband John Bennett, a brickyard worker like the Morans.  The two older sons have not been found.

In 1880 the two youngest sons were still with their parents as were two Bennett grandsons (assumed to be the children of Mary whose whereabouts was unknown). Both William and Elizabeth died in the early 1880s. It is unknown if the 2 grandsons were reunited with their parents or not as Mary and John Bennett have not been found.   What happened to them?

I have had mixed success in tracking the two older sons, Michael Jr and James. Sadly, James was fatally assaulted in 1879 by tenants in a rent dispute. His widow Bridget raised their 5 children.  But Michael is a mystery. The oldest of the children, Michael Jr, was born in 1844 and has not been found since the 1860 census. The truly confusing issue is that I found a January 1883 NY probate record that seems to be showing his brother Patrick petitioning for guardianship of 5 children: Michael, John, Mary, Nellie, Lizzie. Were they Michael’s children? I cannot find them in the 1880 census. Where might they have lived? What happened to Michael and who was his wife?

That leaves us with Patrick Henry Moran, who was named his father’s sole executor in the summer of 1882 (does that indicate that the first born son Michael was not in the area, not in good health, not in his father’s good graces?). Patrick is documented in Saugerties working as a stone cutter and then at the brickyard. In May 1881 he married Mary Coyle there at St Mary of the Snow Church. I have not found any record of them since.

Schuyler C. Lake born 1875 in New York

Who were the parents of New York-born Schuyler Lake? In 1902 he married Bertha Albach in Michigan but neither of his parents were listed on their marriage record; nor were they named on his death certificate in 1922.  Could he be a descendant of Ulster County, NY Schuyler Lake 1810-1880? Harmon, the youngest son of the elder Schuyler and his wife Caroline Morse did move to Michigan but vanished without leaving many records.

Harmon Lake was born in Ulster County, NY in April 1855. About 1874 he married Lydia Barber who was born in Delaware County, NY in 1856; no marriage record has been found for them. Based on later records, it appears that their daughter Ella Jane was born in New York about 1875 and younger daughter Bertha was born in Michigan in 1878. Could Schuyler have been their son? None of the family members have yet been found in the 1880 census.

It is assumed that Harmon died prior to Lydia’s 1881 Wisconsin marriage to Albert Ledger.  In the 1900 census Lydia reported 5 living children, presumed to be: Ella and Bertha Lake, Edward 1882 + Inez 1894 Ledger …. Who was the 5^th?  Could it have been Schuyler Lake?

Lydia died shortly after the 1900 census, Ella had married in 1894 and was living in Wisconsin with her husband Clark Easter, Bertha had married John Grebel in 1895. Schuyler has not yet been found in the 1900 census.

In 1897 civil war veteran Reuben Lake, older brother of Harmon, died in Ulster County, NY leaving his wife Sarah Ann and minor children in a destitute state. Her widow’s pension application stated that they were living in a log cabin outside of town on land owned by the Michigan descendants of Reuben’s deceased brother Harmon.  That was the first (and vague) indication that Harmon had relocated there and was deceased by that time.

Mary D Comfort, wife of James W Johnson

Mary and James married in 1856 in Catskill, NY and had a daughter named Minnie in New York City in 1860. None of them were found in the 1860 or the 1870 census. I had stumbled upon a NYC marriage record for Minnie in October 1880 and then, checking the 1880 census, found her with her father (born in Ohio), an assumed sister Fannie (also born in Ohio), a stepmother (born in Mass) and 2 young NY born half siblings.

Focusing in on Fannie Johnston, I could find no record of the family in Ohio nor of her birth there about 1864.  With the 20 year time gap between the 1880 and the 1900 census, I hoped that Fannie had married and that I’d find some additional information about her birthplace. Unexpectedly I discovered an 1890 marriage announcement for Fannie HERENDEEN, daughter of James W Johnston, uniting with Rev Henry Freeman of Troy, NY. That led me to realize that Mary Comfort and James Johnston were not her parents as first assumed.

Follow-Up on Mary D Comfort

Mary married James W Johnstone in Greene County, NY in 1856 and was never thereafter found in an official record – not a census, a death, a burial. Their marriage record listed James’ residence as Dubuque, Iowa but I could find no record of him there. Nothing was known of his birth date or place, his parents or his occupation. The only tidbit I had on this couple after 1856 was the appearance of a young Johnston granddaughter listed in the 1865 Catskill, NY census with Mary’s parents, Joel and Emeline.  The record was almost impossible to read & only the child’s surname had been transcribed making it hard to identify and track her later; she was 6 years old and NOT with her grandparents in 1870.

I searched the 1870 census in multiple states and locales, unable to find any members of the Johnston family.  I then turned to family search where I entered a query using only the surname, a birth date 1859-1860 with location New York, plus the full names of parents James and Mary. To my surprise, a NYC marriage record popped up for Minnie Johnston with a matching father and mother (listed as Comfork). It stated that Minnie had been born in NYC, in 1860 and, better yet, her marriage was in October 1880 AFTER the census !!

MORSE: A Helpful Death Notice in 1909

The large Morse family lived in Wawarsing, Ulster County, New York. With such a common surname, it is not always easy to trace all its members.  Recently I was made aware of the 1909 obituary of Mary E Morse Corbin published in the Kingston Daily Freeman. Mary was the daughter of William Morse and Anna Peck, the 2nd of their 9 children. Her death notice mentioned the following family members, referring to them as “surviving members of her father’s family”; in fact they were her siblings. Her father was also one of 9 children and I will report on them in another post.

A recap of those mentioned include:

Her deceased husband Albert 1827-1900

His brother Isaac Corbin 1830-1888

Her 6 surviving siblings:

Mrs Thomas Smart in Penn = Jane 1829-1914

 Recently widowed and the mother of 12 !

Leonard Morse in California = 1831-1914

              out west since mid 1860s, widower no children

 John Morse in Ellenville = 1834-1915 married, 8 children

 Mrs W W Miller in NYC = Alice 1846-1915 

              twice widowed, 2 children

Mrs Belle Johnston of Staten Island = Isabelle 1851-1915

Mrs Seth Catlin of New Jersey = Emma 1843-1940, 5 children

Her other siblings were Edgar 1839-1887 who died unmarried in Nashville, TN (where their uncle George ran successful stockyard operations) and Addie 1838-1893 wife of Dr John Jackson Ward, 1 son.

Some of these siblings had married before 1850 and were never listed in the census with their parents, disappeared from NY (like Leonard) or females married several times becoming hard to identify and locate.

This newspaper item helped me piece together all of Mary’s siblings. I always find it helpful to flush out every person listed in a death notice.

What happened to Mary D Comfort, daughter of Joel ?

Mary, the oldest child of Joel Dubois Comfort and his wife Emeline Ludington, was born 1829 in Catskill, NY. According to church records she married James W Johnston 'of Dubuque, Iowa' in September 1856 at the Leeds RDC.  I have found no subsequent record for either of them. I had expected that James would be in the Greene County 1855 census, but he was not found. Nor have I located him in 1850 in Iowa or elsewhere.

Interestingly, Mary's parents are listed in the Catskill 1865 census with their youngest daughter Josephine and with a 6 year old granddaughter with the surname Johnston. Sadly, this record is almost impossibly hard to read. I cannot decipher the girl's first name nor did I find her with her grandparents in the 1870 census.

Who is she and where are her parents?  I cannot find James and Mary in 1860, when their daughter would have been an infant. I have found no 11 year old female Johnston in Greene County in 1870.
This family group remains a mystery.

The Coles buried at Tan Hollow Cemetery, Westerlo, NY

Simeon Cole had been a neighbor of one of my ancestors and I noticed that he and other family members were buried in this small cemetery in Albany County as were my Adam Clark and his wife Olive Burdick.

The Coles listed were:

Eddy S, age 68, died 1885 [1817]

Edwin, age 57, died 1870 [1813]

Elizabeth Slade, wife of Simeon, age 86, died 1873 [1786]

George, age 22, died 1867 [1845]

Mercy, age 75, died 1889 [1814]

Simeon, age 74, died 1863 [1788]

How were they related?

Simeon married Elizabeth Slead, daughter of John, in 1812. In researching the others buried with them, I could verify that Eddy, Edwin and Mercy were their offspring. George was their grandson, son of Edwin.

Simeon and Elizabeth had 6 children, the others were: Hannah 1819 (married Zina Babcock),  Leonard 1821 (married Margaret Lockwood), Angeline 1825 (married Wm H Haswell). In 1840 Edwin married Harriet Lockwood (sister of Margaret who married his brother Leonard); Mercy  and Eddy were unmarried.

Luckily the Cole family bible was transcribed by Greene County genealogists and posted on Rootsweb. It gives specific dates and relationships and confirms the information I found elsewhere. 

Wish I could find bible records for all the family groups I investigate.

Rev Adam Clark and Olive Burdick of Westerlo, NY

Adam and Olive are buried in the Tan Hollow Road Cemetery in Westerlo where she is listed as his wife. Adam died in April 1837 and Olive in Jan 1838. This listing came to my attention while seeking to identify the parents of my ancestor Dr Adam Clark (1791-1860) who married Harriet Watson, daughter of Wheeler, about 1820 in Albany County. A manuscript held at the NY State Library regarding Adam Senior’s farm in Westerlo identifies him as the father of Adam Clark and confirms the land deed records of Adam and Harriet found on the American Ancestors database of NEHGS.

Census records show Adam Senior in Coeymans in 1800 and 1810 with an assumed wife and 5 children, then in Westerlo in 1820 and 1830 with a less clear mix of adults and children. The ages for the oldest child match up with Adam Junior though the other children have not yet been identified. There is some confusion over the reported age of the female in the household making me wonder if Olive was the mother of the children.

Based on her burial record, Olive was born in 1770.

         Census year                  Reported Age             Olive’s Age

           1800                                 over 45                      30

            1810                                 26 – 44                      40

            1820                                 over 45                      50

            1830                                  60 – 69                     60

Understanding that ages are not always correctly reported, this makes me strongly suspect that the female in 1800 is a different person than the one reported in 1810.

I have been unable to find a marriage record or any record of the other Clark offspring. If you might happen to know, I’d love to hear from you.