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.

 

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.

Another Way to find Burial Records

I have been quite confused by the SANDFORD family of New York – or was it SANFORD? I found the spelling varied often.  Harriet Watson Clark, known as “Hattie”, married Clarence H. Sandford in New York City in 1874.  Their marriage certificate spells his name with 2 Ds … and hers as Clarke. So, you never know if the spellings are correct.

Sadly Harriet died in childbirth 3 years later and was buried at Green-wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.  The cemetery’s website has burial records online where she is listed as SANDFORD, HATTIE W.  But I could never find a death record for her husband and he was not listed under Sandford. I last found him in the 1915 NY state census and assumed he had died by 1920.

Harriet is buried in lot 18149, section 189 as is her mother-in-law Jane who died in 1900. In the 1880 census Jane was listed as a widow and neither she nor others in the family have yet been found in the 1870 census.  So I was guessing that  her husband Hiram died between 1860 and 1880. I could not find him on the Green-wood website either.

However, today just by chance I Googled “Green-wood cemetery section 18149, lot 189” and the following findagrave entries popped up:

 HIRAM SANFORD, July 1868, # 57543743

 CLARENCE H SANFORD, Nov 1923, # 57543704

Father and son, spelled with only a final D.  I don’t know why I had not searched that site using both spellings … I assumed they would all be spelled alike.  I must remind myself over and over DON’T ASSUME !!

Then going back to the newspapers, I found that Hiram (formerly of the US Navy which matches) died of paralysis in Brooklyn on February 1, 1868 and Clarence died in Norfolk, VA, unclear if he was just visiting.  There is a disconnect between Hiram's death in Feb and reported burial in July -- but that's another story. At least I know where they were buried.

I had assumed Clarence died in NYC and that he and his father’s name would be listed with the same spelling as their wives on the Green-wood site.  Next time and every time …. Check all spellings and check all the residents of a family burial plot, if at all possible.

FAMILY FOCUS: Dr Adam Clark 1791-1860

Adam, my 4^th Great Grandfather, was a physician and leather tanner in New York.  I have many unanswered questions about him – including where he was born, who his parents were, possible siblings, why he moved to Westchester County late in his life. I am determined to find answers this year.

What I do know is: 

• He was born about 1791, likely in Albany County
• He reported that his parents were born in CT
• He may have been Adam Jr
• He marred Harriet Watson before the 1820 census
• They had 7 known children born 1821-1843
• He lived in Berne, NY (1830 + 1840 census)
• He had a seat at the 1^st Dutch Reformed Church
• He built a large tannery in Middletown in mid-1840s, creating the village of “Clark’s Factory”
• In 1860 he was living in Cortlandt as a physician
• He died in Nov 1860 + is buried in Cortlandt
• His wife outlived him by 5 years
• His wife, daughter Eliza and 2 grandchildren are buried with him

With a common surname like Clark and no other information about Adam, I was at a loss how to continue. I will be attending a research workshop at NEHGS in Boston in March when Adam will be at the top of my “I need help” list. NEHGS has great resources for New York research and I hope I’ll find some answers there.