Person:Samuel Clark (102)

Samuel Clark was born 1782 in Greenbrier Co., VA (Monroe Co. after 1799). He was the son of Alexander Clark (1736-1794) and Sarah Laverty (1743-1809). On 22 January 1805 Samuel married Mary "Polly" Campbell in Monroe Co., the ceremony performed by John Wiseman, Methodist minister. Mary "Polly" was the daughter of William Campbell, who died in 1827 in Monroe Co. Samuel and Mary's first five children were born in Monroe Co. by 1813. They are found on the 1810 census in Monroe Co.

The family, including at least two slaves (Grace and her son Madison, both left to Samuel in his mother's will), then removed to Gallatin Co., IL, where Samuel purchased 160 acres of government land on 25 October 1814, paying $2.00 per acre. This parcel was described as the Northeast quarter of Section 23, Township 9 South, Range 9 East, within Gold Hill Township, on the road between Shawneetown and New Market (Gallatin County Land Records, Vol. 86, p. 39). Samuel purchased an additional tract of land in 1818, described as Township 10-11 South, Range 9-10 East, located within Bowlesville Township of southern Gallatin County, near where the Saline River flows into the Ohio.

Samuel and Mary's sixth child, Rebecca Jane, was born in Gallatin Co. in 1819. The family is found on the 1820 census in Gallatin Co., and at that time they owned seven slaves. (All but one of these were children of Grace, identified in the Gallatin County Slave Register 1815-1839 as Madison, Minty, Thomas and twins Susan and Emily, all born before 1818.)

Mary "Polly" (Campbell) Clark was expecting the couple's seventh child when her husband Samuel died unexpectedly of unknown causes in Gallatin Co. No will has been found, but evidently Mary was appointed administrator of the estate. Very pregnant with the couple's seventh child, Mary apparently declined to serve, and, immediately following the birth of son Samuel in July 1821, she gathered her seven children and relocated to Franklin Co., MO, where at least one and probably two of her brothers were already living (William Campbell, b. circa 1780, and James S. Campbell, born circa 1782). Around 1826-1827 the Probate Court in Gallatin Co. appointed as administrator debonis non (successor administrator, appointed in place of an earlier administrator who either died or refused to serve) one Timothy Guard, and from that point forward documents in Samuel's probate file illustrate that Mr. Guard actively managed the estate, renting out the slaves, collecting the proceeds and periodically mailing these proceeds to Mary and her adult children in Franklin Co., MO. The estate was not finally closed until the mid-1830s.

[Note: Research has shown that Timothy Guard was married to another Mary "Polly" Campbell, and Timothy's younger brother, Challon Guard, was married to a Sarah "Sally" Campbell. The two wives were daughters of Revolutionary War Captain William Campbell (b. 1748 Augusta Co., VA, d. 1800 Fayette Co., KY) and his wife Mary Elizabeth Ellison/Allison (b. 1755, d. 1825 Gallatin Co., IL). This Campbell family had lived in Augusta Co., VA (Greenbrier after 1777) before removing to Fayette Co., KY around 1786, and most of their children ended up in Gallatin Co., IL. While the particulars have not as yet been established, it is felt there is certainly a familial relationship between this Campbell family and that of the Mary "Polly" Campbell who was married to Samuel Clark.]

In Franklin Co., MO, Mary "Polly" (Campbell) Clark, widow of Samuel, remarried in 1824 to Kinkead Caldwell, a marriage that lasted only about six months, although their divorce was not officially filed until 1826 and was not final until 1828. In the 1830 census for Franklin Co., she is listed as Mary Caldwell, but by 1840 she reverted to the use of her previous married name, Mary Clark. She did not marry again. She died in Franklin Co., MO, on 5 November 1861, at the age of 77; however, her burial site is unknown.

The children of Samuel Clark and Mary "Polly" Campbell were:

1. Nancy Scott Clark, b. 5 Aug 1806 in VA, d. before 1840 in MO, probably married John Leathers and had child Andrew Jackson Leathers. Both mother and child were deceased by 1840.

2. William Campbell Clark, b. 6 May 1808 in VA, d. before 1860 in Gallatin Co., IL. After spending 12 years in Franklin Co., MO (1821-1833), William was given Power of Attorney by his mother and siblings and returned to Gallatin Co., IL, where in 1834 he married Adeline McCool. Presumably, the Power of Attorney enabled William to finally wind up his father's estate. William and Adeline had five children before Adeline died before 1850. William is buried in the Equality Village Cemetery in Gallatin Co., IL.

3. Adaline W. Clark, b. 9 Nov 1809 in VA. She married Perrin Farrar in Franklin Co., MO, and they had six daughters.

4. Alexander D. Clark, b. 16 Oct 1811 in VA. He married twice, both times in Franklin Co., MO, first to Morris and second to Gregory.

5. Artimesia L. Clark, b. 4 Feb 1813 in VA. She never married but lived her entire life with either her mother or one of her sisters, first Adaline and then Rebecca Jane. Following her mother's death in 1861, in 1867-1868 Artimesia accompanied her sister Rebecca, Rebecca's husband (Isaiah Todd Murphy), and their family to Pulaski Co., MO, where Artimesia died sometime before 1880. No headstone has been found, but she was probably buried in the Dixon Cemetery, where Rebecca and Isaiah and other family members were buried.

6. Rebecca Jane Clark, b. 7 Jan 1819 in IL, married Isaiah Todd Murphy in Franklin Co., MO. He was the eldest son of Isaac Murphy (1779-1821) and his wife, Nancy Todd (d. aft. 1870). Rebecca and Isaiah had nine children. Rebecca died 11 Sep 1899 and was buried in the Dixon Cemetery, Dixon, Pulaski Co., MO, where she shares a joint headstone with her husband Isaiah. The headstone is very weathered and bears only their initials.

7. Samuel H. Clark, b. 7 Jul 1821 in IL, moved immediately to Franklin Co., MO. He never married but lived variously with his mother, his brother Alexander and his widowed sister Adaline. In 1870, when other family members moved to Pulaski Co., Samuel remained in Franklin Co. and evidently died there sometime after 1870. His burial spot is unknown.