Person:William Clarke (100)

His first appearance in Hartford was on 2 Jan 1639/40: “Wm Clarke servant to Jno Crow as fined 40s for misdemeanor in drinking & corporall punishment was remitted uppon his promise of his care for the future to avoyd such occations.” On several later occasions, he seems to have been involved in court proceedings but failed to appear -- he forfeited a bond in 1649 and did not appear as plaintiff in a lawsuit against John Griffin in 1653.

In 1659, he was fined by the court: “The Magestrates being mett and examining the case respecting Willm Clarks wiues trading Liquors to ye Indians Doe determine yt for yt misdeamenou in breaking the ord phibiting the same William Clarke is to pay Tenne pounds to ye publique Treasury.”

He sold land in Hartford in Dec. 1673. (Records of The Particular Court of Connecticut, 1639-1663 (Hartford, 1928)

Will

His will divides several lots around Haddam. His son Thomas is charged with most of the administrative duties, caring for his mother and a fair amount of land. Eldest son Joseph receives a specific grant of land, his brothers receive money and then they divide the remaining land.

From Probate Records, Volume IV, 1677 To 1687, Page 61-2.^[2]

Clarke, William sen., Haddam. Died 22 July, 1681. Invt. 412-18-00. Taken 19 August, 1681, by George Gates, Wm. X Ventrus, Simon Smith, John Spencer, Selectmen. Will dated 30 June, 1681.

I William Clarke of Haddam do make this my last Will & Testament: I give to my wife 4 a year during her natural life. I also give unto her the use of my Dwelling house & the little Orchard, half the Garden so long as she live a Widow. Moreover I give unto my wife a Cow, which my son Thomas shall winter for her during his Mother's life. Also I give unto her half my Household Stuff, & that in her half she be suited with a Bed & Bedding & such things as are most suitable for her, which she shall dispose of at her death to which she please of her Children. I Will unto my son William 25 out of my Estate, which shall be in my Land as it is prised in the Inventory. I do Will unto my son John 20 worth of my Land. I do give by Will unto my son Joseph, nothwithstanding anything I have formerly given him, 15 worth of Land, and 1 1/2 acre of the Boggs in the lower Division in the upper Meadow besides the 15. I give by Will unto my daughter Welles & to my daughter Fennoe & to my daughter Spencer 8 to each of them, and to my daughter Hannah 10. All these to be paid out of my Estate as prised with the Inventory. I give unto my son-in-law Daniel Hubbard 5 Shillings, & to my gr. Child Daniel Hubbard I do give 40 acres of Land in my second Division at Machamodus, and a 50 Freehold or Right in the Undivided Lands there as it is laid out to 50 Estate. And it is my Will that he be learned to read & to write. And I declare him to the dispose of my wife so long as she liveth, and then to the dispose of my son Thomas; & in Case my son Hubbard make trouble about him he shall satisfy for his bringing up. At the age of 21 years he shall be free. I give to my son Thomas my Lott I bought of Joseph Arnold in the Home Field, and all my whole Meadow Lott, and my Cow Meadow Lott, and the 6 acres on which my Dewlling house standeth, & the Ort Yards and Houses, at his Mother's decease, or Marriage after my death. My Will also is that my sons William, John, & Joseph have their portions in the Land that are not given away particularly and expressly to Thomas in my Will, and that they agree, by casting Lotts, which allotment shall belong to each of them, not exceeding the value above given to them. I do make my son Thomas Clarke sole Executor.

Witness: Nicholas Noyes, WILLIAM X CLARKE George Gates.

Origins

He may have been the brother of John Clark of Saybrook and Nicholas Clark of Hartford.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Clarke (William) Family, in Ferris, Mary Walton. Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines: A Memorial Volume Containing the American Ancestry of Rufus R. Dawes; and A Memorial Volume Containing the American Ancestry of Mary Beman (Gates) Dawes. (Milwaukee, WI: Cuneo Press, 1931-1943)
   2:207-09.

   William¹ Clarke is first inauspiciously recorded in Hartford, Connecticut, on January 2, 1639, while he was in the relation of servant to John Crow of that place and "was fined 40s. for misdemeano^r in drinking, and corporall punishment was remitted vppon his p^rmise of his care for future to avoyd such occations." Following this sorry introduction, it is a comfort to say that, though varied, his career, as will be seen, ended with no small honor and success. His term of service to John Crow was evidently completed by 1642, for in December of that year Hartford granted him "to hafe" one half of a tract earlier allotted to John Pearce on the east side of the road to the cow pasture and adjacent to the home of Thomas Hungerford.

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} Clarke, William sen., Haddam, in Manwaring, Charles W. A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records. (Hartford, Conn.: R. S. Peck & Co., 1904-06)
   1:290-91.