MySource:Jrich/Clark Notes

Watchers
Browse
MySource Clark Notes
Coverage
Place Virginia, United States
Year range 1680 - 1787
Surname Clark
Citation
Clark Notes.

On a visit to Willow Grove in Orange County, Virginia, I was given an except of an unknown author's book or manuscript left by a previous visitor, containing a chapter on the Clark family starting with Edward Clark, then his son William. At that point the portion I have a copy of stops, as the researcher only followed William's son John, not his son Joseph who is my ancestor. Because I don't know if the original is copyrighted or not, I cannot provide a transcript, and will only be able to cite brief abstracts of the facts presented within when I use it. My guess is this is somebody's family genealogy because it contains phrases like "our ancestor". It appears to be researched by a knowledgeable genealogist making a minimum of assumptions, but a quote in it, credited to a W. A. Towles, is very appropos: "No sane man would undertake a Clark genealogy." There is an article "Towles and Clark Families", by William B. Newman, in Vol. 13 of Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine (which I haven't seen first hand yet) upon which much of this information may be based since William's son John married Mary Towles.

I was also given a transcript of a family Bible said to belong to Edwin Parsons Clark (a grandson of the Joseph Clark mentioned above). A transcript of this may be found at MySource:Jrich/Clark Bible.

Willow Grove was originally started by Joseph Clark and expanded by his son William David Clark. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In recent times, it has been a bed and breakfast. It has changed hands since my visit, being now an inn. I do not know if the file on the Clark family went with the old owner, or remained with the building.

Several family documents on this family like to speculate about a connection with the famous Clark family of Orange County that included Gen. George Rogers Clark and William Clark (the Clark in Lewis and Clark). My research (see the caveat above about Clark genealogy) suggests there is no connection between the two Clark lines on this side of the Atlantic. Gen. Clark did refer to William Marston Clark (a grandson of William Clark of this family) as a cousin, but my belief is that if that phrase referred to an actual genealogical connection and not simply a neighborly expression, it was likely through the Marston side, and so is only applicable to the descendants of William Clark's son James and his wife Mary Marston. Gen. George Rogers Clark had a cousin named Marston Greene Clark, suggesting he may also have had some connection to the Marston family. I pursued the two Clark lines for a Clark connection, but did not investigate the families that intermarried with them. When WeRelate accumulates a more complete set of documented linkages, it should provide an easy tool for resolving this.