"Jesse Clark was born in New Haven on March 21, 1728, being the only son of Nathan Clark, and grandson of Samuel and Hannah (Tuttle) Clark; his mother was Phebe, daughter of Ralph and Abiah (Bassett) Lines. His father died before his graduation.
He studied theology, and in 1759 preached for a short time in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, but was not called to settle. Almost immediately after, he went to Spencertown, a village then in the manor of Rensselaerwyck, in the western part of the present township of Austerlitz, Columbia County, New York, where he was ordained in 1760 as the first pastor of the Congregational Church, of which his classmate Martin took charge in 1780.
He continued to reside in Spencertown for many years,—probably until his death, which occurred not far from 1800. He is said to have contracted intemperate habits
in later life. He is first marked as deceased in the Triennial Catalogue of 1814."
