Tuesday, October 16, 2018

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY ~ THEOPHILUS CLARKE (1670-1737)–My husband’s 6th great grandfather

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Photo used with permission of Nate Bramlett
Here lies buried the body of Mr. Theophilus Clarke who died October 1737 in the 67th year of his age
Mr. Theophilus Clark is my husband’s 6th great grandfather.  He is the third of ten known children born to Benjamin Clarke and Dorcas Morse (Tombstone Tuesday – Dorcas Morse Clark 1645-1725)

Theophilus married first, Rachel Partridge about 1692 in Medfield, Colonial Massachusetts.  They had 12 known children together.  She died 1 Dec 1717. Theophilus next married Elizabeth Underwood (who was the widow of Nathaniel Cutler) on 24 Feb 1717/18 in Reading, Colonial Massachusetts.

I’m trying to imagine the household shared by Theophilus & Elizabeth.  She had two children by her first husband, Nathaniel, who were likely still living with her.  He had 12 children by his first wife, Rachel.  Of those it’s likely that, at least, the four youngest girls were still at home.  Then Theophilus & Elizabeth went on to have their own 3 children. It certainly must have been a busy household.
 
Theophilus did leave a will naming Elizabeth as his executor and naming several of his children as heirs.  You may find the probate record and image here.  Elizabeth lived for 20 years after Theophilus’ death.

I have traced the Clarke/Clark family (spelled with and without the ‘e’) back to the late 1500’s to Joseph Clark & Alice Pepper who were Theophilus’ grandparents.
 
You can find reference to this Clark family on the archive.org website:
Theophilus and Elizabeth are buried in the Old Ashford Cemetery, in Ashford, Windham, Connecticut.  You can visit the memorials for Theophilus and his wife Elizabeth on FindAGrave #29214297 and Elizabeth #32043125.  His first wife, Rachel also has memorial on the site, but no burial location is given for her #29214889.

I located this reference to the burials of Benjamin, Hannah, Theophilus and Elizabeth Clark in this transcription of headstones for Old Ashford Cemetery.
 
CLARK_Theophilus & Elizabeth & Benjamin & Hannah_headstone inscriptions from Hale Cemetery collection Vol 1

If you are connected to this Clark family (and there must be many of you), please contact me if you have additional information, corrections or would like to exchange information.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST


Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl
Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

4 comments:

  1. Did any of your Clarke/Clark family go to Prince Edward Island before 1800?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Toni,
      Not that I’m aware of. I have no one in my family or my husband's with any reference to Prince Edward Island. At least not so far.
      Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  2. Hi Michigan Girl,

    My 7th times Great Grandfather is also Theophilus Clark. His son Ebenezer (whom I believe was the son of his 1st wife Rachel) is my 6 times Great Grandfather. It's so much fun doing this Ancestry thing! Val PS. I live in Anacortes, WA.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi. This means you are a cousin to my husband. He also descends from Ebenezer through his daughter Achsah. Which of Ebenezer's children do you descend from? And, yes, doing family history is full of mystery, twists and turns and lots of fun.
      Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete

I look forward to reading your comments. If you have any connection to the people mentioned in this blog, please let me know. I write about mine and my husband's ancestors and would welcome new information or meeting a new cousin or two. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.