Notes on John Clark
John Clark was a man of note of the Connecticut Colony, a patentee named in the Charter of King Charles II. in 1662, for many years a deputy from Saybrook to the General Court, and a man to whose executive ability were entrusted many public
commissions.
The earliest date known under which he is distinctly named as of Saybrook, is that of September 9, 1647, when "Capitan Mason & Jo: Clark are desired to carry on the building of the Fort, by hiring men or Cartts or other necessaryes. The are aloud
to mak vse of the last Rate to be paid by Seabrook." (See Colonial Records of Conn.)
His will is recorded in the Probate Records of New Haven, in Vol. i, part 2, page 50, ad is dated February 17, 1672, at the beginning, and January 19, at the end. It is also printed at length in the Pratt Genealogy, page 340. His inventory is
dated February 28, 1673. He names -- My Son John Clark of Saybrook; My son William Pratt (that is son-in-law); My daughter Elizabeth Pratt ( who it appears from Pratt Genealogy, married William Pratt in June 1636, he dying in 1678; My daughter
Sarah Huntington; My wife's 20 pounds, which she is to have at my decease; Abigail Fletcher (daughter of his wife Mary). He also had a son Joseph, who will, recorded in Hartford Probate Records, Vol. iii, page 7, is dated Milford, Aug. 27, 1658,
"I being at this Instant Bownd upon a Voyadge to the West Indies." His inventory was taken August 27, 1663. After the death of her husband, the widow removed to Farmington and lived with her son-in-law, John Stanley. Here she died, Jan 22, 1678.
She has so often been erroneously supposed the wife of John Clark of Farmington, that it may be well to state that she was the daughter of the widow Joyce Ward of Wethersfield, previously of Rutland Country, England, who died between Nov. 15, 1640
and Feb. 24 1640-41.
Sgt. John Clark lived 4 yrs. in Mass. He came to guilford, Conn from Milford. John Clark is listed as one of the founders of Old Saybrook, CT. New Haven is also mentioned. He was a mariner arriving in America in 1639, in New Haven, Conn. He
was a sgt. then. In 1642 is listed as an immigrant from Suffolk, Eng. He is in military records, colonial record of New Haven Conn, N.1. Pg 76 (Conn) 17th century. He was an Indian interpreter.
John Clark was born in England. He was an original proprietor of Hartford, Connecticut, although apparently he was not one of the original settlers. He was a member of the Hartford contingent in the Pequot War in 1637. By 1647 he had settled in
Saybrook, Conn. He apparently moved to Norwich, Conn. for a short time about 1664, then settled in Milford, Conn., where he died a few years later.
There are a lot of candidates for his parents, with Joseph (1575) most common.
277, 279, 280
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