Edward Clark of Worcester and Suffolk County, Massachusetts: French & Indian War Captain, prominent Medway town citizen, landowner, and “enemy of American liberty.”
Edward Clark was a prolific land owner in Worcester County, Massachusetts, a soldier of the French & Indian Wars serving on expeditions to Fortress Louisbourg (1744-1745) and Fort Crown Point (1755), rising to the rank of Captain. He was elected a deacon and served many civic functions in the town of Medway. Despite his distinguished military service and his standing in the town of Medway in the 1750s, in 1775, he was declared an ”enemy of American liberty” for violating Article 3 of the Continental Association by storing and selling boycotted tea. He married four times, and spent his last years in Somerset, Windham County, Vermont, before dying in Princeton, Worcester Co., Massachusetts (formally part of Rutland District where he had owned land) in 1799. No gravestone, will or probate has ever been located. There are several related men named Edward Clark in the Worcester County area at the same time: Capt. Edward Clark (who primarily resided in Rutland District), his son Ensign Edward Clark and Ensign Clark’s son, Edward Clark, Jr. (both primarily resided in Petersham and Hardwick). His father, Edward Clark, Esquire, died in 1746 and lived primarily in Medfield and Medway. The subject was often called Captain in the records and will hereafter be referred to as Capt. Edward Clark to distinguish him from his kin.
Edward Clark was born on 27 Nov 1712 in Medfield, Suffolk, Massachusetts as the fifth child of Edward Clark, Esquire and Hannah Adams. His mother was the granddaughter of Henry Adams, the immigrant ancestor of President John Adams. He had thirteen siblings, namely: Hannah, Edward, Prudence, Patience, David, Benjamin, Nathan, Rebeckah, Elizabeth, Sarah, John, Elijah, and Henry.
When he was 22, he married Ann Nicholson (likely of one of the many Nicholson families living in Essex County) on 5 Jan 1735 in Medway, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Ann died 25 June 1758 in Barre, Worcester Co., shortly after giving birth to their 13th child, Benjamin Clark, who was born 23 June 1758 in Barre, Worcester Co., Mass.
When he was 46, he married Anna Bucknam, daughter of the Rev. Nathan Bucknam and Margaret Fiske, on 25 Oct 1759 in Medway, Suffolk County, Massachusetts (intentions published 16 June 1759). Anna died on 6 May 1767 in Barre, Worcester Co., Mass. There were three children from this marriage, which are named in the will of Anna’s father, Nathan Bucknam.
When he was 54, Capt. Clark married the widow Mary Robbins Stone, daughter of Samuel Robbins and Rebecca ____, on 21 Sep 1767 in Barre. She was married to Nathan Stone and had several children by this marriage. Mary likely died sometime between 1 October 1770 and April 1779. There were no children from this marriage.
When he was 66, Capt. Clark married the widow Susannah Rice on 22 Apr 1779 in Hardwick, Worcester Co., Mass. (of Hubbardston; intentions 15 February 1779. There were no children from this marriage. Susannah Rice was possibly the same Susannah Gardiner that married Nathaniel Rice in Rutland on 4 August 1764. Shortly after marrying Susannah, Capt. Clark and his wife removed to Somerset, Windham Co., Vermont. Capt. Clark appears in the Vermont Gazetteer newspaper in an announcement dated 14 June 1788 where Daniel Rice, Collector of Taxes, posted a notice of a meeting to be held “at the dwelling houfe of Captain Edward Clark, in Somerfet.” There is no record of Susannah’s death as she was alive when Capt. Clark died in 1799, however, she was involved in a land transaction with Daniel Rice (a relation of Nathaniel?) in Somerset on 9 Mar 1812 when Susannah Clark and Daniel Rice sell land in Somerset to Lyman Susanna and Lucy Watkins of Wendell, Franklin Co., Mass.
While he was in his early 30s, Edward Clark was one of the many soldiers from Massachusetts sent to siege the French-held fortress at Louisbourg, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada during the fourth French & Indian War (also known as King George’s War or Governor Shirley’s War, 1744-1749). He is likely the same Edward Clark that was commissioned an Ensign on 9 February 1744. He was with the Second Massachusetts Regiment under Col. Samuel Waldo, 8th Company. On the expedition to Louisbourg, it was voted on 31 January 1746/7 “that Edward Clark be allowed lieutenant’s wages, from May 29th, 1745, to September 30th, following, which vote is mislaid and not recorded; voted, that he be allowed, “ &c.” In 1745, Edward Clark was among the list of persons impressed by Capt. Nathaniel Whiting of Medway for service (among other Clark men). Fortress Louisbourg was captured after a long siege on 17 June 1745.
By the fifth French & Indian War (1754-1755), Lt. Clark was elevated to the rank of Captain and held command of his own company on the expedition to Crown Point (New York) in Col. Francis Gridley’s Regiment 9 September – 19 December 1755. A muster roll and pay receipt acknowledges his role as Captain under Col. Gridley on the Crown Point expedition.
French and Indian War muster roll index cards, 1603-1779, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/1471369), French and Indian War roll musters, index cards, Church, William - Cole, Jonathan (continued), 1710-1774, FHL: 2428340, Edward Clark, 28132 (image 570); Edward Clark, 28133 (image 571); Edward Clarke, 28687 (image 1151). Citing: Massachusetts Archives, Boston, Mass.
Capt. Clark served several roles in the Town of Medway:
· Voted Constable 9 March 1746/7 and 30 Nov 1747.
· Voted Sealer of Measures and Weights 14 Mar 1748, 6 Mar 1748/9.
· Voted Surveyor of Shingles 12 Mar 1753.
· Voted Juryman in Superior Court 1 May 1753.
· Asked to fence land 11 Mar 1754.
· Voted moderator of town meeting 27 May 1754.
· Selected as Deacon, 27 December 1754
Capt. Clark owned several tracts of lands in Medway and Wrentham in Suffolk County as a result of inheritance from his father, Edward Clark, Esquire. In 1748, Edward Clark began selling his inherited lands in Medway and Wrentham, Suffolk Co.; first, to his brother Elijah Clark and then to Asa Richardson, Nathaniel Whiting, Jr. and Joshua Hubbard. Some of these lands were in the Medway “Old Grant,” including lands in the “Black Swamp.”
While still living in Medway, Edward Clark bought lands in Petersham, but does not appear to have actually lived there. In 1754, Edward Clark began selling his remaining lands held in Suffolk County to purchase lands in Petersham, Worcester County. On 18 Sept 1754, he sold his lands in Wrentham to Cornelius Cook of Petersham, Worcester Co. and on the same date purchased land in Petersham from the same Cornelius Cook. He purchased other lands in Petersham
Also while still in Medway, Capt. Clark made his first purchase of lands in Rutland District in Worcester County—152 acres of House Lot No 63, part of the “Great Farm” of land grants from the Proprietors on 6 September 1756 from Nathaniel Davis. A week later, Capt. Clark purchased three tracts of land in Rutland District from John Hubbard consisting of parts of Little Farm F and Little Farm G within the Great Farms grant.
Sometime between 25 Feb 1757 and 22 Dec 1757, Capt. Clark and his family moved to Rutland District to settle on those lands. He purchased other lands in Rutland District including one half of House Lot No 14 in Great Farm and ¾ of Little farm H, as well as selling some of his lands in Petersham and Rutland.
He inherited lands as part of the estate of his son Nathan Clark who, in his will of 6 June 1793, “I give my Honored father Edward Clark the improvement of the one half of my real & personal estate during his natural life.” On 5 November 1793, Capt. Clark, now of Somerset, Windham Co., Vermont sold 80 acres in Princeton, Worcester Co., (formally part of Rutland) to his son Benjamin Clark.
Map of the Great Farms of Rutland District. The box in red highlights the lands owned by Capt. Edward Clark.
Shortly after the start of the American Revolution, Capt. Clark, former soldier, prominent citizen, and land owner, violated the Continental Association Agreement for selling boycotted tea. On 18 September 1775, Captain Clark of Rutland, was convicted of selling tea by the “Committees of Inspection of the towns of Cumberland, Wrentham, Medway, Bellington, Hopkinton, Holliston, Mendon, Uxbridge, and Upton” at a meeting convened in Bellingham. They “received an information against Captain Edward Clark, of Rutland, for purchasing and selling Tea, contrary to the Association Agreement, in article third. This body of Committees, viewing it their indispensable duty to keep said Association Agreement inviolate, taking it upon them to inquire into the facts charged in said information; said Clark being required to appear before said Committee, accordingly appeared, and confessed that he had, since the first day of March last, bought twenty pounds of Tea; that he had sold to sundry persons about five pounds and a half of the same, had used some, and the residue thereof he said was lodged with a certain man, with intent to dispose of it to two others, whom he had not opportunity to deliver it to.
Whereupon we unanimously Resolve, That said Clark' s conduct abovementioned is in direct violation of said Association Agreement; and that the said Clark is an enemy to American liberty, and ought to be treated as such. And that it be recommended to all persons who are lovers of their Country, and friends to the common rights and liberties of mankind, to break off all kind of dealings with him; and that this be published in the Gazette.” — Aaron Phips, Chairman; Nathan Tyler, Clerk. The announcement was posted in the Boston Gazette and Country Journal for October 16, 1775 (no. 1065)
At the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia on 20 October, the Continental Association was developed: an agreement among the twelve colonies present to establish a massive general non-importation and non-consumption agreement. The agreement took place on 1 March 1775. Patriots in each colony formed Committees of Inspection to manage the association locally. Tea was, of course, one of the headline consumer products banned by the Association. Article 3 specifically reads:
As a Non-Consumption Agreement, strictly adhered to, will be an effectual security for the observation of the Non-Importation, we, as above, solemnly agree and associate, that from this day we will not purchase or use any Tea imported on account of the East India Company, or any on which a Duty hath been or shall be paid; and from and after the first day of March next we will not purchase or use any East India Tea whatsoever; nor will we, nor shall any person for or under us, purchase or use any of those Goods, Wares, or Merchandises we have agreed not to import, which we shall know, or have cause to suspect, were imported after the first day of December, except such as come under the rules and directions of the tenth Article hereafter mentioned.
Whether Capt. Clark had actual Loyalist leaning or was just trying to make a profit during war time is not known. He did not flee the country during or after the war, but did remove himself out of Massachusetts and into Vermont shortly afterwards.
There were no further land transactions of Capt. Edward Clark until 1793 when he sold lands in Princeton to Benjamin Clark, where he died there in 1799. From 1779, when he married his 4th wife, until 1788, no records of Captain Clark appear until he is mentioned in an advertisement in the Vermont Gazette in 1788 as residing in Somerset, Windham Co., Vermont. It is possible that as a result of the admonishment by the Committee that he removed to Vermont.
Capt. Edward Clark died in Princeton, probably near his son Benjamin Clark about 14 February 1799.
Columbian Centinel, Boston, Massachusetts. Vol. XXXI, Issue 2, p. 2. 1799-03-09
Children of Captain Edward and Ann (Nicholson) Clark, all recorded in Medway, except for the 14th child, Benjamin:
i. Edward Clark, b. 29 Mar 1736, d. 29 Mar 1736, twin of Samuel.
ii. Samuel Clark, b. 29 Mar 1736, d. 29 Mar 1736, twin of Edward.
iii. Edward Clark, b. Medway 25 January 1736/7; died Hardwick 2 January 1820; m. Barre 30 Sep 1762 Anna Jenison, of Weston, Middlesex Co., Mass., daughter of Nathaniel Jenison and Abigail ____. She died in Hardwick 16 October 1802. Edward Clark is often called “Ensign Edward Clark[e]” in the vital records and is so named on his gravestone to distinguish him from his father, Captain Edward Clark. Ens. Clark served in French & Indian War 18 May - 26 Nov 1759, and is recorded as an Ensign from Rutland District on the expedition to Crown Point (New York) under Capt. Wm Jones. He is likely also the same Edward Clark that appeared on an earlier expedition to Crown Point, September 1755 in Col. Francis Brinley’s Regiment. Ens. Clark lived most of his life in Petersham and Hardwick and is often distinguished in the deed records from his father, Capt. Edward, who lived in Rutland District. He appears on the Federal Census of 1790 for Hardwick and in the 1798 Direct Tax for Petersham, Worcester Co., Mass. He appears in the 1800 Federal census in Hardwick as head of a 5-member household. Several of his land transactions were witnessed by his sons–Edward Clark, Jr. Jenison Clark, Simeon Clark, and Samuel Clark. Two deeds concerned property jointly owned by Ens. Clark and his son Edward Clark, Jr. from 1815-1821, probate proceeding declared Ens. Edward Clark incapable of taking care of himself. His sons and sons-in-law, Nathaniel Clark, Edward Clark, Jr., John Paige (husband of his daughter Anna) and Samuel King (husband of his daughter Sophia) petition the Court to administer the estate of Edward Clark of Dana because he has become “non composmontis” and “incapable of taking proper care of himself.” His wife had died (1802) and the remainder of his estate was to be paid to his six surviving children (not named). It is likely that these surviving children were Anna, Samuel, Jenison Edward, Jr., Nathaniel and Sophia. Simeon Clark (1809), Phylena Clark (1791) and Polly Clark (1789) died before 1820, so would not be included as heirs.
iv.
Anne
Clark, b. 19 August
1738;
died Barre November 1818. She married at Barre, 20 April 1758 Aaron4
(James3, Justinian2, Richard1) Holden
of Worcester, Worcester Co., Mass., son of James Holden and Hannah Adams, born
26 January 1731/32. He died Barre, 30 September 1802. Aaron Holden was a
Private in Solomon Keyes/Jonathan Stebbins Company on expedition to Crown Point
4 Oct 1755 - 14 November 1755 in the F&I War (about the same time as Capt.
Edward Clark). He also served with distinction in the American Revolution as
accounted in the Holden Genealogy [Eben Putnam, The Holden Genealogy: Ancestry and Descendants of Richard and Justinian Holden and of Randall Holden, Volume 1 (Boston, Murray Printing Co., 1923), 147-151, 253-255]
v. Hannah Clark, b. 29 December 1739; d. Benington, Vermont, 29 November 1766; m. Hardwick, 4 May 1758, Samuel Robinson, Jr., b. Hardwick, 9 August 1738, son of Samuel and Marcy (Leonard) Robinson. He died Bennington, 3 May 1813. Samuel Robinson, Jr. served with his father as an Adjunct in Col. Timothy Ruggles Regiment on the expedition to Ft. William Henry, August 1757; he was a Captain leading a company in the Battle of Bennington, 1777 and rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel. He oversaw the capture of Tory prisoners and was the first Justice of the Peace in Vermont.
vi. Rachel Clark, b. Medway, 9 December 1741; d. Barre, 19 September 1764; m. Barre, 27 May 1762, Elijah Gregory as his first wife, b. about 1740 (possibly the son of Abraham Gregory and Susannah Whitney of Weston, b. 27 Feb 1738/9), d. Milford, New Haven Co., Connecticut, 18 January 1777 as a prisoner of war on a British cartel ship. Elijah married secondly at Barre, 7 January 1770, Jane Carruth. In her pension application, Jane sates that Elijah served in Capt. Benjamin Gates's Co., Col. Holman's Regt., in the year 1776, was taken prisoner Sept. 18, 1776, on the retreat from New York, and was brought to New Haven in a cartel, and died there Jan. 18, 1777. Elijah had land transactions with his brother-in-law, Nathan Clark.
vii. Nathan Clark, b. Medway 28 January 1743; d. Princeton, about 2 September 1793; m. Rutland District, 25 November 1788 Rhoda Wheeler. They had no children. In his will, Nathan stipulates that his father, Edward Clark, receive one-half of his personal and real estate. In 1762, Nathan purchases ¾ of Little Farm F from his father. On 7 June 1792 Nathan Clark purchases 85 acres in Princeton from David Hart, which border lands of Ichabod Fisher, Stephen Brigham, and Isaac Thomson. These are likely the lands that Capt. Clark inherited from his son per his will because he sells these same lands to his son Benjamin Clark in 1793 while still residing in Windham Co., Vermont.
viii. Oliver Clark, b. Medway 22 December 1745; d. Medway 22 December 1745, “not 1 day old.”
ix. Theophilus Clark, b. Medway 18 January 1747/8; d. Medway 3 March 1747/8, at age 1 month.
x. Samuel Clark, b. Medway 5 May 1750; d. Medway 20 September 1769 on Barre, at age 16.
xi. Eli Clark, b. Medway 29 February 1752; d. Hubbardston 26 August 1816; m. Rutland District 30 August 1770, Lois Stone, b. Worcester, 8 June 1752, daughter of Nathan Stone and Mary Robbins. Mary Robbins, the widow, was the third wife of Eli’s father, Capt. Edward Clark (so his mother-in-law became his stepmother). Lois died in Hubbardston 12 December 1836.
xii. Simeon Clark, b. Medway 10 November 1754. No further records. This Simeon Clark is not the same Simeon Clark, son of Ensign Edward Clark.
xiii. Mary Clark, b. Medway 25 February 1757; d. 3 March 1757.
xiv. Benjamin Clark, b. Barre 23 June 1758; d. Princeton 20 April 1810; m. Hubbardston 12 December 1781 Eunice Hoyt. He purchased land from his father, Edward Clark in 1793, who was in Somerset, Vermont. This was likely lands that Edward Clark inherited from his son Nathan Clark. His will was made 1 May 1810 and probated 25 September 1816.
Children of Captain Edward and Anna (Bucknam) Clark, all recorded in Barre and Rutland:
xv. Mary Clark, b. 17 February 1761. No further records.
xvi. Catherine Clark, b. 12 August 1763. No further records.
xvii. Samuel Clark, b. 10 Nov 1766. No further records.
Sources:
Vital Records of Princeton, Massachusetts to the Year 1849 (Worcester: Franklin P. Rice, 1902).
Vital Records of Rutland, Massachusetts to the Year 1849 (Worcester: Franklin P. Rice, 1905).
Vital Records of Barre, Massachusetts to the Year 1849 (Worcester: Franklin P. Rice, 1903).
Vital Records of Medfield, Massachusetts to the Year 1850 (Boston: NEHGS, 1903).
Vital Records of Medway, Massachusetts to the Year 1850 (Boston: NEHGS, 1905).
Jameson, E.O. ed. History
of Medway Mass. 1713 to 1885 (Millis Mass: E. O. Jameson), 1886).
Jameson, Ephraim Orcott, The Military History of Medway, Mass. 1745-1885, (Providence, RI, J.A. & R.A. Reid, Printers, 1886).
Samuel G. Drake, A Particular History of the Five Years French and Indian War in New England and Parts Adjacent, From Its Declaration by the King of France, March 15, 1744, to the Treaty with the Eastern Indians, Oct. 16, 1749, Sometimes Called Governor Shirley’s War (Boston: Samuel G. Drake, 1870).
