James Yancey Clark (1822 - 1868)

Born 22 Oct 1822 in Rockcastle, Kentucky, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 31 Oct 1868 at age 46 in Rockcastle, Kentucky, United States

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Biography

This profile is part of the Graves Name Study.

James Yancy Clark was born on 28 October 1822 in Rockcastle County, Kentucky. ^[1] He was a child of Wallace James Clark Sr. and Rebecca Mary Abney. He married Sarah Sammons.

He passed away on 31 October 1868. He was interred in King-Clark Cemetery, Climax, Rockcastle County, Kentucky. ^[1]

Some interesting background on James Y. Clark. From the Rose Family Tree link:

James Y. Clark was the leader of the Ku Klux Klan in the area, and on October 3, 1868 led a raid to "scare" James Langford. They were to leave switches on Langford's porch to indicate that they would return and "switch" him if he did not get rid of the woman he was living with, but not married to. Langford shot James Y. Clark through the door and he died as a result. The bill for the doctor's visit that night was $7.00. The account of his burial expenses totaled $14.60.

A law suit was filed to settle the estate and the land was divided into 5 tracts. Tract 1 included the Salt Peter Cave, was sold to Granville C. Clark and William Clark. Tract 2 was 25 acres. Tract 3 was 15 and 3/4 acres, with 1 acre taken out for a school. Tract 4 was 51 acres and Tract 5 was known as the "Polly" place. 1: 1845, 125 acres on Brush Creek. 3: 1848, 150 acres, 2 horses & 5 head of cattle. 4: 1855, Deed Book 12, p. 325: 315 acres across Brush Creek & 30 acres Crooked Creek. 5: March 27, 1866, Deed Book J, p. 329: Court seals to James land on Clear Creek for $150.00. 7: March 09, 1867, Deed Book K, p. 494, James bought land on Bruch Creek from the Barnabas Haley heirs for $81.00.

The following is from the Sherlene's G-Log link.

The Mt. Vernon Historical Society has a record of the Klan’s first visit to James H. Langford’s house. It confirms what the family legend says about switches being left on James’ front porch as a warning. This raid took place in 1868. What it also says is that James shot through his front door and killed the Klan leader, James Y. Clark. Rockcastle County And It’s People, a book published in 1992, records an account of James Langford running from the Klan one night and being saved by the faithfulness of a former slave, Uncle Alf, who would not disclose James’ whereabouts. Since my great-grandfather, Elza was born in 1876, and since his mother, Mary Ann Dameron Langford, is the head of the household in the 1880 census, James must have been killed sometime between 1876 and 1880. I have one undocumented source that says that Liberty2 was killed in 1878.

Census

1850 US Census:^[2]

Name Household Role Sex Age Birthplace

James Clark M 26 Kentucky

Sarah Clark F 26 Kentucky

Granville Clark M 7 Kentucky

Mary Ann Clark F 5 Kentucky

William Clark M 4 Kentucky

John Clark M 2 Kentucky

Martha F Clark F 0 Kentucky

1860 US Census:^[3]

Name Household Role Sex Age Birthplace

Clark, James 28 M Farmer 1000 490 KY

Sarah 27 F KY

Granville 17 M KY

Mary 15 F KY

William 13 M KY

John 12 M KY

Martha 10 F KY

James 8 M KY

Rebecca 5 F KY

Willis 2 M KY

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} James Y Clark King-Clark Cemetery, Climax, Rockcastle County, Kentucky, USA Find A Grave: Memorial #5839914
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M652-J1W : 12 April 2016), James Clark, Rockcastle county, Rockcastle, Kentucky, United States; citing family 36, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
3. ↑ “United States Census, 1860," Kentucky, Rockcastle County, Mt. Vernon P.O., 7 July 1860, page, 99 (559), family 723, line 7

• "The Rose Family Tree: Family Group Sheet." ([1] Link.) Accessed 21 October 2015.

• "Descendants and Parents of Amelia Graves and William Abney." Graves Family Association Genealogy 44([https://graves-fa.org/gen-histories/gens/gen044.html.) Accessed 21 October 2015.

• "Rootsweb: My Eastern Kentucky Family and Much More." ([2] Link.) Accessed 21 October 2015.

• "Sherlene's G-Log: Walker Langford." ([3] Link.) Accessed 21 October 2015.
• "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZB8-12F : 18 February 2021), James Clark, 1860.
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5839914/james-yancey-clark : accessed 28 April 2022), memorial page for James Yancey Clark (28 Oct 1822–31 Oct 1868), Find a Grave Memorial ID 5839914, citing King-Clark Cemetery, Climax, Rockcastle County, Kentucky, USA ; Maintained by James Cope (contributor 34771747) .