Nathaniel Clark (1701 - 1786)

Born 18 Feb 1701 in Medfield, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Esther (Richardson) Clark — married 3 Jan 1733 in Medway, Norfolk, MA

Descendants

Died 30 Mar 1786 at age 85 in Medway, Suffolk, Massachusetts

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Bryan Sypniewski [send private message]

Cautionary Note - Two men named Nathaniel Clark were born in Medfield just five years apart. They were first cousins, one the son of John, a son of Joseph, the other the son of Nathaniel, a son of Joseph. Both settled in Medway, both married women named Esther within three years, and both had many children. The town clerks of Medway did not distinguish between them in the birth records: both had children recorded as "Clark, xxxx, s. or d. of Nathaniel and Esther."

Biography

Nathaniel Clark was born on February 18, 1700/1701, in Medfield, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, the son of John Clark and Mary Sheffield.^[1]

Nathaniel first married Judith/Judah Mason in Medway on 4 Feb 1729.^[2]

Nathaniel and Judith/Juda Clark had, in Medway:

• Amos, b. 6 Dec 1730

Judith died in Medway 4 Aug 1731.^[2]

Distinguish the families of the two Nathaniels: The following is an attempt to sort out two Nathaniel Clarks, two Esthers who married them, and their children all recorded as sons or daughters of Nathaniel and Esther/Ester Clark. There are clues, including the will of a father-in-law and a few vital record references to Lt. Nathaniel Clark, identifying him as the man born in 1705 who died in 1780.

A Nathaniel Clark married Esther Whiting in Medway on 21 June 1732.^[2] That was 10 months after the death of Judith, a reasonable mourning interval by the norms of that day, so that Nathaniel could have been her widower, as some genealogies have suggested.

Esther Whiting's father Capt. Nathaniel Whiting died in Medway on September 4th 1779, in his 89th year.[7][8] His will was dated April 14th 1770, and proved October 1, 1779. In it he mentioned his wife Margaret, daughter Margaret Clark, son-in-law Nathaniel Clark, husband of daughter Esther, grandsons Nathaniel Clark Jr. and Simeon Clark, two granddaughters, children of Nathaniel, deceased, and son Nathan Whiting. ^[3] That makes clear that Nathaniel, b. 1734, and Simeon, b. 1736 or 1737, are sons of Nathaniel and Esther Whiting Clark, and that their father cannot have been the Nathaniel Clark who married Esther Richardson Jones in 1734-5.

A Nathaniel Clark then married Esther (Richardson) Jones, born 2 Jan 1706-7, the widow of Thomas Jones, in Medway on 31 Jan 1734.^[2]

More than one Nathaniel and more than one Esther Clark had the following children in Medway:^[2]

• Silence, b. 27 Oct 1733, d. 6 weeks later 4 Dec 1733, must have been the daughter of Esther Whiting Clark ^[4]
• Bathsheba, b. 29 June 1734, likely to Esther Richardson Jones ^[5]
• Nathaniel, b. 19 Oct 1734 to Esther Whiting Clark ^[6], may have married Sarah Beals in Medway 5 Sep 1764
• John, b. 12 Jan 1736, d. 7 Jan 1761; no marriage record yet found
• Simeon, b. 17 Sep 1736 or 1737 to Esther Whiting Clark ^[7], m. Mary Newman in Medway 7 Nov 1768
• Jemima, b. 10 Jan 1738, m. Joshua Whitney in Medway 29 Oct 1765
• Samuel, b. 30 Oct 1739, died 12 Feb 1754, aged 14 y, 10 m., son of Lt. Nathaniel Clark Jr.
• Mary, b. 12 Jan 1740
• Esther, b. 14 Mar 1741, d. 5 Apr 1741
• Kesiah, b. 9 Oct 1741, d. 6 June 1755 ?
• Stephen, b. 21 Mar 1743, m. Eunice Clark, intentions posted in Medway 9 Aug 1766. He had earlier posted intentions with Mrs Mary Hobbs, but nothing more about that potential marriage found in Medway records.
• Esther b. 10 Oct 1744, married John Gould in Medway on 8 June 1769
• Kesiah, b. 9 Sep 1751, d. 6 June 1755 ?
• Sarah, bp. 18 Nov 1753
• Sarah, b. 12 Nov 1755, may have married Nathan Jones 22 Aug 1782 or Theodore Clark, 17 Nov 1783

Note that the last children attributed in Medway records to Nathaniel and Esther were the second Keziah, recorded born Sep 1751, Sarah, baptized Nov 1753, and 2nd Sarah, born Nov 1755. By Sep 1751, Esther Richardson Clark born 2 Jan 1706 was 45, and by 1755, two months short of age 50, likely well past menopause. Esther Whiting Clark born 20 March 1712-3 was 42 or 43 in 1755, likely still fertile to bear the three final children of this conflated family.

Lt. Nathaniel died in Medway on 30 May 1780, aged 75. Esther, wife of Lt. Nathaniel, had died 24 Mar 1770, age 60, indicating birth about 1710. That more closely approximates the 1712 birthdate of Esther Richardson Jones, rather than the 1706 birthdate of Esther Whiting. .

Nathaniel, husband of Esther, died in Medway on 30 Mar 1786.^[2] The implication of the record is that his wife Esther was still alive in 1786.

Notes on new information

Based on a deed, and the will of widow Esther Clark d 1799, confirmed that Nathaniel (John, Joseph) was the husband of Esther (Richardson) Jones and the father of:

• Bathsheba b. June 1734
• Jemima m Whitney b. Jan 1738-9
• Mary m Wight b. Jan 1740-1
• Stephen b. Mar 1743
• Esther m Gould - Esther b. Oct 1744

Also: assign to him John, b. Jan 1736-7 d. 7 Jan 1761 (named after father)

• Nathaniel and Esther died after 1786 (date deed was acknowledged actually june 4?) but originally executed 1782. So, he is not the Lt. Clarke. 1701-1786

That leaves for Lt Nathaniel (Nathaniel, Joseph), h of Esther Whiting d 24 Mar 1770, age 60.

• Nathaniel, b. Oct 1734 (Whiting will 1770)
• Simeon, b. Sep 1736 or 1737 (Whiting will 1770)
• Samuel, b. 30 Oct 1739, died 12 Feb 1754, aged 14 y, 10 m., son of Lt. Nathaniel Clark Jr.
• Kesiah, b. 9 Oct 1741, d. 6 June 1755 ?
• Silence, b. 27 Oct 1733, d. 6 weeks later 4 Dec 1733, must have been the daughter of Esther Whiting Clark ^[8]
• Kesiah, b. 9 Sep 1751, d. 6 June 1755 ?
• Sarah, bp. 18 Nov 1753
• Sarah, b. 12 Nov 1755, may have married Theodore Clark, 17 Nov 1783 [probably the daughter of Timothy and Margaret Clark]

Previous Working Hypothesis

Subject to further research and corrections (which are most welcome), the working hypothesis for separating these conflated families, based on facts for the first few, typical biennial births for children who survive infancy, and typical femaie biology, is:

Nathaniel Clark (1701-1786) married first Judith/Judah Mason in 1729. After she died in August 1731, he then married Esther Whiting in June 1732. This Nathaniel and Esther had:

• Silence, b. Oct 1733, d. two months later
• Nathaniel, b. Oct 1734
• Simeon, b. Sep 1736 or 1737
• Jemima, b. Jan 1738-9
• Mary, b. Jan 1740-1
• Esther, b. 14 Mar 1741-2, died 3 weeks later
• Stephen, b. Mar 1743
• Keziah, b. Sep 1751
• Sarah, bp. Nov 1753
• Sarah, b. Nov 1755

Lt. Nathaniel Clark (1705-1780) married Esther Richardson, widow of Thomas Jones, in Jan 1734. That Nathaniel and that Esther had:

• Bathsheba, b. June 1734
• John, b. Jan 1736-7
• Samuel, b. Oct 1739
• Keziah, b. Oct 1741
• Esther b. Oct 1744

Sources

1. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4JP-THJ : 5 November 2017), Nathaniel Clark, 18 Feb 1700; citing Birth, Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 721,179.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5} Norfolk, Vital Records of Medway, Massachusetts, to the year 1850, pp.167-171, 297-8.
3. ↑ Jordan, John W. Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (Lewis Historical Pub. Co., New York, 1915, Vol 1, p. 149, emphasis added.)
4. ↑ since marriage of Esther Richardson Jones took place months after her birth
5. ↑ as it occurred 5 months after her marriage and impossibly close to births of Bathsheba and Nathaniel
6. ↑ per her father's will
7. ↑ per her father's will
8. ↑ since marriage of Esther Richardson Jones took place months after her birth

See Also:

• Ancestry Family Tree
• "Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99Z3-9ZGV?cc=2106411&wc=MCB5-RTL%3A361613401%2C362221501 : 22 May 2014), Suffolk > Deeds 1786-1787 vol 157-159 > image 280 of 841; county courthouses and offices, Massachusetts. [Deed identifies Nathaniel (John) as the father of Stephen Clarke]
• "Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9Z3-726S?cc=2106411&wc=MCB5-DZ9%3A361613401%2C362172301 : 22 May 2014), Suffolk > Deeds 1754-1756 vol 85-87 > image 108 of 871; county courthouses and offices, Massachusetts.

Acknowledgements

• Clark-19389 was created by Bryan Sypniewski through the import of LentVise3b_2014-10-20.ged on Oct 20, 2014.