Samuel Clark (1720 - 1736)

Born 19 Sep 1720 in Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Rachel (Sprague) Clark — married about 18 Feb 1743 in Cumberland, Providence, Rhode Island

Descendants

Died 2 Jul 1736 at age 15 in Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Mary Mocanu [send private message]

Biography

Samuel Clark was born at Swansea, Massachusetts Bay, in mid-September of 1720, a son of Aaron Clark and Hannah (Eddy) Clark.

Samuel has been said to have married Rachel Sprague, daughter of Jonathan and Hannah (Coggeshall) Sprague, about 1743 at Cumberland, Providence, Rhode Island. The Swansea record however, as transcribed by FamilySearch, shows that the Samuel Clark born at Swansea died in 1736; if that indexed record is to be believed, he was not available to marry anyone in 1743. Meanwhile, Rachel Sprague's first marriage – to Nicholas Peck, son of Elisha and Martha (Lake) Peck – took place on 10 Jun 1739 at Smithfield, Providence, Rhode Island^[1][2].

Research Notes

This profile previously showed Samuel's death as occurring at Cumberland, Rhode Island, on 20 August, 1783. The printed Cumberland vital records show no such death (see https://archive.org/details/providencecounty00arnol/page/n283/mode/2up), and the indexed Swansea record is quite specific in stating that the Samuel Clark born there on 19 September, 1720, also died there, on 2 July, 1736. Either the Swansea man was not the Samuel who married Rachel Sprague... or the death record is improperly indexed on FamilySearch.

A Samuell Clark was born at Swansea 15 March 1691/2, son of A[a]ron and Sarah (Lange) Clark; see the Mason/Swerdferger transcript of Swansea's "Book A" (1662-1705) at http://dunhamwilcox.net/ma/swansea_1.htm (orig. p. [61]); parents' marriage: 6 March 1687/8 (orig. p. [77]). He is a possible candidate but would be just over 50 by 1743.

A Samuel Clarke, Jr., possibly of interest here given his birthdate, was born at Westerly to Samuel and Ann on 6 May, 1719 (an added note states that their earlier son Samuel, born 19 Jan. 1699/1700, "died about this time"). His birth record can be seen at https://www.familysearch.org/search/ark:/61903/1:1:V2HZ-VJP.

Nicholas and Rachel Peck appear as parents at Smithfield – where they were married on 7 June 1739 – at the birth of their daughter Hannah just three months later on 4 September; daughter Jerusha (? – the entry reads, "Jeshurea") was born there on 11 February, 1741 (probably 1741/2); see https://archive.org/details/providencecounty00arnol/page/110/mode/2up. But Rachel and second husband Samuel Clark are at Cumberland, RI, by the time of the birth of their son Nicholas on 5 August, 1744^[3], which justifies an estimated 1743 marriage date (see https://archive.org/details/providencecounty00arnol/page/n283/mode/2up), further demonstrating that if the Swansea record is accurate, its Samuel who died in 1736 cannot be Rachel's spouse. Their marriage however does not appear in the printed records searched to date (19 March 2023) for Cumberland, or Providence, or any other Rhode Island town whose records are reproduced in Arnold's Vital Record of Rhode Island, Volumes 2 through 6. These include: Cranston, Johnston, North Providence; Glocester, Burrillville, Scituate, Foster, Smithfield; Portsmouth, Newport, Middletown, New Shoreham, Jamestown, Tiverton; North Kingstown, South Kingstown, Exeter, Westerly, Charlestown, Richmond, Hopkinton, Bristol (possible exceptions below), Warren, and Barrington.

Nor does Samuel's death appear in those records (although a Samuel Clarke, Esq., evidently born in 1686, died at Jamestown in his 75th year on 18 October, 1761 ["Aged Seventy four years Eleven Months and Twenty six Days", so born 23 October 1686; he is thus not the Samuel Clarke born at Bristol to Timothy and Sarah on 19 April 1688]). Other Samuels worth noting: a Samuel Clarke of Newport married Ann Marks of Little Compton, at Little Compton, on 31 March, 1737 (intentions, March 5); a Samuel of Westerly married Susannah Champlain of South Kingstown on 26 May, 1720. At Bristol, Samuel of Portsmouth married first, Mrs. Mary Sampson ("who deceased before April 26, 1749"), and second, Mrs. Hannah Carey, on 12 April, 1749; also at Bristol, a Samuel Clarke, age 60, died 30 January, 1759.

Note that there are marriages of Rachel Clarks recorded at Cumberland in 1765 and 1767; see https://archive.org/details/providencecounty00arnol/page/n213/mode/2up. The second of these, to Aaron Cook in 1767, is presumably the marriage of the daughter Rachel originally noted (and at this writing, still linked) in this profile. The first could, however, be a remarriage of her mother, also Rachel Clark.

This profile also previously included the statement that Samuel and Rachel were "the parents of Elizabeth, Martha, Nicholas, Samuel, Rachel, Aaron, Stephen, William, a second Martha, and Silas Clark". This list, nearly all of which is supported by the Cumberland record linked above, cannot be accurate for the Swansea man, as that Samuel died well before any of these children were born. Research is needed to correct the parentage of all the offspring, who were patently the children of another Samuel Clark.

Sources

1. ↑ Marriage of Nicholas Peck and Rachel Sprague, solemnization 13? June 1739 (at Smithfield RI; links to image of original handwritten record, badly transcribed; "ye" mistranscribed as "7"; actual date is 13? June); and index shows "Thomas" but correct name is "Nicholas"): "Rhode Island, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1630-1945," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F8VJ-LH3 : accessed 19 March 2023), Rachel Sprague in entry for Thomas Peck, 7 Jun 1739; citing Marriage, Smithfield, Providence, Rhode Island, United States, Rhode Island State Archive, Providence City Archives, city and town clerk offices; FHL microfilm 959,589.
2. ↑ Marriage (1) to Nicholas Peck, solemnization 13? June 1739 (at Smithfield RI): "Rhode Island Marriages, 1724-1916", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F8KB-S43 : 22 January 2020), Rachel Sprague in entry for Nicholas Peck, 1739.
3. ↑ "Rhode Island Town Births Index, 1639-1932", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6SJ7-QMZ?cc=2297208 : 18 July 2022), > image 1 of 1.

• Birth 19 Sept. 1720 at Swansea MA: "Rhode Island Town Deaths Index, 1639-1932", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:DZXD-PT6Z : 9 November 2020), Samuel Clark, 1720.

• Birth 19 Sept. 1720; death 2 July 1736, both recorded at Swansea MA: "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZD8-5JV : 14 January 2020), Samuel Clark, 1720.

See also (note that online family trees are not regarded by WikiTree as reliable unless specific primary, or highly reputable secondary, sources are cited):

• Source: S-446461127 Repository: #R-994436178 Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Ancestry Family Tree ["this page is no longer available" 21 Mar. 2023]: http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=84229015&pid=213
• Repository: R-994436178 Ancestry.com