Michael Clark (1832 - 1891)

Born 12 Jun 1832 in Chelmsford, Essex, England

Ancestors

Husband of Harriet (Smuin) Clark — married 24 Sep 1859 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA

Husband of Eliza (Smuin) Clark — married 28 Oct 1861 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA

Descendants

Died 21 Jan 1891 at age 58 in Kaysville, Davis County, Utah, USA

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Michael Clark migrated from England to USA.

Michael Clark was a Latter Day Saint pioneer.

Biography

Michael Clark was born June 12, 1832 at Chelmsford, Essex, England. He was the son of William Clark and Mary Sams. He was baptized at St Mary the Virgin Church in Chelmsford, Essex, on September 9, 1832.^[1]

On March 28, 1857 Michael set sail from Liverpool, England aboard the George Washington bound for America. He travelled in the company of the Kemp family who lived next door to him in Essex, England. There was a total of 817 immigrants aboard. The leader of the group was James P. Park. They arrived at Boston Harbour on April 20, 1857.^[2]

On April 23, 1857 the emigrants disembarked and most of them left Boston by rail the same day in the afternoon. A few proceeded to New York, and perhaps other places, in search of employment, not having means to continue the journey straight to Utah, while the bulk of the company traveled westward via Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago and Rock Island to Iowa City.^[3]

Michael Clark arrived in Salt Lake City the 16th of August 1859.^[4] He was a ward teacher, school trustee, farmer and stock raiser.^[5] He married Harriet Smuin on September 24, 1859 at Salt Lake City, Utah.^[6] They had seven children: Sarah Ann, Jasper, Esther Hannah, Michael, Elizabeth, Hannah and Edward. The family made their home south of Kaysville, Utah.

Michael Clark also married Eliza Smuin on October 28, 1861 at Salt Lake City, Utah.^[7] Their children: William Thomas, Sophia, David, Edelbert and Edmond (twins) , Eliza Jane, Irintha, Maria, Alice, John, Mary Ann, Charles, Sarah Lily and George. This family made their home south of Kaysville, Davis County, by Haight's Creek.

It was on 29 July 1890 that Michael Clark was before commissioner Greenman charged with unlawful cohabitation, polygamy. He was sent to prison but released on account of ill health. In August 1890 he was tried and freed to marry Eliza Smuin by the law of the land, which he did on 30 August 1890.^[8]

Michael Clark died, January 21, 1891 at Kaysville, Davis County, Utah.^[9] He was buried on 24 January 1891 in the cemetery at Salt Lake City, Utah.^[10]

Residences

• 1841 Barrack Lane, Chelmsford, Essex, England^[11]
• 1851 George Street, Chelmsford, Essex, England^[12]
• 1860 Great Salt Lake City Ward 19, Great Salt Lake, Utah Territory^[13]
• 1870 Kaysville, Davis, Utah Territory^[14]
• 1880 Farmington, Davis, Utah, United States^[15]

LDS Church

• Baptism Date: June 13, 1852
• Endowment Date: April 18, 1860 Temple: Endowment House in Salt Lake City *Sealed to Spouse (Harriet) Date: April 18, 1860 Temple: Endowment House in Salt Lake City
• Sealed to Spouse (Eliza) Date: November 9, 1861
• Vocations: Farmer Made Molasses Stockraiser School Trustee Machinest; 1860
• Comments: In 1860, Michael lived in a household of 2 with a real wealth of $0 and a personal wealth of $25. In 1870, Michael lived in a household of 6 with a real wealth of $375 and a personal wealth of $1300. Michael's family home was in Kaysville, Utah. Michael was a ward teacher.^[16]

Life Sketch of Michael Clark as told by his daughter, Sarah Ann Clark Rudd of Plymouth, Box Elder County, Utah.

Michael Clark, my father, went to a tailor in London to have a suit made. That tailor was Aunt Harvery (Hannah Smuin Harvey). Harriet Smuin, my mother, was her help, and father got acquainted with her. Before any serious relations took place between them, Harriet sailed to America.

Father, soon after, started to earn a way to come to America. He hired himself out to a family to work. After he had worked sometime the people he worked for decided to come to America. He came with them and earned his way over by his service, and then worked his way across the plains by being teamster for this family. It seems as if he didn't have any real hardship, or I feel it would have been mentioned sometimes. The paths across the plains had been broken by earlier travelers, it being about ten years since the first immigrants came.

It was the year of 1859, August 16th, that Father came to Salt Lake City, Utah. When the company arrived with Harriet Smuin he found her and soon made himself known and they were married one month later, September 24, 1859. They settled in Salt Lake City, living there about seven years. During the year of 1867 they moved to Kaysville, Davis County, Utah, on to a homestead.

Father had married Eliza Smuin on October 28, 1861. At this time he had six children in the two families. My mother, Harriet, and her children lived in a room on the Ebenezer A. William farm located on the mountain road. Later we moved to a dugout in the hillside south of Haight's Creek. Many times the snow covered us completely and we had to be dug out. Later we moved to a shanty on the homestead.

Father then moved Auntie (Eliza Smuin Clark) and her children up from Salt Lake City to the homestead by Haight's Creek. He worked for a Mr. Bowen of North Farmington who owned a molasses mill. Father learned the trade and later purchased a mill for himself. He had some of the homestead land cleared so he could plant a little grain. He also planted sugar cane and started making molasses. I have heard the older people praise Father's molasses many times.

In the fall of the year at molasses making time, he made many children happy with his molasses candy which he made in a large iron kettle. He poured the molasses into barrels for keeping. Father made many a vat full of peach preserves and crab apple preserves for winter for the two families. In the spring we could go to the barrels and get the fruit which tasted like candied fruit, made only with molasses for sugar. We were blessed with plenty of eatable after Father got the land under cultivation. We did not have white bread, but a coarse bread.

At the time of the grasshoppers, Father had twenty acres planted in grain. It was early summer and the grain was pretty and green, promising a good crop. The grasshoppers came and before noon the ground was as bare as if the grain had been cut or dried up. Not a green spear was to be seen standing. That was the first year of the grasshoppers, and I think the worst. I remember Father saying to Mother, "Well, Harriet, our bread is gone." Mother answered saying, "The Lord will provide."

For about four years we fought grasshoppers to save our crops and gardens so that we might have something to eat. We children went many times into the fields and helped drive them into the ditches of mud and water. Father has some large ear rings which he sold at this time for flour. With the efforts of the people and the Lord sending the seagulls, the crops were finally saved.

Father had about nine children in both families to keep clothed and fed. Father was a good worker; he provided the firewood for winter, gathering it from Bear's Canyon. He often took the children with him, having to care for them while Mother and Aunt Eliza took their straw hats to Salt Lake City to sell. However, on one of the trips we had an accident, hurting two of the smaller children, and from then on Father left us at home.

He helped work on the Salt Lake Temple a good deal during it's construction. Wages were not very high and Father traded his watch for flour.

Father was arrested on a polygamy charge, sent to prison, and then released on account of ill health. He hid for several months in various caves, or any place for shelter and food was taken to him by members of the family. He was tried, and freed to marry Eliza Smuin by the law of the land. A month later, after the trial, he died, January 21, 1891 at Kaysville, Davis County, Utah. He was buried in the cemetery at Salt Lake City, Utah.

Sources

1. ↑ Parish Records CHELMSFORD, St Mary the Virgin; Essex Records Office; Ref: D/P 94/1/14 Name: Michael Clark, Date of Baptism: 9 Sept 1832
2. ↑ Mormon Migration Source: British Mission Emigration Register (BMR), p.37; Database: Mormon Immigration Index (1840-1890)
3. ↑ Liverpool to Boston on the George Washington The Contributor, Junius F. Wells, ed., volumes 12-14 (1891-93), which contain articles on LDS Church immigration by Andrew Jenson, former Assistant Church Historian, Deseret News Company; 14:7 (May 1893), p.342
4. ↑ Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847–1868 Evidence from census and church financial records proves the Clark family traveled to Utah in 1859.
5. ↑ Esshom, Frank. Pioneers and prominent men of Utah,. [Ed. de luxe]. ed. Salt Lake City, Utah: Utah pioneers Book Pub. Co., 1913. Print. p809.
6. ↑ Edmund West, comp..Family Data Collection - Marriages; Publisher: ancestry.co.uk; Michael Clark, Harriet Smuin 24 Sept 1859 Salt Lake City
7. ↑ Millennium File; Publisher: ancestry.co.uk; Original data: Heritage Consulting. The Millennium File Salt Lake City, UT, USA
8. ↑ Western States Marriage Index, 1809-2011 Michael Sr Clark; Eliza Sumin; 30 Aug 1890; Davis Utah
9. ↑ Utah, Salt Lake County Death Records, 1908-1949 index and images: FamilySearch Michael Clark, 21 Jan 1891
10. ↑ Utah, Deaths and Burials, 1888-1946 index FamilySearch Name: Michael Clark; Burial Date: 24 Jan 1891
11. ↑ 1841 England Census Class: HO107; Piece: 325; Book: 11; Civil Parish: Chelmsford; County: Essex; Enumeration District: 12; Folio: 25; Page: 18; Line: 8; GSU roll: 241364
12. ↑ 1851 England Census; Publisher: ancestry.co.uk Class: HO107; Piece: 1775; Folio: 443; Page: 14; GSU roll: 207422
13. ↑ United States Census, 1860 Index: FamilySearch Roll: M653_1313; Page: 281; Image: 290; Family History Library Film: 805313 Michael Clark, 19th Ward Gt Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States
14. ↑ United States Census, 1870 Index and images: FamilySearch Roll: M593_1610; Page: 253A; Image: 510; Family History Library Film: 553109; Michael Clark, Kaysville, Davis, Utah Territory
15. ↑ United States Census, 1880 Index and images: FamilySearch Roll: 1336; Family History Film: 1255336; Page: 293D; Enumeration District: 015; Michael Clark, Farmington, Davis, Utah, United States
16. ↑ Black, Susan Easton, compiler Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1848 50 vols. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1989. Private Donor.
17. ↑ Clark Index Card; Eliza Smuin (KWJW-Y38); FamilySearch;Contributed By Michelecall

See Also:

• Michael Clark Fold3 memorial page including pictures, records and information

• Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah excerpt of text regarding Michael Clark, plus free link to the whole book.