Searching for John Clark's (1740-1818) siblings

There is Lavina Clark who may have been born ca. 1750, she married Caleb Hill before Feb. 1773. Caleb is in the 1790 census for Bedford. I am looking for more information about them.

David Hays Account Book, Bedford, 1770-1775

I received photocopies of the daybook yesterday. I will be scanning the pages that list purchases and payments made by our Clark ancestors. There are a few names of Clarks unknown to us, and I hope to trace them out to see if one or more might be siblings of our elder John Clark. Many payments made to John Hays are in the form of trading wheat, wood, labor, butter, flaxseed, other farm products, and sometimes cash. Many purchases are documented as "Sundry", being too small to list individually. Specified purchases are: molasses, rum, sugar, cloth, handkercheifs, hats, tea, shoes, brandy, salt, other household items, and spelling books.

Finding Descendants of Able, Jabez, and Jonathan of Poundridge

I believe finding our ancestry beyond John Clark of 1740 depends, in part, on learning more about his three brothers and a sister who each remained in the Poundridge area. Chuck has provided the names of the Clarks who were in the census records after our family migrated to Saratoga county circa 1793. It is a short list of names, and they are proving difficult to trace. Ziba Clark is a person of interest. He is in the census records, apparently in the same place, spanning four decades. So far, I have only uncovered two clues: Ziba had a granddaughter who moved to Connecticut, and his son, Alvah, recorded a deed in 1870. I plan to order a copy to see if this document can yield information about our family.

The Burning of Bedford

I have a copy of the Bedford Historical Society 1974 publication, The Burning of Bedford July 1779. Little can be learned of our Clark clan from this publication, except for the mention of Abel Clark.

Colonel James Holmes (1737-1824) held the deed for Abel Clark's farm as security for a debt of £152.17.6. He also held a note signed by Abel Clark 18 Apr 1775, for £5.12 plus interest for a total of £9.17.3. This information is included in a list of losses by James Holmes in his petition, 17th April 1786, to be compensated after his estate was confiscated by the Rebels. James Holmes left his estate April, 1778 to join the loyalists.

I Keep Wondering . . .

Where did the sons and daughters of Abel, Jabez, and Jonathan go? Why have we not been able to find any shread of evidence of them and their families? Family tradition has it that they stayed in Westchester county their entire lives, and I have to believe they had surviving children. This is a question that haunts me.

New Information

The past few days have shed light on a few bits of data we can add to our family tree. Gayle Lansky Matson, a Nathanial Clark descendant, emailed me about some entries in the David Hays account book. These entries confirm John Clark Jr., his father John Clark, brothers Able and Jabez, and probably a sister, Hannah. I've sent for copies of the pages to see what other closely related surnames might be listed. David Hays was a Bedford storekeeper. This find is exciting because it is the first pre-revolution documentary evidence of the Bedford Clarks of our clan.

Updating

A couple years ago I started a research Blog, which eventually sat idle and was mostly forgotten. Recently, I decided it was time to resume my research efforts but I was unsucessful in recovering my sign-in information. So, this new blog was started. The old one can be viewed at http://JohnClark1740.blogspot.com. UPDATE: This old blog was deleted January 1, 2018 and the information was transferred to this blog under comments for this entry.