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- William first shows up when he married Jane Ferguson as his first wife. The trick is which one. There were two William Clarks marrying two Jane Fergusons in the same time period. A Jane Ferguson who was the d. of John Ferguson married a William Clarke on Jul 2, 1787 in Montgomery Co., VA. An unnamed Clark married a Jane Ferguson who was the daughter of Samuel Ferguson in that same county on Jan. 26, 1788. [FN:Worrell, Anne Lowry; "A Brief of Wills and Marriages in Montgomery and Fincastle counties, Virginia", c1932:FN] What is important to note here is that the 2 William Clark's marrying 2 Jane Fergusons could easily have information from various counties in Virginia confused throughout time.
The fact that William Clark marries first in Montgomery Co., Virginia is important to note because the famous Clark family that included General George Rogers Clark and William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition lived in Montgomery Co., Virginia when the brother of these gentleman Thomas W. Clark was born on Aug. 10, 1759. This was when this county was new and had few settlers.
My William later appears to have lived in the same county as where this famous family moved to in Mason Co., Kentucky. Also, Thomas W. Clark lived and died in Walnut Twp., Gallia Co., Ohio where my William's descendants lived and died suggesting a likely relationship between these two families.
An IGI file for the Jane Ferguson who married in 1787 states that her relative was John Norman Clark. Both names John and Norman are carried down into the grandchildren's generation in this family --- and Norman being an unusual name would have it's origin explained in this way. My autosomal DNA is indicating that I am related to the Adam Ferguson line of whom both Janes are descended from. Because John and Norman are carried down in my family, I believe my William was married to the Jane Ferguson whom is the first marriage that's recorded in Montgomery Co., VA. This is theory.
This William appears to have been born at about the same time as the famous William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He is not the William that was in this expedition however, but Lois Rosewood theorizes that he was a cousin to the William Clark of the Merriwether Lewis Expedition.
William Clark's son, William D. Clark was born in Kentucky or Virginia in 1789 according to his census records. The borders of these states changed a lot over time. William D.'s family in the 1880 census thought that William's D's 's parents were born in Pennsylvania though no proof has been found of this. He likely moved shortly after marrying to Mason Co., Kentucky where his first son was born and his family resided starting in 1787. That could account for why we haven't found Jane's burial record or death date.
William Clark appears to have then moved to Cabell Co., VA. Cabell Co., VA was formed from Kanawha Co., Virginia in 1809 and later became Cabell Co., West Virginia. William was on a jury in the Superior Court on May 18, 1812. He was often listed as a juror -- on May 11, 1813; May 17, 1814; Oct. 17, 1814; and May 17, 1815. William purchased land in the same area on Twelve Pole Creek in Cabell County, VA on Jun 12, 1813. It consisted of 250 acres on the main right-hand fork of Twelve Pole Creek supposed to be about sixteen miles from the mouth of the said fork. On 25 October 1814, he purchased 110 more acres on the beech fork of Twelve Pole River in Cabell Co., VA. He was a part of the court proceedings a couple of times: on May 16, 1814, in the case of Daniel Morgan vs. William Clark, covenant; on Oct. 17, 1814, he appears to have given special bail in a case of George Ward vs. John Rodgers, and on May 17, 1815 in a court case of John McMahan vs. William Clark. (CL-483)
In 1826, William is listed as having land adjoining land that John Pinson was purchasing from William Spurlock and his wife Frances. (CL-484) Two different properties for William Clark and one for Samuel F. Clark (son), are located on the Back Fork of Cabell Co., VA in 1827 supporting a relationship amongst them by residence and age. (CL-477)
William Sr. is missing from the 1830 census, as he had died by that time. His estate in Cabel Co., VA was appraised on Jan 9, 1830. (CL-335, 466 p.99, 478) His estate was administered by James Clark (son by his second wife). The bill of the sale of the estate on Jan 23, 1830 included the sale of one slave named Aggy, and multiple items whose value was listed, but whose buyers were not. Most of his children moved to Ohio in adjoining counties to Jackson. Their properties need located to see if they lived near each other. (CL-DOC)
My William did die by 1830 and had likely son William D. who moved to Gallia Co., Ohio over the border from Gyandotte, Cabel Co., Virginia where his father's last verified location was. Other patterns that support him being the father of my William D. are because 1) William D. stated that he was born in Kentucky or Virginia in 1789 in census records. 2) This Willliam could have been one of the William's living in Mason Co., Kentucky over the border from what was to become West Virginia. Both Kentucky and what became West Virginia were still parts of early Mason Co., Virginia at that time. 3) This family had names repeated in his children's names which included James, William, Nancy, Matilda and Mary. </line><line /><line>As for William's parents, there are multiple theories:1. He might be the son of Alexander Clark and Sarah Lafferty. Their son William was born abt 1771 and had siblings named James, John and Samuel which were carried down in my William's lineage. His daughter Sarah would have been named after his mother.2. He might be the son of William Sr. who left land to his children in Mason Co., KY in 1801/2. William Sr. had children named John, James, William, George and Peter which carried down in this familial line. His son William however, is said to have married Mary Curtis whom he had many children with and lived in different places than my William.3. He is not the likely son of Robert and (Agnes) Elizabeth (Gay) Clark born about 1770 in Hardy, (West) Virginia. Their son William died at age 85 and 5 months on March 30, 1855 in Buckhannon, Upshur, West Virginia, USA. (West Virginia, Deaths Index, 1853-1973) This William however, was married to Eve Powers and only fits by timing of birth.
Remember, our William was married to Jane Ferguson in Montgomery, Va and lived and died in what was then Cabell Co., Virginia. Basically, only theory one above is viable. We are now getting DNA evidence backing this lineage up. 1. I have a DNA cousin match to my mother and a cousin whose only match to ours in a database of 12358 persons starts with this Alexander Clark and his wife going back from there at Ancestry. He or she has a database of 12358 persons. (L.R.) 2. Another DNA cousin match from my mother to a cousin with a database of 7375 persons where we only have one set of common ancestors starting with John Clark and Elizabeth Ann Lumpkin on back. John and Elizabeth are ancestors of the above Alexander Clark. (K.F.: Ancestry) I also have another cousin with 12.2 cM's in common on chromosome 17: 9,361,088 - 12,288,573 on Gedmatch (*DChandler). Lastly, I have many matches previous through this William and or his father on Ancestry that support this lineage well.
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1771 - 1829 (58 years)
