John Clark

John Clark (say 1625–1677), son of John Clark

Rebecca Porter (bp. 1630–by 1683), daughter of John Porter and Anne White

John, the son of John Clark, was born say 1625. He died on 21 September 1677 in Saybrook, Connecticut, when a cart overturned on him. [1][2] John, Jr. married Rebecca Porter on 16 October 1650 in Saybrook. [1, "Parker"][2]

Rebecca, the daughter of John and Anne (White) Porter of Windsor, Connecticut, was baptized on 16 September 1630 in Felsted, Essex. [2] She died on 9 January 1682/3 in Saybrook. [3] She married second ___ Spencer, probably Ensign Gerard Spencer of Haddam. [2] Ensign Gerard Spencer was baptized on 25 April 1614 in Stotford, Bedfordshire. [3] He married first Hannah ___. [3]

It is also possible that Rebecca was instead the third wife of Sergeant Thomas Spencer. [3]

Rebecca left a will—no longer extant—that was exhibited to the court on 20 November 1683. [2]

Writing about Saybrook Colony, Staples says [4]

John Clarke, Jr. purchased five acres of land formerly belong to Greenfield Laribee. He married, at Saybrook, Rebecca Porter, and was killed here in 1677, when a cart overturned on him. His widow married a Spencer and contined to live her until her death in 1682.

Children of John Clark and Rebecca Porter: Births of the first three recorded in Saybrook as the children of John, Jr. and Rebecca. [1]

i. Rebecca Clark was born on 26 January 1652/3. She died on 14 October 1704 in Saybrook. [2] She married Abraham Watrous. [2] Abraham, the son of Jacob Watrous (Waterhouse), was born about 1650 and died after 1718 in Saybrook. [2]

ii. Major John Clark was born on 17 November 1655. He died on 17 February 1735/6 in Saybrook. He married Rebecca Beamon.

iii. James Clark was born on 29 September 1657. He died in August 1659 in Saybrook. [1]

iv. Sarah Clark was born say 1662. [2] married firt Samuel Willard on 6 June 1683 in Saybrook. [1] Samuel, the son of Josiah and Hannah (Hosmer) Willard, was born on 19 September 1658 in Hartford and died in 1713/4 in Saybrook. [2] Sarah married second Nathaniel Pratt on 21 January 1717/8 in Saybrook. [2] Nathaniel, the son of William and Elizabeth (Clark) Pratt, was born about 1662 and died before 10 September 1744. [2]

v. Samuel Clark was born on 25 April 1675 Saybrook. [1] He died between 12 September 1750 and 10 August 1752. He married Mary, the daughter of Nathaniel and Mary Kirtland, on 14 December 1699 in Saybrook. [1] Mary, the daughter of Nathaniel and Mary (Rand) Kirtland, was born on 1 February 1678/9 and died in July 1748. [2]

Samuel wrote is will on 12 September 1750; it was probated on 10 August 1752. [2]

Endnotes:

1. "Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630–1870," online database, AmericanAncestors (2011, https://www.americanancestors.org/DB414/i/12393/33/24211558) > Saybrook, images 33–36, from original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928.

2. Donald Lines Jacobus, Hale, House and Related Families, Mainly of the Connecticut River Valley (Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2001), 496.

3. Donald Lines Jacobus, "The Four Spencer Brothers: Their Ancestors and Descendants," The American Genealogist 27 (1951): 161–85.

4. Elaine F. Staples, "Saybrook Colony," Connecticut Nutmegger 24 (1991): 443.

Last revised: 08-Aug-2023