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Nathaniel Clark (1676–1765), son of Sergeant John Clark and Elizabeth White
Sarah Graves (b. 1679), daughter of John Graves and Sarah White
Nathaniel, the son of John and Elizabeth Clark, was born on 18 April 1676 in Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut.1 He died on 25 April 1765 in Chatham.2 He married Sarah Graves on 27 Ocotober 1702 in Middletown.1
Sarah, the daughter of Sarah White and granddaughter of Sergeant John White, was born on 15 February 1679 in Hatfield, Massachusetts.2,3
According to the account book of Captain John Warner, Nathaniel was a tailor.3
Nathaniel lived in a part of Middletown that was known as Upper Houses because the Mattabesset River separated it from the rest of Middletown. Because of the difficulty in crossing the river, the inhabitants were permitted to form a separate society in 1703. However, it was not until 1715 that their church was organized as the North or Second or Upper Society of Middletown. It is not clear to what extent the residents of Upper Houses continued to worship with the rest of Middletown or held their own services. Nathaniel and Sarah were members of the new church between 1716 and 1736 and their son Jabez was baptized there. Unfortunately, the date is only given as "17[ ]."4
In the 1714 "grand levy" for the North Society in Middletown, Nathaniel Clark was assessed £46-14. [muh]
In the mid-nineteenth century the town of Cromwell was split off from Middletown and the North Society changed its name to the First Congretional Church of Cromwell.
On 11 December Nathaniel Clark and Daniel White, Jr. were appointed to look after the children and youths on the sabbath during worship. [muh]
Children of Nathaniel Clark and Sarah Graves: Births of John, the second Sarah, and Nathaniel recorded in Middletown as the children of Nathaniel and Sarah1 Baptisms of the children, except Jabez, were in the church in the First Congregational Church in Middletown.4
i. John Clark was born on 24 August 1704. He was baptized on 27 August 1704. He married Jane Wilcox.3
ii. Sarah Clark was baptized on 15 September 1706. She apparently died young.
ii. Sarah Clark was born on 2 May 1708. She was baptized on 2 May 1708.
iii. Nathaniel Clark was born on 16 November 1709. He was baptized on 20 November 1709.
iv. Jabez Clark was born about 1718. He was baptized in the North Society Church in (then) Middletown. He died on 25 April 1765. He died on 25 April 1765 in Middletown. He married Sarah Judd.
Endnotes:
1. "Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630–1870," online database, AmericanAncestors (2011, https://www.americanancestors.org/DB414/i/12576/211/24352578) > Middletown, image 96–106, from original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928.
2. Gladys Redfield McPherson, Ancestry of Addie Clark Harding: Daughter of Abner Clark Harding, Jr., and Maud McCain (Chicago: n.p., 196-?), 54.
3. Charles Collard, Middletown Upper Houses : A History of the North Society of Middletown, Connecticut, From 1650 to 1800 (New York: Grafton Press, 1908), 30, 34, 524, 712.
4. "Connecticut, U.S., Church Record Abstracts, 1630–1920," database with images, Ancestry (2013: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3032) > vol. 22 Cromwell, images 29–32; vol. 70, part 1 Middletown, images 125–35.
Last revised: 14-Jul-2023