Clark

The Clarks

My father, Worthy L. ("Buddy") Clark, was born in 1931 in Duluth, Minnesota and died in 2021. He had two sisters--Margaret Maynard Clark Croteau (1927-2016) and Janet Clark Cox (1929-). Margaret was married to Leo Croteau, and Janet was married to Dennis Cox.

My paternal grandfather was Horace Lucas Clark (b. 1899), and my paternal grandmother was Mildred Maynard Clark (b. 1897). Mildred died of cancer in Tucson, Arizona in 1952, and Horace married his second wife, Alice, in 1952, very soon after Mildred's death. Horace died in Tucson in 1977. Horace served in the US military in Germany in 1920. Horace had one brother, William S. Clark, who lived in the Florida Keys.

Horace Clark worked for Western Electric as a radio operator/technician. He also worked for a radio station in Cleveland. The family lived in Brecksville, Ohio during Margaret and Janet's high school years. Horace was transferred to Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ to work on the B52's that were stationed there. According to my aunt Margaret, my grandmother never liked Arizona and would love to have moved back to Ohio. My father graduated from Tucson High and the University of Arizonz.

Horace and William Clark's father was Harry W. Clark (b. 1872). Harry was married to Carrie Bell Clark (born about 1872, possibly in Buffalo, NY), a Daughter of the American Revolution. Her father may have been Edwin Bell. Harry W. Clark was a partner in the Clark and Dunnigan law firm, Cleveland, Ohio. According to his granddaughter Janet, he was known for being generous with his time and often not charging clients. He died in Clifton Springs, New York in 1935. Harry's siblings were Charles G., (b. 1869); Katherine, (b. 1874); Ernest, (b. 1878); Fannie, (b. 1878); Ralph, (b. 1880); and Jessie, (b. 1885).

Harry W. Clark's father was Worthy L. Clark (1846-1914), and his mother was Lenna Clark. Worthy immigrated from Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England--the town where Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) lived. Worthy followed his older brother Mourice B. Clark (1827-1901), who had immigrated in 1847. Mourice, the first business partner of John D, Rockefeller, became a prominent citizen of Cleveland, Ohio. At age 19, Worthy joined his older brothers Mourice and James (1832-1905) in the oil business in Cleveland, and he discovered a process for refining petroleum. The company was bought out by Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and Worthy retired to a farm. The Clarks lived in and around Cleveland, Ohio, including the village of Chardon, Ohio (Geauga County). Worthy is buried in Chardon Municipal Cemetery (Mausoleum Sec C Lot 15), as is his son Harry (Sec C Lot 13). 

Worthy Clark's wife was named Mary Francis (Fanny) Park Clark.

The father of Worthy, Mourice, and James Henry Clark, along with seven other siblings, was Robert Clark (1802-1887) of Malmsebury, England. Robert Clark's wife was Elizabeth Neat (or Neate) (1803-1890). Mourice was the second eldest, two years younger than Charles Clark (1822-). (Note: My son's name is Charles [born 2005]). James and his brothers brought their parents to Cleveland in 1860. Robert and Eliza Clark are buried in Woodland Cemetery, Cleveland, along with their son James H. Clark, James's wife Harriet, and James' sister Fanny.

In the 1851 census, Robert Clark's occupation is given as labourer, and four of his children, including Worthy (age 5), are listed as "scholars." In addition to Worthy, the children living in the home in 1851 were James (age 19), Eliza (age 14), Richard (age 12), Fanny (age 10), Titus (age 7). There was also a nephew named Robert Fullaway (age 25) and a visitor named Mary Comas (age 20).

More Malmsebury Links: BBC , wikipedia