By Isabel Morse Maresh
September 17. 1992
One of the many trials, tribulations, and pitfalls of research is summed up in the following narration. For several years, I have been at a standstill searching for my elusive John Clark ancestors. It seems that nearly every town and cemetery had at least one John Clark, or is that my imagination?
My great-grandmother, Callie Clark, who married Austin Marriner in Lincolnville, was the youngest of 13 children. They lived at Clark's Corner in that town. Callie was born in 1854.
Callie was the daughter of John F. Jr. and Mary Ann (Clark) Clark. John Frederick Clark Jr. was a blacksmith, born in 1811. His death record states that he was born in Northport, the son of James and Priscilla (Ladd) Clark, while his wife Mary Ann, born 1819 in Lincolnville, was the daughter of John and Clarissa (Mansfield) Clark, who were early settlers in Lincolnville.
A newspaper item in The Republican Journal in 1877 at the time of Mary Ann's death is interesting. It reads: "Lincolnville — Dr. Neal, the attending physician of a Mrs. Clark, who died last week, made an autopsy, and found two tumors, of about six and four pounds in weight, which he thought was the cause of her decease."
Back to the John Clark dilemma. Mary Ann's parents were recorded in the early Lincolnville records as: "John Clark, son of John and Betsey (Pitcher) Clark, born in Waldoborough Nov. 7, 1795, married Clarissa, daughter of Henry and Hannah Mansfield, born in Salem (Mass.) March 4, 1791." They were the parents of five children. Mary Ann, Mansfield, John, Clarissa, and Orris.
Then there is the James Clark [1784-1829, a blacksmith] who married Priscilla Ladd. She was born about 1788. I know very little about him, except he must have died fairly young, as she apparently married Thomas Miller. There was one John Clark who lived where the Massachusetts House campground is. [Originally it was believed that Priscilla's husband was a John Clark.] A yellowed newspaper clipping written in 1927 was titled "One House in Two States and Three Counties During 150-year Span." The article reads: "Always on the same piece of ground, yet located in two different states and three different counties during its 150 years of existence, is the history of the old dwelling on the Atlantic Highway between Lincolnville and Belfast.
"This old house, called the 'Jane Hart House' for one of its many occupants, is believed to have been built about the year 1718. [I question this date]. It was then in the State of Massachusetts. After the division was effected which made the two states of Massachusetts and Maine, this house was left in the State of Maine, and in what was then the County of Lincoln, Plantation of Ducktrap and Canaan. Later when another division was made, it was Hancock County, and afterward in 1827, just 100 years ago, this particular section became Waldo County, named for General Samuel Waldo." The article continues with information about the charter for the territory being granted by King James I of England up of "40 noblemen, knights, and gentlemen". General Knox acquired the tract of land in 1792.
"The earliest occupants of the house that can be traced is the family of John Clark, whose eight children were born there. The youngest, John Clark, Jr. was born in 1813. This old dwelling has long been a landmark of the town. It is no longer occupied, but is being repaired and renovated to some extent by the owners of the property, Richards and Warren." Though the article gives insight into the history of the area, it sheds little light on John Clark. Does anyone have lists and dates, perhaps Bible records of this or any John Clark of Lincolnville and Northport, Maine to share?
A postscript of the old house. When MBNA came to town, the old house was moved, still there, and modernized. What a shame!!!! [updated 2018]
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