Sep 1, 2024
Upwards of one million Americans have the surname “Clark,” making it the 20-somethingth most common name in this country, and it’s almost as common in England. Clark or Clarke is an occupational name, like Baker, Cook, Cooper, or Smith, and it’s derived from the Middle Ages, when a cleric was someone with the then-rare skill of being able to read and write.
Joseph Clark was one of Medfield’s original 13 settlers; his house was near the corner of South and Oak Streets. The house is long gone, but at the side of the street, still marking the site, is a stone well casing, shown in the photo. The well itself was filled in about 1937 after a child fell in and drowned.
Clark was granted 10 acres, and the town valuations in 1652 show his estate consisted of the house and land, his wife Alice, six children, and 12 farm animals. He died in 1684; she in 1710.
Altogether, Joseph and Alice had nine children who lived to adulthood, and many of them had large families. Their son Benjamin (1644-1724), father of 10, who built the original Peak House, was a respected man in town; he served as a selectman for 17 years and two years as a representative.
Benjamin’s was the way of the Clark clan through the generations – no Nobel prizes, no governors or presidents, no titans of industry – but hardworking, respected citizens who did their part to make Medfield a good, livable community. An oddity in the family history: when Benjamin’s son Seth (1687-1756) died, he listed among his personal property, “two-thirds of a negro man,” valued at ₤20.”
There are other non-related Clarks living in Medfield, but Brad Clark, with two daughters but no sons, is the last local survivor in the line of established by Joseph in 1651. He has become expert in the family’s history. (Growing up in Medfield at 29 Pleasant Street, I remember Brad’s grandfather, a long-time Medfield firefighter known as Scratch, and Brad’s father, Clint, who lived two doors away at 41 Pleasant Street. – DFT)
Joseph’s great grandson Jonathan Clark was born in Medfield in 1700, but he moved to Wrentham, and his descendants moved south, where there were already other Clarks who had come from England on other ships. One of Jonathan’s descendants, Armen Clark of Midlothian, Virginia, visited Medfield in early August with his wife Kathleen to do some family research at the historical society. Town Historian Richard DeSorgher took him to Vine Lake cemetery and to sites where early Clarks lived and worked:
- Joseph’s original grant near the corner of Oak and South Streets
- Joseph Junior’s property in the area of Curve and Spring Streets, which included a malt house at the pond, the grist mill, and the barn and slaughterhouse across the street
- Joseph’s grandson Solomon’s property at 215 South Street, where he built a house that burned down in 1792. The replacement house, built in 1793, remained in the Clark family until the mid-20th century
What’s Your Genealogy Story?
It would be great if more Portal readers would share their Medfield family history stories. Please call or write if you have something to share with us.
Genealogy has become almost a national obsession. The U. S. Department of the Interior has a website to help you get started. The National Archives has a staggering amount of information and tools and databases.
The Norfolk County Registry of Deeds recently opened a free walk-in genealogical research and resource center. It includes Ancestry.com, American Ancestors, and the digital records from the Massachusetts Archives.
And there are hundreds of private genealogical researchers who are eager to sell their services.
Finding Your Roots is an engaging weekly tv program on PBS, hosted by Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates. He uses all the tricks of the trade, including church and government records and DNA analysis, to trace over centuries the ancestry of celebrities and other guests. One astounding discovery Gates made: TV personality and former football player Michael Strahan is a direct descendant of Charlemagne!