Descendants of General Jonathan Clark Jefferson County, Kentucky 1750-1811 BY JOHN FREDERICK DORMAN, III Louisville, Kentucky Reprinted from The Filson Club History Quarterly Louisville, Kentucky, 1949 Vol. 23, Nos. 1, 2 and 4, pages 25-33, 117-139, 278-305 DESCENDANTS OF GENERAL JONATHAN CLARK, JEFFERSON COUNTY, KENTUCKY 1750-1811 By JOHN FREDERICK DORMAN, III Louisville, Kentucky The parents of General George Rogers Clark arrived jn Kentucky in March of the year 1785 and since that time their descendants have been prominently connected with the history of the state. It is the family iof General Jonathan Clark, elder brother of the Conquerer of the Northwest, which is here set forth.1 None of. the previously published accounts of this branch has covered the descendants thoroughly or in sufficient detail. While no genealogical record can be complete in all its parts, it is hoped that this article will bring forth from interested persons additions,and corrections which will be included in the later installments or will be filed in the archives of The Filson Club. In The Filson Club History Quarterly of January, 1935 (Volume 9, No. 1, pages 1-34), Mr. R. C. Ballard Thruston pub­ lished an article entitled "Some Recent Finds Regarding the Ancestry of General George Rogers Clark. "2 Searchers of the Clark ancestry are referred to it. The consideration of the ·present account begins with John Clark, father of Generals Jonathan and George Rogers Clark. JoHN CLARK, son of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Wilson) Clark~ was born 9 October (O.S.) 1725 in King and Queen County, Virginia, and died in August, 1799, at "Mulberry Hill," Jeff~~­ son County, Kentucky. He married, about 1749, Ann Rogers, daughter of John and Rachel (Eastham) Rogers, and migrated west, settling in Albemarle County, Virginia, on his half of -an eight hundred and twenty acre plantation inherited jointly with his brother Benjamin from their father. Because of its -remote location beyond the tidewater they returned to Caroline County about 1756-8 and in 1784 sold this home and came west, joining their son, George Rogers Clark, at Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, in March, 1785.3 Here their home was ''Mul­ berry Hill."4 Ann (Rogers) Clark was born 21 October 1728 in King and Queen County, Virginia, and died 24 December 1798 at "Mulberry Hill," where she and her husband are buried in unmarked graves. The will of John Clark was written 24 July The Filson Club History Quarterly · [Vol. 23 1799 and proved 1 October 1799. It is recorded in Jefferson County Will Book 1, page 86.5 The children of John and Ann (Rogers) Clark were: (2-1) General Jonathan Clark, born 12 August 1750. (See following.) (2-2) General George Rogers Clark, born 19 November 1752 and died 13 February 1818 at "Locust Grove," J e:fferson Co., Ky., the home of his sister, Lucy Croghan.6 (2-3) Ann Clark, born 14 July 1755 and died 3 October 1822. She married, 20 October 1773, Owen Gwathmey. (2-4) Captain John Clark, born 15 September 1757. He served in the Revolutionary Army in a Virginia regiment and with his brother, Edmund, was captured by the British at Ger­ mantown. Edmund was released but John was held prisoner on Long Island prison ships until his exchange in 1782. On 29 October 1783 he died of pneumonia contracted at this time. (2-5) Lieutenant Richard Clark, born 6 July 1760. He served mthe Revolutionary Army also and is supposed to have been killed by Indians on the Little Wabash, in March, 1783, when on his way from Kaskaskia to Vincennes. (2-6) Captain Edmund Clark, born 25 September 1762. He came to Louisville with his brother, Jonathan, in 1802 and became a trustee of the town. To him we owe the preservation of such records as we now have of the first twenty-odd years of Louisville's history. He died 11 March 1815. (2-7) Lucy Clark, born 15 September 1765 and died in April, 1838. She married, 17 July 1789, Major William Croghan. (2-8) Elizabeth Clark, born 11 February 1768 and died 15 January 1795. She married, 24 November 1787, Colonel Richard Clough Anderson. (2-9) General William Clark, born 1 August 1770 and died 1 September 1838. He married first, 5 January 1808, Julia Han­ cock, and second, 28 November 1821, Mrs. Harriet K. Pollard. (2-10) Frances Eleanor Clark, born 20 January 1773 and died 19 June 1825. She married first, February, 1791, Dr. James O'Fallon; second, 19 January 1796, Captain Charles Mynn Thrus­ ton, and third, 13 May 1805, Judge Dennis Fitzhugh. General JONATHAN CLARK, son of John and Ann (Rogers) Clark, was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, 12 August 1750, and died in Jefferson County,7 Kentucky, 25 November 1811.s He served as deputy clerk of Spotsylvania County, Virginia, and in 1772 removed to Woodstock, Dunmore County (now Shenan­ doah), where he served for three years as deputy clerk.9 In 1775 1949] Jonathan Clark Descendants 27 he was elected a representative to two Revoluti9nary conven­ tions, one held in Richmond in July and August, and the other in Williamsburg, in December and January, 1776. · During the Revolutionary War Jonathan Clark was captain of a company of riflemen with the Eighth Virginia Regiment, commanded by General Peter Muhlenburg. In March, 1776, they set forth for Charleston, South Carolina, and thence for Savan­ nah and Sunbury, Georgia, returning to Virginia in Decembe~. In 1777 he marched north and was at the battles of Brandywine (11 September 1777), Germantown ( 4 October 1777), Mon­ mouth (28 June 1778), and the attack on Paulus Hook in 17_79. In that year he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Contine~tal Army. On 12 May 1780 he surrendered at Charleston, South Carolina, with the army under General Lin­ coln, but was parolled in the spring of 1781. He was one of the original members of the Society of the Cincinnati in Virginia.10 On 13 February 1782 Jonathan Clark married Sarah Hite, daughter of Colonel Isaac and Eleanor (Eltinge) Hite. She was born 11 May 1758 in Frederick County, Virginia, and died in October, 1818, in Jefferson County, Kentucky. They were buried at "Mulberry Hill," and in 1868 reinterred in Cave Hill Ceme­ tery, Louisville. 11 Following the war Jonathan Clark resided in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, and in 1793 was commissioned major general of the Virginia Militia forces. On 26 May 1802 he left that county for Kentucky, arriving in Louisville on 7 July. They made their home at "Trough Spring," adjoining the "Mulberry Hill" property. 12 The children of Jonathan and Sarah (Hite) Clark were: (3-1) Eleanor Eltinge Clark (1783-1867), married Benjamin Temple. (See following.) (3-2) John Hite Clark, born 29 September 178513 and died in the spring of 1820. He is now buried in Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville. (3-3) Isaac Clark, born 6 October 1787.14 On 17 May 1813 the heirs of his father deeded him the "Mulberry Hill" property of 232 acres. He lived there until 1863 when, as a result of the emancipation of his slaves, he felt he was too old to struggle with new conditions and moved to the home of his brother, Dr. William Clark, in Louisville. He died there 27 January 1868. ( See Footnote 4.) (3-4) Mary Clark, born 30 March 1790 and died 5 July 1791. She was buried 29 July· 1791.15 28. The Filson Club History Quarterly [Vol. 23 (3-5) Ann Clark (1792-1833), married James Anderson Pearce. ( See f ollo--vving.) (3-6) Doctor William Clark (1795-1879), married Frances Ann Tompkins. (See following.) (3-7) George \Vashington Clark (1798-1883), married Mar­ tha A. Price. ( See following.) ELEANOR ELTINGE CLARK, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah (Hite) Clark, ,vas born 5 September 178316 and died in 1867. She married, 14 October 1801,17 in Virginia, The Reverend Ben­ jamin Temple, son of Benjamin and J\1:olly Brook (Baylor) Temple. He was an Episcopal minister, born in 1776 and died in 1836. Hts will was dated 23 April 1827 and proved 28 May 1838. It mentions land in Ohio, Warren, Hopkins and Barren counties, Kentucky, and gives estate to wife and children ( naming only daughter Sarah Lee, however) .18 The children of Benjamin and Eleanor Eltinge (Clark) Temple were: (4-1) Mary Ann Brooke Temple ( - ), married Henry K. Winbourn. (See following). ( 4-2) Sarah B. Temple, born in 1805 and died in 1899. She married Lewis W. Lee but left no children.19 ( 4-3) Elea11or Eltinge Temple (1808-1844), married Josiah Newman. (See following.) ( 4-4) Julia Hancock Temple, born in 1809 and died in infancy. ( 4-5) Jonathan Clark Temple (1812- ) , married first Frances Brashear, and second Eliza Wallace Page. (See fol­ lowing.) ( 4-6) Robert Temple (1815- ) , married Anne Carrington Wills. ( See following.) (4-7) John Baylor Temple (1815-1886), married first Susan M. Bibb, second Catherine Marrania Fall, and third Blandina Brodhead. (See following.) (4-8) Reverend James Norton Temple (1818-1900), married first Margaret Anderson McMahon, and second Narcissa Ham­ bleton Barksdale. ( See following.) ( 4-9) George William Temple, born in 1819 and died in infancy. ( 4-10) Elizabeth Ann Temple (1821-1907), married Rever­ end George Beckett. (See following.) ( 4-11) Lucy Croghan Temple (1824-1900), married Judge Robert Chatham Bowling. (See following.) 1949] Jonathan Clark Descendants 29 ANN CLARK, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah (Hite) Clark, was born 19 May 179220 in Virginia and died 18 July 1833. On 30 September 1810,21 in Louisville, Kentucky, she married James Anderson Pearce, son of Edmund and Mary (Anderson) Pearce.