6
ANCESTRY AND YOUTH
The English ancestors of Wilford W. Clark settled New England in the same quarter-century highlighted by the King James Bible, the death of William Shakespeare, and the Pilgrims' arrival on the Mayflower.
"Deacon" George Clark moved to Milford, Connecticut, in 1638. He sired Samuel Clark, who was the father of John Clark, who begat John Clark, Jr. (a soldier in the Revolutionary War), who begat Timothy Baldwin Clark. Timothy, after fighting in the War of 1812, left Milford and eventually settled near what would become Chicago, Illinois.
Timothy B. Clark is credited with the following in Chicago's genesis: He helped lay out its first two streets1; he helped build its first church1 and its first frame house2; he started the first stagecoach line (running from Chicago to Ottowa via his hometown of Plainfield)2; he fought in the Black Hawk War3; and his name later was given to Clark Street4.
Timothy Baldwin Clark and (some of) his family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1835 and soon moved to Clay County, Missouri, to join other Mormons. Shortly afterward, Timothy and three of his sons were taken prisoner by the Missouri State Militia of Governor Boggs. The ransom for the Clarks was their entire farm. Timothy, his wife Polly Keeler, and their children lived through the Missouri and Illinois persecutions close to, and inspired by, their Prophet Joseph Smith. When they died—she in 1839, and he in 1848—their youngest son, Ezra Thompson Clark, survived to carry on the frontiering vitality of his parents.
Ezra Thompson and Mary Stevenson Clark were first-rate pioneers intent on making "the desert...blossom as the rose"5 -- embellished with children's laughter, religious hymns, and the brute force of animal and human strength. Much of their zeal was influenced by their recent memories of Nauvoo's turmoils. They settled land north of Salt Lake City and were among the first residents of Farmington, eventually developing some of the finest and most profitable farming enterprises in the Territory.
By the time of Wilford's birth on February 2, 1863, the Ezra T. Clark family consisted of first wife Mary Stevenson Clark, their nine children, and second wife Susan Leggett Clark, by whom ten
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7
THE EZRA T./MARY S. CLARK FAMILY PORTRAIT
[PORTRAIT will go on page 7 (R), facing page 6 (L), the first page of the chapter on ANCESTRY AND YOUTH. LABELS will name the children of EZRA and MARY'S FAMILY, along with their BIRTH and DEATH DATES, as was done for the W. W. CLARK FAMILY on PAGE 23.]
THE EZRA THOMPSON CLARK FAMILY, FARMINGTON, UTAH (c. YEAR?)
Edward B. Hyrum Amasa Charles
[far left] 1859-1955 1856-1938 1865-1968 1861-1933
Ezra James
1846-1868
Timothy Mary S. Ezra T. Mary WWC Joseph S.
1847-1924 1825-1911 1823-1901 1849-1904 1863-1956 1854-1957