Clark Family Cemetery

Hello everyone!  Sorry it's been so long.  I haven't had a chance to get out and about due to my health and difficulty with transportation.

Today's Walk Through the Tombstones is at the Clark Family Cemetery in Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.  I got lucky and had a friend of mine grab some pictures while he was mushroom hunting with some friends.

This cemetery is on private property and my friend had permission to be there while mushroom hunting.  Please remember, always get permission to be there.  This cemetery is small and fenced off. It appears to be taken care of, probably by the people that own the property, though the stones need to be cleaned and they do need some care.  

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 Our first stop is at the grave of Stephen Clark.

Born: January 10, 1840 in Lawrence County, Indiana
Died: September 1867 in Jackson County, Indiana

He was the son of William Aaron Clark (1791-1869) and Rebecca Bales Clark (1796-1872).  They are both buried in this cemetery nearby.

He had at ten siblings:
Abigail Virginia Clark Walters (1811-1870) - burial unknown, though possibly in Gosport, Indiana.
Henry C. Clark (1814-1876) - buried in Bartlettsville Cemetery, Lawrence County, Indiana.
John Clark (1816-?) - burial unknown
James Joseph Clark (1819-1901) - buried in Gilgal Cemetery, Lawrence County, Indiana
David C. Clark (1823-1861) - buried in the Clark Family Cemetery, Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.
Mary "Polly" Clark (1826-?) - burial unknown, possibly in Cass County, Missouri
Anna Clark (1829-?) - burial unknown
William David Clark (1832-1861) - buried in the Clark Family Cemetery, Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.
Celia Ann Clark Dougless (1834-1854) - buried in the Clark Family Cemetery, Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.
Francis Marion Clark (1836-1864) - buried in the Clark Family Cemetery, Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.

He was married to Henrietta Hunter-Clark Ramsey (1841-1891) on February 13, 1859.  She is buried in Mundell Church Cemetery in Heltonville, Lawrence County, Indiana.  She remarried after the death of her husband.

He was hanged near Mooney, Indiana (now Clearspring) in 1867.  I did find a reference to Stephan Clark having died from being hanged in Clear Spring, Indiana.  An excerpt from a book titled, "History of Jackson County, Indiana: From the Earliest Time to the Present" that talks about this incident.  This book is free to view on Google Books and was published in 1886.

"Twenty years or more ago, at the beginning of what is known as the "reign of terror", or the "Dark days" of Jackson County, a man by the name of Clarke, who was known to be a thief and a desperado, was hung by a mob near the western border of Owen Township.

Clarke had been accused of many crimes, but the one which incited the citizens to action on this occasion was the burglarizing of a store at Houston.  The accused made his escape into Illinois, but after a brief absence returned to his mother's home, near the eastern border of Lawrence County, where he was arrested by the constable of Owen Township,  The officer started with the prisoner to Clear Spring, but soon after they had crossed the line dividing the two counties, and a few yards north of the present site of Mr. C Fishe's residence, they were intercepted by a mob of masked men, supposed to be a division of the organization known as the Regulators.  The prisoner was taken from the officer and hung to the branch of a beech tree, which stills stands to mark the spot.  The body was left hanging till the next day, when it was cut down by the coroner, and after the inquest was given to the mother of the deceased, and by her was buried in the old family cemetery."

They had three children, but I have only found one listed so far:
Laura Clark Humston (1861-1937) - buried in Gilgal Cemetery, Heltonville, Lawrence County, Indiana.

UPDATE:  I received a contact message earlier this month with the following: "Just wanted to say, as to the death date of Stephen Clark, if he is the Stephen Clark who was hanged, he died Oct. 7, 1869. My source is an original article in The Evansville Daily Journal (Evansville, Indiana) · 13 Oct 1869, Wed · Page 2 available on Newspapers.com". I am not sure which date is accurate and I don't want to lose any information, so I am going to leave both here for now.  Thanks!!

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Next we have the grave of Rebecca Bales Clark.

Born: October 13, 1796, Kentucky
Died: June 30, 1872

She was the daughter of James Bales (?-?) and Rebecca Braken Bales (?-?).  I am unsure as  to where they are buried.

She probably had siblings, but as of yet, I haven't found any mention of any.

She was married to William Aaron Clark (1796-1872) on November 12, 1810 in Clay County, Kentucky.  He is buried near her in Clark Cemetery.  They had ten children:
Abigail Virginia Clark Walters (1811-1870) - burial unknown, though possibly in Gosport, Indiana.
Henry C. Clark (1814-1876) - buried in Bartlettsville Cemetery, Lawrence County, Indiana.
John Clark (1816-?) - burial unknown
James Joseph Clark (1819-1901) - buried in Gilgal Cemetery, Lawrence County, Indiana
David C. Clark (1823-1861) - buried in the Clark Family Cemetery, Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.
Mary "Polly" Clark (1826-?) - burial unknown, possibly in Cass County, Missouri
Anna Clark (1829-?) - burial unknown
William David Clark (1832-1861) - buried in the Clark Family Cemetery, Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.
Celia Ann Clark Dougless (1834-1854) - buried in the Clark Family Cemetery, Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.
Francis Marion Clark (1836-1864) - buried in the Clark Family Cemetery, Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.
Stephen Clark (1840-1867) - buried in Clark Cemetery, Lawrence County, Indiana.

I am not sure if Rebecca was ill or if she met her end because of old age, but she passed away at the home of her daughter, Abigail.

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This is the grave of Thomas J. Clark.

Born: January 12, 1859
Died: July 24, 1871

He was the son of Francis Marion Clark (1836-1864) and Mary Woods Clark (?-?).  Francis is buried nearby in Clark Cemetery, but I am not sure where his mother is buried.











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This is the grave of Francis Marion Clark.

Born: December 28, 1836
Died: December 7, 1864

He was the son of William Aaron Clark (1791-1869) and Rebecca Bales Clark (1796-1872).  They are both buried in this cemetery nearby.

He had at least ten siblings:
Abigail Virginia Clark Walters (1811-1870) - burial unknown, though possibly in Gosport, Indiana.
Henry C. Clark (1814-1876) - buried in Bartlettsville Cemetery, Lawrence County, Indiana.
John Clark (1816-?) - burial unknown
James Joseph Clark (1819-1901) - buried in Gilgal Cemetery, Lawrence County, Indiana
David C. Clark (1823-1861) - buried in the Clark Family Cemetery, Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.
Mary "Polly" Clark (1826-?) - burial unknown, possibly in Cass County, Missouri
Anna Clark (1829-?) - burial unknown
William David Clark (1832-1861) - buried in the Clark Family Cemetery, Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.
Celia Ann Clark Dougless (1834-1854) - buried in the Clark Family Cemetery, Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.
Stephen Clark (1840-1867) - buried in Clark Cemetery, Lawrence County, Indiana.

He was married to Mary Jane Woods Clark (1836-?), though I am unsure as to where she is buried.  They were married on February 26, 1856 in Lawrence County, Indiana.

They had three children:
Rebecca Clerinda Clark (1857-?) - burial is unknown
Maine Clark (?-?) - burial unknown
Thomas J. Clark (1859-1871) - buried in Clark Cemetery, Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.

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Here we have the grave of William R. Clark.

Born: May 27, 1855
Died: April 21, 1856

He was the son of James Joseph Clark (1819-1901) and Mary Ann "Polly" Helton Clark (1821-1902).  They are both buried in Gilgal Cemetery, Heltonville, Lawrence County, Indiana.

He had at least three siblings, one of which was step sibling:
Andrew Jackson Clark (1843-1917) - buried in Gilgal Cemetery, Lawrence County, Indiana.
Elzira Clark Combs (1846-1882) - buried in Gilgal Cemetery, Lawrence County, Indiana.
James Jefferson Clark (1849-1923) - buried in Gilgal Cemetery, Lawrence County, Indiana.



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And lastly, we have the grave of Celia Ann Clark Dougless.

Born: May 13, 1834
Died: March 6, 1854

He was the son of William Aaron Clark (1791-1869) and Rebecca Bales Clark (1796-1872).  They are both buried in this cemetery nearby.

She had at ten siblings:
Abigail Virginia Clark Walters (1811-1870) - burial unknown, though possibly in Gosport, Indiana.
Henry C. Clark (1814-1876) - buried in Bartlettsville Cemetery, Lawrence County, Indiana.
John Clark (1816-?) - burial unknown
James Joseph Clark (1819-1901) - buried in Gilgal Cemetery, Lawrence County, Indiana
David C. Clark (1823-1861) - buried in the Clark Family Cemetery, Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.
Mary "Polly" Clark (1826-?) - burial unknown, possibly in Cass County, Missouri
Anna Clark (1829-?) - burial unknown
William David Clark (1832-1861) - buried in the Clark Family Cemetery, Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.
Francis Marion Clark (1836-1864) - buried in the Clark Family Cemetery, Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana.
Stephen Clark (1840-1867) - buried in Clark Cemetery, Lawrence County, Indiana.

She was married to Nathan Dougless (1829-1900) on March 8, 1851.

She had died in childbirth, but the child survived.  They had one daughter:
Charlotte Dougless (1852-?) - burial unknown, though her father took her to Wayne County, Iowa after her mother's death.  The death date for her mother does not match the birth date, so not sure about the dates.


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According to records, William Aaron Clark and Rebecca Bales Clark settled in Pleasant Run Township very early into the county's history.  They are listed as one of the first of twenty three land entries around 1820.  One of the more popular distilleries in the county belonged to the Clark's and was frequented by many people in the township.  They would bring their brown clay jug to get whiskey, which was considered very important.

I have also found, while researching this family, that David and William Clark, brothers and sons of William and Rebecca, were stabbed to death by three "known adversaries".  I haven't found much in the way of information about them or their deaths.

I also have found reference in at least two places that Rebecca was a Cherokee Indian.  I am not real sure about the validity of this statement, but after speaking with a resident of the area and hearing a story about some Indians in the the area stealing a bunch of money from residents and then burying it nearby.  It is unknown how true this story is  but it goes with the Indian information that I have found so far.  Granted, it is all speculation.

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Thanks for talking a walk through Clark Cemetery with me.

You can check it out on Find-A-Grave here.