Author: Clark House Historian Reed Perkins.

Think Like a Historian…

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 2 Comments

To all my blog readers, I hope this finds you well and staying safe at home.

I just received a message from Jonathan Clark House director Nina Look and I thought I’d share it with you:

Dear Friends-

As you might imagine, the Clark House is closed at this time, but we continue to think about the history of our early settlers and how important it is to share that history with our children. I prepared the attached guide with the help of JCH Education Coordinator Margaret Bussone and JCH Curator Fred Derr.

Feel free to pass it on to a young person who may want to “Think like a historian.”

Nina Look, Director

CLARK HOUSE Think Like a Historian image

Click this link to open the CLARK HOUSE Guide for Young Visitors

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Batter Up! – For the Clark House

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 1 Comment

It’s almost March and that means Spring is coming, and so is America’s classic game—baseball. So leave winter behind and join the Friends of the Jonathan Clark House on Wednesday, March 4, from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at the Concordia University Wisconsin Pharmacy Building, room 008, for a lively talk by Dr. Patrick W. Steele on the “History of Baseball in Wisconsin.”

Refreshments will be served and door prizes given. The event is free and open to the public, with a suggested $10 donation to the Friends of the Jonathan Clark House. An RSVP to jchmuseum@gmail.com will help us plan the event. Need more information? Contact Clark House director Nina Look at jchmuseum@gmail.com

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Happy (Blog) New Year!

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins.
Clark House Museum sign, night, Version 2-cropped

Jonathan Clark House sign, Mequon. Photo by Reed Perkins.

Even if the New Year is already 1/12th done – and we’re still two months away from the blog’s fourth (!) anniversary – Greetings and Best Wishes for a fine 2020 to all of you.

As always, I continue to be busy researching a large number of Clark House related subjects, and I look forward to sharing my findings with you in the coming year and beyond.

The new year is also a fine time for making changes, and I decided it was time to make a big one here at the Clark House Historian blog — no more ads! I don’t know about you, but I was getting pretty tired of reading posts and looking at historic documents while surrounded by images of nasty foot conditions and ambulance-chasing lawyers. So I finally took the plunge and shifted from a free but ad-filled blog to a paid plan with, finally, no ads! I hope you enjoy the more reader-friendly experience.

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February History Fun!

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 2 Comments

While the blog has been quiet for a while, behind the scenes I’ve been pursuing some hot leads as we try and solve the mysteries of Jonathan M. Clark’s parents, siblings and birthplace. More on that in the near future. Meanwhile, here are a few upcoming events that may be of interest:

On Saturday, February 1, 2020, from 10:00-4:00, Jonathan Clark House museum volunteers will have an indoor exhibit with family-friendly activities at the Mequon Nature Reserve Winter Frolic. For more information and parking directions, see their Facebook page.

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O!…Canada? History Mystery! No. 3

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 14 Comments

Jonathan M. Clark was born…where?

Perhaps this should really be the Number One Clark House History Mystery! — was Jonathan M. Clark born in the United States or not? All of our previous evidence indicates that Jonathan M. Clark was born in Vermont in 1811 or 1812, namely: 

• Jonathan’s army enlistment papers from September 19, 1833, state that he was “…born in Derby, in the State of Vermont.”

• His 1850 Federal Census population schedule declares he was born in “Vir,” which we are quite certain indicates the State of Vermont.

• In later years, JMC’s children would almost always declare on subsequent Federal Censuses that their father was born in Vermont. (There were a few exceptions; “Ohio” was given by one daughter almost a half-century after her father’s death. We’ll have more on those census responses in later posts.) For example, the second sentence of daughter Caroline Clark Woodward’s biography in American Women: Fifteen Hundred Biographies With Over 1,400 Portraits… (New York: Mast, Crowell & Kirkpatrick, 1897, page 799) reads: Her father, Jonathan M. Clark, was a Vermonter of English descent, who, born in 1812 , of Revolutionary parentage, inherited an intense American patriotism.

So it seems clear that Jonathan M. Clark was born in Vermont. If that’s the case why, on March 19, 1848, did JMC travel to the District Court of the United States in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Territory and file this document?:

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The Clark Family in 1850, part 3

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 10 Comments

Where y’all from? 

If you missed them, you might want to begin with Part 1 and Part 2 of our look at Jonathan and Mary Clark and their growing family on the 1850 federal decennial census. Those earlier posts focused in some detail on the names and ages of the various family members and how that information correlates with the manuscript Clark Family Record. In this post we’ll try and answer the question of where Jonathan, Mary, and the children were born, a simple question, right? Let’s start by taking another look at the census page: Continue reading →

The Clark Family in 1850, part 2

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 8 Comments

A Closer Look at the 1850 Census: Ages and Dates

How well does the information on the 1850 census schedule agree with the Clark Family Record and other Clark family documents and known facts?

First, examine the census page header. It was enumerated by J. I. Loomis (a resident of Polk township, Washington county) and covered the “Free Inhabitants in Mequon Dist. No 15 in the County of Washington State of Wisconsin enumerated by me, on the 7th day of Oct. 1850.” Continue reading →

The Clark Family in 1850, part 1

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 9 Comments

Looking at the 1850 Census: A Growing Family

Continuing our look at important sources for Clark family history, let’s return to the decennial U.S. federal census. If you missed it, be sure to read our earlier post on Jonathan, Mary, and ? on the 1840 Census. The 1850 census was the seventh United States federal —and first “all name”— decennial census; every free person—man, woman or child—living on June 1, 1850, was to be counted and named on a separate line on the census form. It was also the first federal census to ask for certain additional information, such as each individual’s place of birth and occupation. (Enslaved African-Americans were enumerated on a separate form and not by name, but by sex, age, and owner. Click here for more information on the 1850 and 1860 so-called Slave Schedules.)

Based on what we know from the Clark Family Record and other sources, as of the official enumeration day, June 1, 1850, if the census enumerator and his Clark family “informant” were both accurate in providing and recording the data, we should expect to find the following living family members listed on the 1850 census: parents Jonathan and Mary Clark and their children Caroline, Henry, Elizabeth, Persis, and new baby Teresa. Let’s look at the census page and see what the enumerator recorded: Continue reading →

Still Here! Watch This Space!

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins.

Well the third anniversary of the Clark House Historian blog has come and gone without new posts in, er, quite a while. Sorry about that!

Although I haven’t posted new blog content lately, I have been busy behind the scenes, collaborating offline with Jonathan Clark House Museum staff and friends as we try and solve a number of vexing Clark house, Clark family history, and Mequon area history questions and mysteries. I hope to be posting regularly again with lots of new documents and information for Jonathan Clark House Museum friends in the coming months.

Meanwhile, if you are new to the blog, please see our second anniversary post for background on the blog, the Jonathan Clark House Museum, and links to all kinds of interesting Mequon area historical information.

And be sure to visit and support the Jonathan Clark House Museum! Come to the house and do your 19th-century farm chores at the final Heritage Days event on August 17th: Continue reading →

Happy Anniversary!

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins.

The Clark House Historian blog is two years old today!

Our first post, “Welcome!,” was posted on March 29, 2016, and can be found here; it is also anchored at the top of the home page. More substantial posts (with photos!) followed  in April, introducing Jonathan M. Clark, his wife Mary Turck and the Clark House. In the years since, we’ve published 29 blog posts, almost 20,000 words, and dozens of historic images and maps. We’ve had over 2000 views from 512 visitors. Our readers are mostly from the United States, but we also have readers in Canada, the EU, South Korea, Germany and the Netherlands. Thank you all for your support!

Whether you are a new reader, or you’ve been following the blog since the beginning, here are some suggestions for catching up on missed posts or finding specific information that interests you: Continue reading →