The Founders of Hartford
John Clarke, prob. came in the “Elizabeth,” from Ipswich, Co. Suffolk, April, 1634 ; he was a soldier
in the Pequot War, and was one of the owners of that tract of land in Hartford known as the “Soldier's Field.”
An original proprietor; his home-lot in 1639-40 was on the west aide of the highway from Seth Grant's to Centinel Hill
(now Trumbull St.), near the present Allyn St. "He probably removed from Hartford previously to 1655, for his name does
not appear in the list of tax-payers in the ' mill-rates,' for the years 1655, 1656, or 1651, which are preserved. His
name is, however, found in the lists of 'the proprietors of undivided lands in Hartford, with such of their proportions
in one division as followeth, according to which proportions they paid for the purchase of said lands in the years
1665, 1666, 1671, and 1672.' These divisions of the' undivided lands' were, however, made to non-residents, and even to
the heirs of deceased proprietors."1 John Clark was juror at Hartford, Sept., 1641 and Oct., 1642 ; deputy,
May, 1649. Dr. Trumbull thinks that this John Clark is the one who was at Saybrook later; but there is an
inextricable confusion between the three John Clarks, at Hertford, Saybrook, and Farmington. John Clark was directed
by the General Court “to carry on the building of the fort” with Capt. Mason. The will of John Clark,
of Saybrook, is recorded at New Haven, and is dated Feb. 17, 1672, at the beginning, and Jan. 19, 1673, at the end.
Inv. Feb. 28, 1673.
1 Gay's Clark Genealogy, PP. 8, 10.
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