Plymouth (Plimouth or Plimoth) is in Plymouth County, Massachusetts and was the site of the colony founded in 1620 by the Mayflower passengers.
Abigail Lothrop Clark was baptized in Barnstable on November 2, 1639. Her parents were John Lothrop and Ann Hammond.
She married James Clark (or Clarke) on October 7, 1657. James was born about 1639 in Plymouth. His parents were Thomas Clark and Susanna Ring. Abigail's brother, Barnabas Lothrop married James' sister Susanna Clark. James was made freeman in 1670.
Abigail and James' children included:
Thomas Clark (1660),
Susanna Clark (1662),
Abigail Clark (1664),
Joanna Clark Holmes (1678, married Nathaniel Holmes, Jr. grandson of John Holmes, Sr.),
James Clark (1680) and
Bathsheba Clark Litchfield (1682, married Nicholas Litchfield).
James died March 10, 1702/03 in Plymouth and Abigail followed on January 8, 1722/23.
Various spellings of Lothrop:
Lathrop, Laythrop, Lothroppe, Lothropp, Lowthrop, Lowthropp.
Europeans who made the voyage to America faced a difficult journey of several months.
Fifty Ancestors of Henry Lincoln Clapp, Parts 1-2 by Henry Lincoln Clapp
Abigail [Lothrop] married Oct. 7, 1657, James Clarke, son of Thomas Clarke who came to America in the Ann in 1623, and was a prominent citizen of Plymouth, Representative in 1651 and 1655, Deacon from 1654 to 1657, over 40 years.
Thomas Clarke married in 1624 Susanna, daughter of widow Mary Ring of Plymouth and sister of Andrew Ring. Mary Ring died July 15 or 19, 1631; her will is printed in the Mayflower, Vol. 1, p. 29.
James Clarke, son of Thomas, was born 1639, freeman 1670, member of juries 1657, 1670. He had seven children (Litchfield Family, page 91), among whom was Bathsheba, born about 1680, married Jan. 3, 1704-5, Nicholas Litchfield. She was named after her aunt Bathsheba Lothrop.
Barnstable, Massachusetts was settled in 1639 when Parson Joseph Hull came to Cape Cod with and his congregation from Weymouth. A little later in the year, the Reverend John Lothrop brought his Congregationalists. They incorporated as the Town of Barnstable.
Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the ..., Volume 1 edited by William Richard Cutter, William Frederick Adams
Josiah Clark, son of Thomas Clark, was born and lived in Plymouth, and was called "Silver-headed Thomas," because, having been scalped by the Indians when a boy, he wore a silver plate; married Elizabeth Crow.
Thomas Clark was son of James Clark, born in Plymouth, in 1536; married, 1557, Abigail Lothrop, who was born 1659, daughter of Rev. John Lothrop, who came over in the Griffin, in 1635. and was the first minister in Barnstable, where his house still stands and is used as a public library.
James Clark was a son of Thomas Clark, the Pilgrim, who came to Plymouth in the Ann, in 1623. He lived in Plymouth, where he married Susannah Ring, and his gravestone still stands on Burial Hill, Plymouth.
The Griffin left England August 1, 1634 and arrived in Boston on September 18, 1634 with about one hundred passengers and cattle for the plantations. The passengers included the Bartholomew, Cotton, Hammond, Haines, Heaton, Hutchinson (including dissident Anne), Lothrop, Lynde, Magatt, and Symmes families.
Anne Marbury Hutchinson (1591–1643, married William Hutchinson) was a popular dissident religious leader in Massachusetts. She was tried, convicted, and banished from the colony to New York where she was killed by indigenous warriors.
from The Stoddard Family
John Clark, of Plymouth, Mass.
The historian, William T. Davis, and the History of Hingham both say that he was a son of James Clark of Plymouth and Abigail Lothrop, and a grandson of Thomas Clark, who is buried on Burial Hill, at Plymouth, and who erroneously has been called mate of the Mayflower.
Abigail Lothrop was a daughter of the famous Rev. John Lothrop of Barnstable, Mass. On May 14, 1695, John Clark married Rebecca Lincoln, daughter of Samuel and Martha Lincoln, of Hingham.
Deacons played a respected and important role in early New England churches. They sat in a raised pew near the pulpit and had special duties during communion.
Colonial legislatures granted land to a group of settlers (proprietors) who chose how to divide the land. They had some rights of governance.
Boston was founded in 1630 by Puritan settlers from England.
from Volume 4
Thomas Clark, immigrant ancestor, was born in England, 1599, and first appeared in this country as a settler in July, 1623, when he arrived at Plymouth in the Anne, in a company of forty-two adult passengers, besides children. He brought with him considerable property, especially cattle, and had land allotted to him near Eel River, now Chiltonville.
There is a general tradition among the descendants of the Pilgrims, and particularly among the descendants of Thomas Clark, that he was the Thomas Clark who was one of the mates of the Mayflower, and gave his name to Clark's island, of which he took possession, December 8, 1620. This tradition, however, has never been verified. In 1627 he was the only person of that name in Plymouth Colony.
In documents of the period he is called variously a carpenter, yeoman, merchant or gentleman. In 1633 he took the freeman's oath, and in 1637 headed the list of volunteers to act against the Pequot Indians, being then mentioned as of Eel River. In 1640 he is included in the list of fifty-eight "purchasers or old comers" in Plymouth. In 1641-43-44-45-46-47 he was constable and surveyor of highways. In 1643 he was in the list of the men of the colony able to bear arms. In 1651 and 1655 he was representative to the general court, and was at one time employed to audit the accounts of the colony. Between 1655 and 1660 he removed to Boston, where he lived in the vicinity of Scotto's Lane.
His son Andrew married Mehitable, daughter of Thomas Scotto, and Thomas Clark gave him a house in that region. When the son Andrew removed to Harwich Thomas Clark appears to have followed him, and the two were among the earliest proprietors of that town. In his latter days he lived with his daughter, Susanna Lothrop, at Barnstable.
From 1654 to 1697 he was a deacon of the Plymouth church. He married (first), about 1634, Susan or Susanna, daughter of widow Mary Ring, of Plymouth. All his children were probably of this marriage.
He married (second) Mrs. Alice Nichols, daughter of Richard Hallett, in Boston, 1664. He died in Plymouth, March 24, 1697, and was buried on the summit of Burying Hill, where his gravestone is still to be seen.
Children (dates of birth conjectural):
Andrew, 1635;
James, 1637:
William, 1639;
Susanna, 1641;
Nathaniel, 1643;
John, 1645 or 1651.
Old Style Calendar
Before 1752 the year began on Lady Day, March 25th,. Dates between January 1st and March 24th were at the end of the year. Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) are used to indicate whether the year has been adjusted. Often both dates are used.
Any man entering a colony or becoming a a member the church, was not free. He was not forced to work, but his movements were carefully observed to see if they followed the Puritanical ideal. After this probationary period, he became a "freeman." Men then took the Oath of a Freeman where they vowed to defend the Commonwealth and not to overthrow the government.
A gentleman had no title, but descended from an aristocratic family, was of the landed gentry, and had a coat of arms.
A yeoman was a man who owned and cultivated a small farm. He belonged to the class below the gentry or land owners. A husbandman was a free tenant farmer. The social status of a husbandman was below that of a yeoman.
A constable was an elected official who was responsible for keeping the peace. His duties were more limited than the sheriff's. He apprehended and punished offenders, helped settle estates, and collected taxes.
