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Canaan, Connecticut in 1800
Credit: Wikipedia |
Our story begins in Canaan, Litchfield County, Connecticut; a spread out farming community in the Berkshire Mountains that straddles the Massachusetts-Connecticut border and sits on the southwestern edge of the Berkshire Mountains. George Clark, the future patriarch of the Clark family, who ultimately settled on the shores of Lake Champlain in Willsborough, Essex County, New York, was born there on Jan. 7, 1777 in the midst of the Revolutionary War. Like many New England families in this period his family suffered death, poverty and all of the horrific aftereffects of a long and bloody revolution. As the terror and turmoil in which they had lived, and been fortunate to survive, began to abate Canaan and its inhabitants, like so many others, set about the painful process of restoring and rebuilding their lives. Bit by bit, bound by their deep sense of community, their frugal ways and their profound religious beliefs, they worked together to restore order to their fragmented world. Like other children in his community, George’s boyhood memories were seared and scarred by his family’s long struggle to survive while they worked to create new lives for themselves as a farm family in this remote and mountainous area of western Massachusetts.
For George farming was the only life that he had ever known. His formal schooling was rudimentary and his skill set was totally directed toward working the land as his ancestors had done for generations. In his teens he developed into a strong young man and a quick learner. He took great pride in his work on the family farm and envisioned that farming would be his lifetime vocation. Like most young people he looked forward to the occasions upon which he and his friends from Canaan and the surrounding communities could get together to socialize. At a church gathering he became acquainted with Lydia Jakeways, daughter of Phineas and Hannah Jakeways who were farmers in the neighboring community of Norfolk. On April 23, 1794 he took her hand in marriage. George was but 17 and Lydia was 22. It was not uncommon for a man to marry a somewhat older woman at the time. This would give the young woman the time to learn the housekeeping skills that would be essential to her future. [Deed research by H. Erwin Hale for clear title to acquire Scragwood, 1950]
Following their marriage the young couple set up housekeeping with Lydia’s parents in nearby Norfolk as was typical in that day. As a strong, young farmer George continued to work on his father’s farm while also lending a hand to his father-in-law. He spent his days tilling the soil and harvesting the fruits of his labors, tending the livestock, making and maintaining the tools of his trade, and doing the multitude of chores that consumed a farmer’s days from dawn to dusk. Even though Lydia shared the household burden with her mother her days were spent addressing the seemingly endless daily tasks of cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing, sewing, helping with lighter farm chores, and even butchering. Before dawn she arose to light the woodstove and begin preparing a hearty morning meal for the menfolk. Then it seemed that she barely had time to complete her morning’s household work before the hungry men were marching in the door to take a break as they indulged in the bounteous noon repast that had been prepared by their womenfolk. Following this main meal men and women alike returned to their round of chores before the family came together once again to enjoy a lighter evening repast. In between all of this there were the children to be cared for.
Within less than a year of their marriage Lydia bore her first child, Polly, on February 28, 1795. With the help of her mother, and the knowledge that she had acquired when helping to take care of her younger siblings, Lydia quickly stepped into a woman’s role as mother, housekeeper and mainstay of the family group. She was grateful to still be in her family home, to receive the guidance and support of her mother and her help with the young ones. The years rolled by and almost three years later Orrin was born on January 2, 1798. (Later Orrin would become one of the main characters in our story.)
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Early 1800s frame house
Credit: Blogger |
By June 19, 1799 George, at age 22, had amassed enough capital to acquire a place of his own. For $8.94 he was able to purchase from Zacheus Wileas a small plot of land outside of New Marlborough, Massachusetts, a tiny hamlet in Berkshire County that lies just across the Connecticut border from Canaan. The land transaction was typical of its time with the property description reading “One certain part of the lot North of the Third Division situated in New Marlborough beginning at a stake and stone on the east side of the highway running east eight rods to a stake and stones then southerly ten rod ¾ of a rod to a stake and stones then westerly to a stake and stones on the highway then northerly on the highway ten rods ¾ to the first mentioned bounds, containing one half acre…this to be an absolute estate of inheritance in fee simple forever”. It is curious to note that the transaction that took place on that June 19, 1799 was dated “In the 23rd year of the Independence of the United States” as was common at this time. The deed was finally officially recorded on Dec. 9, 1800 and a time lag between purchasing property and receiving title was not at all unusual at that time. [Deed between Zacheus Wilease of New Marlborough in the County of Berkshire and Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bay Yeoman and George Clark of New Marlborough aforesaid bloomer June 19, 1799] The family had barely settled into their small, frame house and gotten accustomed to farming and housekeeping on their own before young George came into this world on September 11, 1799 and Sally was born on September 24, 1801. [Deed research by H. Erwin Hale for clear title to acquire Scragwood, 1950] Father George was happy to have a place of his own and he and Lydia were grateful that they were still near both of their families. Enveloped in their daily lives, the young couple lived from day to day. They had no realization that life in New Marlborough would be very short-lived and that soon fate and a tale of intertwining relationships would intervene to change their lives radically.
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