Nelson H Clark born June 1877 in New York and rumored to have died about 1905 , but actually died in 1929 married Edith Salisbury born April 3 1882 in Prince Edward Canada in 1901. Edith Salisbury died February 10 1949 East Williamson, Wayne County, New York. After Divorcing Nelson Edith married Alexander Harper and during her marriage to Alexander she had a third son, Dimond A. Harper born July 21 1911 Walworth, Wayne County, New York.
Edith’s Two Sons during first marriage to Nelson H Clark:
Jesse Earl and Eugene Nelson Clark
Dimond Harper and Pet Owl Newspaper Article
Edith Salisbury was the daughter of Benanuel S Salisbury and Rhoda Way. Benanuel S Salisbury was born October 30 1838 in Sophiasbury and died January 4 1927 and is buried at Burr’s Cemetery. He married Rhoda Way on April 19 1863. Rhoda Way was born April 16 1845 in Prince Edward County Ontario Canada and died May 13 1930 in Prince Edward County Ontario Canada.
Rhoda was the daughter of Daniel Way and Catherine Fox. Benanuel was the son of Benanuel Salisbury and Catherine Clarke
Benanuel and Rhoda had the following children:
Alexander born 1865
Eldon born Jan 24 1874
Elick born April 17 1864
Peter born 1867
Wilhemina born 1869
Zenana born Aug 18 1871
Harvey born Jun 13 1876
Daniel born Jun 8 1878
Jesse born Aug 16 1880
Edith born April 3 1882
Elizabeth born Oct 31 1885
Peter (yes a 2nd peter) born 1884
The ‘Family Story’ of Nelson Clark was that he ‘went crazy and died in a mental hospital’ However I have yet to find any death record of a ward in hospital. Nelson H Clark served in the Spanish-American War and was also registered for WW1. April 29 1908 Edith divorced Nelson and Nelson died May 19 1929. He is in the Truxton Rural Cemetery, Cortland County, New York. The ‘interesting’ part of this is that in early Census Records we see that Nelson Clark and Alexander Harper (Edith Salisbury’s 2nd husband after her divorce from Nelson) were neighbors in the census prior to Nelson and Edith marrying. Additionally we find Alexander and Edith with sons Eugene Harper, Earl Harper and the Dimond Harper throughout the census records. The only time ‘stepson’ was referenced was in the census including Eugene at the age of 18 and being listed as ‘step son’ to (head) Alexander Harper with Dimond as son. Jesse Earl ‘left home’ by this time (abt age 16 or 17). The ‘Family Story’ of Nelson ‘disappearing’ combined with a lack of DNA Hits with Clark ancestors beyond Jesse and Eugene Clark leads this researcher to wonder if Jesse and possibly Eugene may have actually been fathered by Alexander Harper. Currently we are in the process of the completion of another Genealogy DNA test with a different more diverse database to hopefully confirm this theory by either connecting to Clark’s or Harper’s.
The records I have tracked down indicate that Nelson was the son of Richard and Rose (Ives) Clark. Many people have copied and recopied the parentage of Richard and Rose (incorrectly) however none of them have found any source records to validate those parents. I have found that Richard Clark, Father of Nelson Clark was most likely the son of William Clark and Harriet – I am still trying to determine Rose’s parents. It will be nice when I finally locate Richard and Rose’s Marriage Record ! I have found that Rose’s maiden name was IVES through the marriage record of the daughter Mabel. (also spelled Mabell and Mabelle depending on which records you look at) As any genealogist knows, name spelling variations are very common in old records as well as transcription errors of those records.
Richard and Rose Clark had the following children:
Nelson Clark born June 1877 NY
Mabel Clark born December 1885 Pennsylvania
Clarence Clark born July 1889/1890 NY
The Family Babble... 