Thomas Clarke

[Kit]

Thomas Clarke appeared in India in time to marry Elizabeth Moon in 1805.

They had 3 children : Thomas Mathews (Matthew) in 1807, George William in 1808 and Adelaide in 1813.

I can't find deaths for Thomas or Elizabeth but the names are common so I might just not realise I'm looking at the right one.

I have long suspected Thomas was the first of my Clarkes to arrive in India but it was only a gut feeling. However I noticed this index card on FMP the other day saying he arrived in 1797. I may have seen this before and this is where the gut feeling came from.

Thomas Clarke (https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=S2%2FGBOR%2FPERCY%2FC%2F09349&parentid=GBOR%2FPERCY-SMITH%2F024898)

I have no idea where the card found the information. Does anyone have any ideas?

[Merry]

I don't know the answer to your Q. Where were the children born? (for some reason FMP refuses to show me any of them, or the document you linked to :()

[kiterunner]

I will look at the card when I get my FMP sub, definitely in the next few days, but in the meantime, FamilySearch has an Indiana, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth, born 1813 and baptised 1814, married a William Richard Chill and had several children. A tree on Ancestry has her parents as Thomas Clarke and Elizabeth Moon. Is she the same person as Adelaide? The tree says that Thomas was a timber merchant on his marriage record, and an indigo planter on Indiana's baptism record.

Oh, and the children were born in Bengal, Merry.

[Merry]

Thanks Kate.

Ancestry has some entries in the UK, Registers of Employees of the East India Company and the India Office, 1746-1939 ....

Bengal European Inhabitants

Thomas Clarke shipwright 1803
Thomas Clarke, carpenter, Bankipore, 1797

I checked the start of the As to see if there was anything to be sure what the date represented, but there was nothing.

[Merry]

There are two other Clark(e) children with the 'right'parents, but no other identifying details:

Fanny and Mary Ann both in 1810. Their birth dates are two months apart though, so separate parents? (or a very unusual set of twins?!)

[Phoenix]

It says Copyright Society of Genealogists. This means an idefatiguable researcher in the late 1800s - early 1900s.
If FMP have no details, might be worth emailing the query to the SoG.

[Kit]

I don't know the answer to your Q. Where were the children born? (for some reason FMP refuses to show me any of them, or the document you linked to :()

The children were born in India.

I will look at the card when I get my FMP sub, definitely in the next few days, but in the meantime, FamilySearch has an Indiana, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth, born 1813 and baptised 1814, married a William Richard Chill and had several children. A tree on Ancestry has her parents as Thomas Clarke and Elizabeth Moon. Is she the same person as Adelaide? The tree says that Thomas was a timber merchant on his marriage record, and an indigo planter on Indiana's baptism record.



Sorry, she is Indiana. Thomas Mathews had a daughter, Adelaide.

Thanks Kate.

Ancestry has some entries in the UK, Registers of Employees of the East India Company and the India Office, 1746-1939 ....

Bengal European Inhabitants

Thomas Clarke shipwright 1803
Thomas Clarke, carpenter, Bankipore, 1797

I checked the start of the As to see if there was anything to be sure what the date represented, but there was nothing.

I'll have a look, thank you.

There are two other Clark(e) children with the 'right'parents, but no other identifying details:

Fanny and Mary Ann both in 1810. Their birth dates are two months apart though, so separate parents? (or a very unusual set of twins?!)

I've found them recently and I don't know but as you say the dates are strange and I can find no marriages for them, at least none that have helpful witnesses to identify them.

It says Copyright Society of Genealogists. This means an idefatiguable researcher in the late 1800s - early 1900s.
If FMP have no details, might be worth emailing the query to the SoG.

Good idea.

[Kit]

There was a Thomas Clark/e married to an Elizabeth Wilson maybe 1808 or 1809. Can't remember now. I suspect that Fanny or Mary Ann was their child.

[kiterunner]

If you browse on to the next card after the one that you linked to, Toni, it is for Thomas Clark, indigo manufacturer and silk manufacturer, and it says "came out 1802", "? Possibly identified with man of same name, Timber merchant, Shipwright, etc?" The cards seem to show that both Thomases appear in directories from 1817 and 1819. So is Indiana definitely the sister of George William, or could they be from different families?

[Kit]

Indiana's baptism lists her father as Thomas Clark, Indigo planter.
George's just says Thomas Clark.

George's marriage however lists George as an Indigo planter and has several Chill's as witnesses. Chill being the surname of Indiana's future husband, but her husband, was not a witness. Thomas Mathews is however a witness.

Interestingly, Dad has 3 DNA matches that seem to be for descendants of Samuel Chill, Indiana's father in law, but not Indiana's husband. I wonder if the Clarke and Chill families are related?

[kiterunner]

Seems likely.

[Kit]

I just came back to say I can't now find anything definitive to say Indiana belongs to my Thomas and Elizabeth. Whether I have before I don't know.

There are only 5 children that could belong to my couple and the other Thomas/Elizabeth nee Wilson. My Thomas Mathews, George, Fanny, Mary Ann and Indiana. Indiana is the only one where an occupation is recorded.

I hadn't seen Fanny and Mary Ann until recently so they must not have come out with the first release of records on FMP.

[kiterunner]

But surely the info in your post #10 shows that Indiana belongs to your Thomas?

[Kit]

I thought so, but wasn't sure if it was enough proof. George Clarke was a witness for several Chill family events, so I would say they are at least very close friends.

I've spent the morning looking at Samuel Chill, father of Indiana's husband. I have no idea if there is a relationship yet, although his wife Sarah, no surname, seems a likely candidate. Samuel's fourth child was baptised the same day as Thomas Mathews was so they definitely knew each other. The other interesting thing, to me, is that Samuel's oldest child also had the middle name Mathew and I haven't come across that name much, especially not in India.

As an interest point Samuel had a very comprehensive will, detailing exactly who got what of his possessions. Samuel had a lot of weapons and I have to wonder why one son missed out on any of them. Indiana's husband received a gun, sword and dagger, followed by a lot of religious books, followed by various wine glasses. I do wonder if the order of these had meaning. :rolleyes::d

Sarah, the mother of Samuel's children was about 15 when she had her first child. Samuel was about 26 years older than her so about 41. My children are teenagers, that seems so wrong and I know it did happen back then.