Joshua Clark

As printed in 1881

CLARK JOSHUA, New Castle township; farmer; postoffice. New Castle; was born February 10, 1808, in Harrison county, where the town of Harrisville now stands, and which was, at that time, in the woods. He is the son of John and Mary (Boothe)' Clark, who were the parents of ten children. His father was Welsh and his mother of English descent. They were Quakers, from the neighborhood of Philadelphia.

He came to New Castle township, with his father, when he was eighteen years old, and settled on the land now occupied by the village of New Castle, and, about three years later, his father laid out the village of Liberty (now New Castle).

At the age of twenty-one he married Miss Mary Given, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Barr) Given. She was raised on Wheeling creek, near Wheeling, West Virginia. They then moved to Morrow county, Ohio, and settled in the woods; but their stay here was short, on account of the scarcity of food and labor, being three miles from the nearest settlement where they could obtain the necessaries of life. While there they lived in a cabin with a fire-place in one end, the backwall and chimney being but six feet high, and were therefore in danger of attacks from wolves. They lived the first week in this cabin without its being daubed, and the snow fell about ankle deep.

He attended eleven raising and log-rolling during the first two weeks of his sojourn in that place. At the expiration of about six months they had consumed about all the provisions they had brought with them, and then began to think it time to move, so they returned to New Castle township, Coshocton county, where he is still living.

He is situated nearly two miles southwest of New Castle, at the headwaters of the Wakatomica on a well improved farm of about 500 acres. He has been" twice married. His first wife bore him four children, viz: William, Love M., Allen and Elizabeth. William resides near East Union, Coshocton county; Love married William Warton, of Butler township, Knox county; Allen is a farmer of Jackson township, Knox county;. Elizabeth is the wife of Jesse Mercer, of Jackson township, Knox county. He was married a second time to Miss Eleanor Wilson, on the twentieth of June, 1841, daughter of WiUiam and Rebecca(Melick) Wilson, granddaughter of James and Rebecca (Jones) Wilson; also of John and Eleanor Melick. She was born January 28, 1813, in Somerset county, Pennsylvania.

This union resulted in eight children, viz: Thomas (deceased), Rebecca, Joshua, Martha, Charles H., Robert H., Hannah S. and Samuel Mc. Mr. Clark relates that when his father was moving to this county, they came to Coshocton on Sunday, and had to cross the river on a ferry boat, and that the whole town came down to the river to help them across, and that in ferring the cattle across they had a good deal of trouble, some of them jumping overboard and swimming back. Among those of the village that turned out to assist them, were Mr. Adam Johnson and Colonel Williams. He also relates, that on arriving in New Castle township, after two days heavy driving from Coshocton, they moved in a house with one or two other families, and lived two weeks there, until they could build one of their own, and that there were about twenty persons in all occupying the house during those two weeks. On the farm where he now lives stands the trunk of an apple tree, that measures ten feet, three inches in circumference, that the seed or sprout had been planted by Johnny Appleseed, who then lived upon the Mohican.. The trunk is about seventy years old, and in one specially favorable season, bore 140 bushels of apples.

As printed in History of Coshocton County, Ohio: its past and present, 1740-1881. Containing a comprehensive history of Ohio; a complete history of Coshocton County ... a history of its soldiers in the late war ... (1881). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.