Husband:
Nathaniel Clarke | Born: | in 1642. |
| Died: | at sea, 25 August 1690. |
| Parents: | Uncertain. Refer to text below. |
Wife:
Elizabeth Somerby | Born: | in Newbury 1 November 1646. |
| Died: | in Exeter, NH 15 March 1716. |
| Father: | Henry Somerby of Newbury, MA. |
| Mother: | Judith Greenleaf. |
| Married: | in Newbury, MA, 23 November 1663. |
| Elizabeth married (2) 8 August 1698, Rev. John Hale of Beverly, MA. |
The parentage of Nathaniel Clarke is not known for certain. He is listed as the son of Thomas Clarke of Ipswich, MA, but there are three Thomas Clarkes of Ipswich who could be his father. The most likely candidate is Sgt. Thomas Clarke, Sr, place and date of birth unknown; died in Ipswich 9 January 1689/90; married to Mary -----, who died in Ipswich in 1689/90 about 27 weeks after her husband's death. This Thomas was an Ipswich proprietor in 1634, and a freeman on 2 June 1641. He and his sons carried on the tanyard at the foot of Summer Street for some sixty years. He was one of those who surveyed the land up the Merrimac River to whom the General Court voted payment on 6 June 1639. He, with son Thomas and others, signed the protest against the treatment of the King's Commissioners in Boston in 1666.
Nathaniel's first land deed of record in Newbury was in 1664. In 1670, he was chosen to lay out the road to the ferry in Amesbury. He was one of a committee of leading men of the town to divide the common lands among the freeholders, and forty-five acres were apportioned to him. He was usually addressed "Honorable" by his contemporaries. He was appointed naval officer for the ports of Newbury and Salisbury by the General Court in 1684. In 1685, he was an Ensign in Capt. Daniel Pierce's company at Rowley. He made out his will on 21 August 1690 in Newbury just a few days before he died at sea on the expedition to Quebec.
Nathaniel and his wife Elizabeth (Somerby) Clarke had eleven children, all born in Newbury, MA:
- Nathaniel, b. 5 Dec. 1664; d. 6 June 1665.
- Nathaniel (again), b. 13 March 1666; d. on the Canada expedition in Oct. 1690, just a few months after his father died; m. Elizabeth Toppan, daughter of Dr. Peter Toppan.
- Thomas, b. 9 Feb. 1668; d. 25 April 1722; m. (1) Sarah Noyes, daughter of Col. Thomas and Martha (Pierce) Noyes; m. (2) 17 Oct. 1705, Lydia Moody, daughter of Samuel and Mary (Cutting) Moody.
- John, b. 24 June 1670; m. Elizabeth Woodbridge, daughter of Rev. Benjamin Woodbridge.
- Henry, b. 5 July 1673; m. (1) Elizabeth Greenleaf; m. (2) Mary Pierce.
- Daniel, b. 16 Dec. 1675.
- Sarah, b. 12 Jan. 1678; m. Nicholas Gilman, son of John Gilman of Exeter, NH.
- Josiah, b. 7 May 1682; m. Sarah Woodwell.
- Elizabeth, b. 15 May 1684; m. (1) Dr. Robert Hale; m. (2) John Gilman.
- Judith, b. Jan. 1687; m. (1) Israel How; m. (2) Thomas Jenkins.
- Mary, b. 25 March 1689; died young.
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