ANCESTORS OF WILLIAM CLARKE--FATHER

1. Samuell1 Clarke He married Joan Quick 1705 in Clyst Honiton, Devon, England, daughter of Thomas Quick. She was born 1684 in Broad Clyst, Devon, England.

2.Samuell2Clarke was born 1711 in Clyst Honiton, Devon, England. He married Mary.

3. Richard3 Clarke (Samuell2, Samuell1) was born 1736 in Clyst Honiton, Devon, England, and died 1820 in Clyst Honiton, Devon, England. He married Grace Edmunds 1756 in Colyton Raleigh, Devon, England. She was born in England, and died Bef. 1813 in England.

4. Joseph4 Clarke (Richard3, Samuell2, Samuell1) was born 1778 in Clyst Honiton, Devon, England, and died 1825 in Clyst St Mary, Devon, England. He married Jane Easton 1800 in Clyst St. Mary, Devon, Enlgand, daughter of William Easton and Jane Skinner. She was born 1774 in Broad Clyst, Devon, England, and died 1840 in St Thomas District, Devon, England.

Joseph was a shoemaker. the children were William, James, John, Charles, Richard, Phillip and Caroline Louisa. Caroline is living with her uncle, John, in 1841 and on the 1851 census she is in the Lambert Workhouse in Surrey--listed as a dressmaker.

5. William5 Clarke (Joseph4, Richard3, Samuell2, Samuell1) was born Abt. 1801 in Sowton, Devonshire, England, and died in Probably Toronto, Canada. He married Anne Marshall 1829 in St Marleybone, London, England, daughter of John Marshall and Isabella Shadoway. She was born 1801 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and died in Ontario, Canada. in 1885. Anne probably came to England as a servant. William married Anne in London in 1829. In 1832 the Clyst St. Mary's parish register recorded the baptism of daughter, Isabella. They family was living in Sowton and William's occupation was servant. He was probably employed at Winslade House where his Uncle John was bailiff. The Heavitree parish register included 2 additional children for William and Anne--William born 1834, died 1835 and Matilda born 1837, died 1841. Daughter, Mary Anne, was born in 1841 and married John Wright in Toronto.

Another daughter, Isabella, was born in 1832 in Devon. William was servant at the time and lived in Sowton. Isabella was married in 1849 in London to George John Burd. The family remained in England.

On Caroline's birth registration his occupation is shown as Tavern keeper at the Royal Oak Inn, Heavitree. This was also their residence. On the 1841 UK Census William, Anne and Caroline were still living on Fore Street in Heavitree. His occupation was proprietor.

Research from the records office in Devon provides the following information:

In December 1832 there were no entries under William CLARKE and the Royal Oak In May 1832 William DYMOND was occupier, Hooper & Co owners of the Royal Oak It would therefore seem that the Royal Oak changed ownership between 1832 and 1833, with William CLARKE arriving as the new tenant. In April 1833 William CLARKE was occupier, Mr HOWARD owner of the Royal Oak. In May 1834 William CLARKE was occupier, Mr HOWARD owner of the Royal Oak [PO12]. William son of William& Anne CLARKE of Heavitree, victualler, 16 November 1834. 1835 there was an entry for Wm CLARK [sic], Royal Oak PH, & fly sender, Heavitree

In August 1837 William CLARKE was occupier, John HOWARD senior owner of the Royal Oak [PO17]. Matilda daughter of William & Anne CLARKE of Heavitree, chaise driver, 22 February 1837

February 1839 William CLARKE was occupier, John HOWARD senior owner of the Royal Oak [PO21].

Mary Anne daughter of William & Ann CLARKE of Heavitree, post hire keeper, 29 August 1841—fly man Civil Registration

Elizabeth HOWARD recorded as the owner of the buildings occupying plot 284, and William CLARKE recorded as the occupier. It would therefore seem that in 1842 William was a tenant.

1843 William CLARKE, abode Heavitree, was qualified to vote by being owner or occupier of a house in the town. In 1844 he was recorded as William CLARK. Appears in Pigot’s as Clarke—Royal Oak. There was no entry for him in 1845.

The family had returned to London by 1847, probably as a result of the railways making coach drivers and taverns less needed. On daughter, Isabella's, marriage record in 1849 he appears as a coffee house keeper in London. In 1850 London Directory he is in Leiciester Square and 1848 at 1 Strand Lane with coffee rooms. The family appears in the 1851 UK census in London in Lambeth on Burdett St. William's occupation was publican.

They would have come to Toronto, ON in 1856 when Caroline was 17. A William Clarke, working as a bookkeeper for Fulton and Michie, resided on Park Lane through 1860. In 1862, Ann Clark, widow of William, appears as a dressmaker on Elizabeth St. This is very near where her daughter Mary Anne Wright lived.

6. Caroline M.6 Clarke (William5, Joseph4, Richard3, Samuell2, Samuell1) was born 1839 in England (Heavitree, Exeter, Devonshire), and died 1908 in Chicago, IL. She married William Henry Thomas 07 Jul 1858 in Anglican Cathedral, Toronto, Canada, son of Benjamin Thomas and Mary Hayward. He was born 1829 in Canada (Brighton, Carleton, New Brunswick), and died 1914 in Chicago, IL.

Caroline was born in 1839 when her father was innkeeper of the Royal Oak Tavern in Heavitree, Devon, England. Her parents had met and married in London when her father was a servant. Twin girls were born to them there in 1830 when they lived on Upper Ogle Street in Marylebone. In 1831-32 there was a cholera epidemic in London, which may have been the reason the little girls died in 1831. By 1832, William was a servant in Sowton, Devon and in 1835 a tarven keeper in Heavitree. About 1846 the family returned to London; this time to Surrey. William appears in public documents as a coffee room keeper and a publican. In 1856 the family immigrated to Toronto Canada where in 1858 Caroline married William Henry Thomas, descendant of loyalists who fled from the colonies to New Brunswick during the American Revolution. Her father appears to have become a bookkeeper for Fulton and Miche. He died about 1862. Her mother lived in Toronto with Caroline’s sister, Mary Ann Wright, from sometime after until in death in 1885. About 1876 Caroline and William Thomas moved to Chicago, Illinois where William became a very prosperous real estate developer. At one time he owned the tallest building in Chicago. She died in Chicago in 1908.

William Clarke & Ann Marshall--From Dickens' London to Toronto in 1850's