PHILIP F. CLARKSON
Born: 17 March 1782 (possibly in NY)
Died: 5 August 1830 Ovid, Seneca Co., NY
Buried: McNeil Cemetery, Ovid, Seneca Co., NY
Philip's Grave Marker at McNeil Cemetery in Ovid, NY says he died Aug. 5, 1830 aged 47 years, 7 months, 12 days. If correct that would mean that he was born Dec. 24, 1782 however his son Abraham recorded in his family Bible that Philip was born on Mar. 17, 1782 . Grandson L. Herbert Clarkson also used the date 17 March 1782 as Philips birth.
Clarkson Family Bible: “Philip Clarkson was born 1782 March the 17
Sarah Clarkson was born 1791 June the 21
Jane Seabring was born 1792 May the 1
Abraham Clarkson was born 1815 January th 22
David Clarkson was born 1817 March the 13....”
Philip’s sons were very young when their biological mother (Sarah Powelson Clarkson) died in 1824 and still quite young when thier father Philip died in 1830 (ranging from 8 to 15 years) so they may not have had a lot of knowledge about their father’s early life, however, Philip's son David listed his father's birth as "England" on the 1880 Wayne Co., MI Census. What did Peter say in 1880 or 1900? Abraham had died in 1866 and I have not found 1880 or later census for Isaac.
It has been generally assumed (because of Philip's Dutch name, his marriage to a Dutch family and the baptisms of his children at the 1st Reformed Dutch Church) that he is likely a descendant of Matthew CLARKSON who came from England in the 17th century. If this is so, Philip was likely born in NY or perhaps NJ. Hopefully future documentation will clear this up.
I believe, but have not been able to prove/disprove, it is probable that Philip was named Philp French Clarkson and he was a grandson of David Clarkson Jr. (1726-1782) & Elizabeth (French) Clarkson. Elizabeth (French) Clarkson’s father, Philip French, died in 1782 - the year that Philip F. Clarkson was born. Philip F. Clarkson was first known to be living in Somerville, New Jersey on the Raritan River on land that had once been owned by Philp French and who was responsible for the land being opend to development.
1790 U.S. Federal Census: New York [None in New Jersey]
David M. Clarkson 1 – 5 - -
Elizabeth Clarkson 4 1 4 - -
Joshua Clarkson 1 1 3 - -
1800 U.S. Federal Census: New York
David M. Clarkson, 103B:3, New York County
Joshua Clarkson, 012:1, Dutchess County
Mathew Clarkson, 16B:3, New York County
Mathew Clarkson, 26A:3, New York County
Statfield Clarkson, 20B:3, New York County
Truman Clarkson, 51B:3, New York County
1800 U.S. Federal Census: New Jersey [need to add]
1808 --Philip F. Clarkson listed on NJ Tax list at Bridgewater Twp., Somerset Co. [This is the oldest record relating to Philip Clarkson that I have found to date]
1810 U.S. Federal Census: [need to add]
Philip married Sarah Powelson in 1813 at Somerville, Somerset Co., NJ. Their son Abraham recorded their marriage as November 20 but the Somerset Quarterly published the date as November 22.
Somerset County Historical Quarterly, Vol. 2, p.53: “CLARKSON, Philip and Sarah POWELSON, Nov 20, 1813.”
Philip and Sarah's first three children (Abraham, David and Isaac) were all baptised in the 1st Reformed Dutch Church of Raritan (Somerville), in Somerset County, New Jersey in 1815, 1817 and 1819. In each case, their father Philip Clarkson is listed as unbaptised. (Somerset County Historical Quarterly, Vol. 5)
Somerset County Historical Quarterly, Vol.5, – First Reformed Church, Raritan (Somerville) Baptisms p.148 - 1815 – June 4 – CLARKSON, Philip (unbap.) and Sarah POWELSON – Abraham.
p.150 – 1817 – June 1 – CLARKSON, P. (unbap.) and Sarah Powelson -- Davie
p.229 – 1819 – June 5 – CLARKSON, Phillip (unbap.) and Sarah Powelson – Isaac Voorhees.
The family moved from New Jersey to New York settling in Seneca County at Ovid about 1820. I do not know of any land records of Philip owning land in Seneca County.
1820 U.S. Federal Census:
Sarah Powelson Clarkson died March 12, 1824 in Ovid and was buried at McNeil Cemetery, Ovid, Seneca Co., NY
Philip married his second wife, Jane SEBRING, on December 25, 1824 at Ovid, Seneca Co., NY. (Jane had been born on May 1, 1792 and was the daughter of Cornelius SEBRING & Femmette SEBRING.)
1830 U.S. Federal Census:
Philip Clarkson died August 5, 1830 at Ovid. Jane Sebring Clarkson filed a petition for letters of Administration of the estate of Philip Clarkson on Sept. 30, 1830. She noted herself and 6 unnamed children in the petition. No guardianship records were filed. Inventory of Philip’s estate lists a set of Joinery tools as most valuable possession therefore he may have been a Joiner/Carpenter.
Somerset County Historical Quarterly, Vol. 1, p.158, year 1912 “[8]. CLARKSON.—“My father, David Clarkson, was a son of Philip Clarkson, b. Mar. 17, 1782; d. Aug. 5, 1830. He seems to have lived in New Jersey at one time, as he married Sarah Powelson (dau. of Abraham Powelson and Lamache Messler) on Nov. 20, 1813, and they had four sons born at Pluckemin. Philip marrid, for his second wife, Jane Sebring, dau. of John I. Sebring. They had three children. I believe a Garret Van Doren, of Lodi, N.Y., married Ariana Sebring for his first, and Jane Sebring Clarkson for his second wife. I desire information concerning the ancestry of Sarah Powelson and Philip Clarkson. Who were the parents of Philip Clarkson? I believe he was a descendant of Matthew Clarkson of Colonial times. L.H.C.” [Lucius ‘Herbert’ Clarkson]
[The Sarah Powelson ancestry is clearly enough stated by Mr. John A. Powelson, of Pluckemin, in an artickle in the work on "The Van Doorn Family," p. 718. She was the daughter of Johannes Powelson and Harmpje Messler, first of near Harlingen, and then of near Pluckemin. Johannes was the son of Jacob Hendrick Powelson, first of Long Island and then of Somerset county. Jacob's father was, doubtless, a Hendrick whose father was believed to be Nicholas, the emigrant, who arrived 1657 from Ditmarsen, Holland. Of the Clarksson family we have no information. The Messler (originally Metzelaer) family descends from Jan Adamsen Metzelaer, of Worms, Germany, born in 1626, and the descent to Harmpje is fully traced on pp. 624 and 674 of "Joannes Nevius and His Descendants," published in 1900-EDITOR QUARTERLY].
Somerset County Historical Quarterly, Vol. 2, p.236, 1913 [36]. CLARKSON-SEBRING (8).—“I notice in the Quarterly (Vol. 1, page 158), an inquiry by ‘L. H. C.’ in regard to the wife of Philip Clarkson, in which he states that Clarkson married, as his second wife, Jane Sebring, daughter of John I. Sebring, and that after his death she was the second wife of Garret Van Doren, of Lodi, N. Y. I have before me a copy from his Bible of the family record of John I. Sebring, formerly of Pluckemin, and later a much-respected citizen of Ovid, N. Y., one of the founders and for many years an elder of the Reformed Church of Lodi. From this record I learn that his daughter, Jane, married, not Philip Clarkson, but James Brooks, of Ovid, and that Garret Van Doren married, as his second wife, the widow of Philip Clarkson, who had a son named Sebring Clarkson, but she was not a daughter of John I. Sebring, as “L. H. C.” supposes.” M.S.
[By reference to the “Van Doorn Family” Genealogy, p. 282, it will be observed that it says the second wife of Garret Van Doren was “Jane Clarkson, widow,” and that he married her July 27, 1834.—Editor Quarterly.]
Judy Wood’s “Clarkson Family History” c.1969 has no real information on the family prior to Philip’s death.
ISSUE:
Abraham P., Clarkson (1815-1866)
David Clarkson (1817-1880)
Isaac Vorhees Clarkson (1819-after 1880 census)
Peter Phineas Clarkson (1821-1907)
Name: David CLARKSON
Birth: 13 Mar 1817 Pluckemin/Somerville, Somerset Co., NJ
Death: 20 Aug 1880 Northville, Wayne Co., MI
Burial: Northville Cemetery, Northville, Wayne Co., MI
Occupation: Miller, Farmer, Historian
Father: Philip F. CLARKSON (1782-1830)
Mother: Sarah POWELSON (1791-1824)
Misc. Notes
David CLARKSON was born March 13, 1817 at Somerville, Somerset County, New Jersey, the second son of Philip CLARKSON and Sarah Powelson. He was baptized at the First Reformed Dutch Church of Somerville June 1, 1817. At the age of 3, David's father removed the family to Ovid, Seneca Co., New York where David's mother died March 12th 1824, the day before David’s 7th birthday. David's father remarried December 25, 1824 to Jane Sebring. When David was 13 years old his father died. In the Spring of the following year, 1831, David left his five siblings and step-mother and journeyed to Michigan with Capt. William Dunlap and party. William and Sarah Dunlap, having adopted David, took him along to raise and as an additional laborer to help clear the wilderness. They traveled across New York State to Buffalo on the Erie Canal aboard the canal boat "Shark" and across Lake Erie on the steam boat "New York" arriving at Detroit, a town then of about 2,000 inhabitants, May 18, 1831. [5]. [7] William Dunlap settled on 160 acres where the town of Northville was yet to be built. In the decades to come, David labored at many jobs such as clearing land and building cabins and later houses, hauling goods by ox-team to and from Detroit, grinding grain at the local grist mill and farming. For the remainder of his life he resided in the community he helped to build and as a member of the State Pioneer Society [1] would later write several historical sketches for the "Northville Record" telling of those early days in Northville and the Pioneers who settled there. On the 3rd of January 1844 David was married to Sarah Ann Bradley (the daughter of Northville Pioneers Harvey Stone Bradley and Maria Rose); David and Sarah had seven children, all born in Northville. David died at Northville August 20th, 1880 of bloody dysentery [3] and was buried at the Cady Street Cemetery. His wife Sarah later moved to Independence, Kansas to live with her daughter Emma. Sarah died at Independence, Kansas October 22, 1903 and was brought home to Northville and buried beside her husband.
New Jersey Records [in Clarkson folder]
Somerset County Historical Quarterly, Vol.5, p.150 – First Reformed Church, Raritan (Somerville) Baptisms
1817 – June 1 – CLARKSON, P. (unbap.) and Sarah Powelson -- David
Somerset County Historical Quarterly, Vol. 1, p.158, year 1912
“[8]. CLARKSON.—“My father, David Clarkson, was a son of Philip Clarkson, b. Mar. 17, 1782; d. Aug. 5, 1830. He seems to have lived in New Jersey at one time, as he married Sarah Powelson (dau. of Abraham Powelson and Lamache Messler) on Nov. 20, 1813....L.H.C.” [Lucius ‘Herbert’ Clarkson]
Clarkson Family Bible:
“Philip Clarkson was born 1782 March the 17
Sarah Clarkson was born 1791 June the 21
Jane Seabring was born 1792 May the 1
Abraham Clarkson was born 1815 January th 22
David Clarkson was born 1817 March the 13....”
1820 U.S. Federal Census:
1830 U.S. Federal Census:
Biography of Capt. William Dunlap: “....they remained at Ovid until 1831, when they started on their journey to Michigan. Three weeks’ time were consumed before reaching their future home, ten days of which were spent in crossing Lake Erie, and three in getting with ox teams to where the flourishing village of Northville is now located, where he had purchased the farm extending to the base line and lying north of the main streets, and the grist mill formerly owned by John Miller, who had taken up the land from the Government. He was the first to erect and occupy a frame dwelling within the present limits of the village of Northville, he and Daniel Lovejoy Cady laying it out and platting it....Pior to leaving Ovid, Seneca county, N. Y., Captian Dunlap and his wife, received into their family under articles of adoption, David Clarkston. [sic.] He subsequently became a wealthy and enterprising citizen of that portion of Wayne county....” [complete article in Clarkson folder]
“....David Clarkson was a lad of 14 when....” [complete article in Clarkson folder]
Children
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1 M: Charles ‘Eugene’ CLARKSON
Birth: 21 Dec 1844 Northville, Wayne Co., MI
Death: 13 Dec 1919 Northville, Wayne Co., MI
Spouse: Eveline Manning ‘Eva’ NASH
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2 F: Florence R. Janet ‘Flora’ CLARKSON
Birth: 24 Apr 1846 Northville, Wayne Co., MI
Death: 15 Dec 1874 Chesaning, Saginaw Co., MI
Spouse: Joseph Warren MANNING
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3 F: Emma Maria CLARKSON
Birth: 14 Sep 1848 Northville, Wayne Co., M
Death: 1902 Indepenpendence, Montgomery Co., KS
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4 F: Frances Louisa CLARKSON
Birth: 13 Oct 1850 Northville, Wayne Co., MI
Death: 7 Feb 1864 Northville, Wayne Co., MI
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5 F: Helen Josephine CLARKSON
Birth: 21 Sep 1853 Northville, Wayne Co., MI
Death: aft 1932 Probably Independence, Montgomery Co., KS
Spouse: Philip SHOEMAKER
Spouse: George L. BANKS
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6 F: Lottie Annabel CLARKSON
Birth: 14 Sep 1856 Northville, Wayne Co., MI
Death: Feb 1864 Northville, Wayne Co., MI
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7 M: Lucius 'Herbert' CLARKSON
Birth: 1 May 1859 Northville, Wayne Co., MI
Death: 31 Aug 1935 Elgin, Kane Co., IL
Spouse: Cora B. WOOD
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8 M: Willard Rosecrans CLARKSON
Birth: 12 Feb 1863 Northville, Wayne Co., MI
Death: 1872 Northville, Wayne Co., MI