Early accounts of Clarissa are unknown. Clarissa married Newell Francis Bullen on Nov 2, 1836 in Mercer, Maine. They went on to have six children, with three living to adulthood: Herschel Bullen, John Joseph Bullen, and Newell Bullen.

Sometime in the 1840's the Bullen family was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were baptized Feb 4, 1846. Travel to Nauvoo, Illinois was futile as Church President Brigham Young called the Saints to move to the Rocky Mountains. The Bullen family decided to take a ship to take them to California.

The Bullen family joined the Mormon Emigrant Ship Brooklyn, traveling from New York City, New York, to San Francisco, California. This was time before the Panama Canal, so the ship had to travel as far south to the end of South America, then wrapping around to said to California. They joined the Ebenezer Brown Company in California, reaching the Salt Lake Valley Oct 10, 1848.

After the family moved to the Salt Lake Valley, they lived in the Sixth Ward up until the death of Newell in 1858. In 1861, Herschel went to Cache Valley to settle in Richmond. The following year, Clarissa moved to Richmond.