Family tradition says that the Clarke name (at least in our family) was originally from Normandy, France, and the name at one time was De Clarke. From there the family immigrated to Aberdeen, Scotland in the 1600s and then to Berwick-Upon-Tweed, England around 1700 and to Stansiford, England. While living in England the family intermarried with the noble family of Robert the Bruce.

I am deeply indebted to my wife's great-aunt, Grace (Henry) Mary, for writing down many of her own memories of the Clarke and Henry families in Kansas and elsewhere. She compiled this information into a mimeographed paper, a copy of which was supplied by a dear, dear cousin, Virginia (Henry) Cox, of Westville, Oklahoma.

Virginia is more like an aunt or grandmother to my wife, than a cousin. In all actuality, she is my mother-in-law's first cousin. However, both Virginia's parents (her father's name was Clarke Henry) died in the dreaded flu epidemic of 1918. Virginia was orphaned at less than a year of age, and then was raised by her grandparents, Robert Archie Henry, Sr. and Mary Rosetta Clarke, and later lived with my mother-in-law's family, being like an older sister to her. Without Aunt Grace's knowledge of the family, we would have known very little about the Clarke family.

In March of 1999 I had the thrill of hearing from a 2nd cousin whom we'd never heard of. He has supplied us with many, many missing links in the Clarke family history and has taken the lineage back into England and beyond. THANK YOU! to Karl Ahlgren, our new-found cousin at Richland Hills, Texas, for all your assistance on the Clarke family!!!!--Glenn Gohr.

Another interesting sidebar is that when I was growing up in Wichita Falls, Texas, there was a neighbor a few streets over by the name of Helen Beck Clarke. I remember her mother's name was Mrs. I. E. Beck. The mother died sometime in the late 1970s. Helen Beck Clarke was an only child. She was married at one time to a Mr. Clarke, but she never had any children. I'd be interested in finding out what her husband's name was and also what ever became of Mrs. Clarke. She might still be living.

Here is my wife's CLARKE lineage as far as I've found out so far:

1. John CLARKE
2. William CLARKE, b. 1762 Ripon, Yorkshire, England, d. 1814 Ripon, Yorkshire, England (age 52); md. Mary BRUCE (reported to be a direct descendant of the famed Robert the Bruce of Scotland), d. 1826 Ripon, Yorkshire, England
3. George CLARKE, b. 20 Sept. 1802 Ripon, Yorkshire, England, d. 8 March 1852 Cleveland, OH; md. 2nd, in 1830 at Ripon, Yorkshire, England, Mary BARLOW, b. 17 Jan. 1804 England, d. 22 Nov. 1853 (She came to America in 1853 and died shortly after arriving)
4. Rev. George Henry CLARKE, Sr. (Baptist preacher in the Civil War), b. 7 Nov. 1844 London, England, d. 30 June 1917 Oakland, Shawnee Co., KS; md. 12 Dec. 1866 Ft. Wayne, IN to Eliza Jane CRAWFORD, b. 5 March 1844 Conshohocken, Montgomery Co., PA, d. 11 Feb. 1920 Ellsworth, KS
5. Mary Rosetta CLARKE, b. 17 Feb. 1873 Walnut Grove, IN, d. 1 June 1960 Pasadena, CA; md. 17 Oct. 1892 Fairview, KS to Robert Archie HENRY, Sr., b. 10 July 1872 Sabetha, KS, d. 26 July 1947 San Fernando Valley, CA
6. Robert Archie HENRY, Jr., b. 26 Aug. 1902 Cycles, OK, d. 10 June 1944 Los Angeles, CA; md. 22 Aug. 1928 to Bonnie Ruth CALLICO, b. 5 Aug. 1905 Drake's Creek, Madison Co., AR, d. 1 Dec. 1968 San Bernardino, CA (both buried at Mountain View Cemetery, San Bernardino, CA) *These are my wife's grandparents.