Brief Life History of William
When William Clark was christened on 17 March 1805, in Lezayre, Isle of Man, his father, Peter John Clark, was 26 and his mother, Mary Crellin, was 28.
Photos and Memories (1)
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Family Time Line
Sources (4)
- William Clark, "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975"
- William Clark, "Isle of Man Parish Registers, 1598-2009"
- William Clark, "Isle of Man Births and Baptisms, 1607-1910"
Parents and Siblings
Siblings (10)
+5 More Children
World Events (3)
1821
Census gave Island population of 40,081.
1825
Potato riots caused by imposition of tithes.
1863
Douglas becomes the capital of the Isle of Man, after its parliament. Tynwald moved their chambers from Castletown.
Name Meaning
English: from Middle English clerk, clark ‘clerk, cleric, writer’ (Old French clerc; see Clerc ). The original sense was ‘man in a religious order, cleric, clergyman’. As all writing and secretarial work in medieval Christian Europe was normally done by members of the clergy, the term clerk came to mean ‘scholar, secretary, recorder, or penman’ as well as ‘cleric’. As a surname, it was particularly common for one who had taken only minor holy orders. In medieval Christian Europe, clergy in minor orders were permitted to marry and so found families; thus the surname could become established.
Irish (Westmeath, Mayo): in Ireland the English surname was frequently adopted, partly by translation for Ó Cléirigh; see Cleary .
Americanized form of Dutch De Klerk or Flemish De Clerck or of variants of these names, and possibly also of French Clerc . Compare Clerk 2 and De Clark .
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
Possible Related Names
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