Saturday, April 28, 2012

John Lamb Clark



John Lamb Clarke (or Clark) has two gravestones, one in New Jersey's Rahway Cemetery where his wife, Mary Brown, lies buried and one in the Church Grounds of the Albany Rural Cemetery. 

 Born in New Jersey in 1786, Clarke evidently moved to Albany some time after his 1806 marriage to Mary as census records show him as a resident of the city by 1810. Clarke evidently maintained strong ties to his native state as he served as a captain with the New Jersey Militia during the War of 1812. 

He died in Albany at the age of thirty-four and was buried in the tiny Garretson Station Methodist Episcopal churchyard. His grave was moved from its original resting place at Garreston Station (just south of Albany) to the State Street Burying Grounds and was included in the Common Council's 1866 inventory of graves to be moved to the Rural Cemetery. His widow Mary returned to New Jersey with their children. She died in 1869 and was buried at the Rahway Cemetery. Some years after her death, a small marble stone in honor of Captain Clarke was placed beside her headstone, though his actual resting place is in the Church Grounds. 

The inscription on his now weathered and broken headstone reads:

In memory of John Lamb Clarke
who departed this life
March 18, 1820
in the 34th year of his age.

Come unto Me all ye who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest

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