Clark(e) DNA Project

This is a Clark(e) DNA project, specifically a Y-DNA project for direct male descendants of David Clark and/or James Clark.

The David Clark in question was born in 1757, and died in 1846, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. His wife was Mary McKee. She was a daughter of James McKee, of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. James Clark was born about 1721, likely in Ireland. He died in Mercersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on 1 May 1821. He married first, Nancy Reed; and second Esther [-?-] Rennick. I am a descendant of both David Clark and James Clark.

Background

Many trees on Ancestry.com state that this David Clark was a son of James Clark. This James Clark is often misidentified as Captain James Clark. No primary, direct evidence exists to support that James Clark had a son named David Clark. But many early documents with secondary information state James Clark’s son was David Clark, who married Hannah Baird, and died in 1821 in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

Part of this confusion seems to come from a letter written by my ggg-grandmother, Nancy Reed (Johnston) Imbrie. She wrote a letter that was published in a family history now available at Ancestry.com as “Genealogy of the Imbrie family of western Pennsylvania: descendants of James Imbrie, pioneer settler and his wife Euphemia,” (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/11773) > Appendix I > 149 of 199; citing”Dear Sir” [John L. Acheson, Allegheny City, Pennsylvania], from N.R.I. [Nancy Reed (Johnston) Imbrie], letter, dated 23 November 1905.

She stated that Lydia Acheson married her cousin William Clark. The statement could be neatly explained if William was a grandson of Nancy Reed and James Clark (if you’re familiar with this line and the Reed/Acheson connections, this will make sense).

Descendants of David Clark of Beaver County perpetuated the confusion in the 1920s and 1930s. A letter-writing campaign made claims that the only reason the descendants of David Clark of Washington County were claiming descent from James Clark was so they could join the Daughters and/or Sons of the American Revolution (based on the premise that James Clark was a Captain…which he wasn’t).

This research question is identifying the parents of David Clark, who is eight generations from me. James Clark is nine generations back. This is just outside the scope of what an autosomal DNA test can typically tell, especially when this family had confirmed endogamy.

Y-DNA Testing

My father is a direct male descendant of David Clark of Beaver County. He took the Big 700 Y-DNA test at Family Tree DNA. His haplogroup is R-BY113346, s subset of the most common in western Europe, R-M269. We are anxiously awaiting any significant matches.

We also joined the Clark(e) Group Project at Family Tree DNA (among several other subclade projects). In the Clark(e) Project of testers over 111 STRs, my Dad’s results fall squarely in a category of his own: “HAPLOGROUP R MULTI-GROUP SMALL KITS – Kits in this group match with kits in multiple different groups and need additional testing for proper placement.” There is no additional testing over the Big-700.

Interestingly, the most common surname in his Y-DNA matches is McLean or variants. It is very likely that David Clark, born 1757 and married Mary McKee, was a McLean…or at least one of his forefathers was.

I know other direct male descendants of David Clark. But, I have not been able to identify other living male descendants of James Clark. I wrote a proof argument that rules out David Clark (born 1757) being the son of James Clark, of Franklin County. But finding a descendant of James Clark to take a Y-DNA test could confirm or disprove my argument.

If you are a direct male descendant of James Clark, who died in Mercersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, 1 May 1821, please contact me!

More about my Clark(e) family