William Stark

BIRTH 22 Feb 1745 Groton, New London County, Connecticut, USA
DEATH 1795 (aged 49–50) Goshen, Orange County, New York, USA
BURIAL Burial Details Unknown
MEMORIAL ID 98716714

Biography

William Stark, son of Christopher and Mary "Polly" Cary Stark. While he was in his teens his father had gone to Pauling, New York. William was married at an early age, probably 1762, to Mary - commonly called "Polly" Cary. In 1773 he joined the settlement of Connecticut colonists in Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania. This beautiful valley on the Susquehanna was purchased from the Six Nations in 1754 by an association formed in Connecticut called the Connecticut Susquehanna Company. They attempted settlement in 1762, eight years later, but were dispersed next year by the Indians.

In 1769 a body of forty Connecicut pioneers was again sent there by the Company. These succeeded in establishing themselves after difficulties with the Indians and with Pennsylvania settlers to whom the Indians had also sold the land. They built a fort or stockhouse called, from the number of colonists, "Forty Fort."  The Valley being very fertile, the settlement grew rapidly in the next few years, although at that time no one realized the value of the enormous deposits of anthracite coal in the surrounding mountains.

With the outbreak of the Revolution Indian troubles began again, and on July 3, 1778, occurred the historical Wyoming Valley Massacre, when a force of 1100 Indians and British attacked the settlement. There were but 300 men of all ages left in the colony, many of the best men being away in the army or having fallen in battle. These fought a desperate battle, but two thirds of their number fell or were taken prisoner. Many prisoners were tortured and killed on the evening of the battle. Queen Esther, a half breed Indian woman, to avenge the death of her son, with her own hands tomahawked fourteen near a rock which still bears her name. On the 5th the survivors in the block house surrendered. Those who escaped the barbarities of the Indians nearly all fled from the Valley. [2]

William Stark fought in this battle known as the Wyoming Massacre, and his family was in the blockhouse. His brother Aaron was killed by the Indians. Another young Cary taken prisoner, submitted to the tortures so bravely and with such indifference to pain, that he was spared death and taken with the Indians to Canada, where he lived as one of them. After six years he made his escape.

William Stark owned a large tract of land - some 600 acres, in the Valley, including an island in the Susquehanna river. This he in time traded for property at Newark, New Jersey. The title proving defective, he lost this. After losing his property, he moved to Goshen, Orange County, New York, near the New York and New Jersey line. Here he filled a position in the Recorder's office. A man of comparative wealth in his younger days, he must in old age work for a living.

William Stark and Polly Cary raised a family of ten children, who lived to an average age of 81 years, a record which few families can equal. Daughters Lucy and Mary, were born in 1768 and 1772, at Paulings, New York, before he located in Wyoming Valley. William and his wife Mary (or Polly) both died at Goshen the same year, 1795. [4]

Summary

William Stark was doubtless born in Groton, Connecticut. He married Polly Carey of Dutchess County, New York. At the time of the Wyoming massacre the family was living just across the river on what is known as the Searle Flats. On the night of the massacre this family made their way to the Wilkes-Barre fort. That same night about one hundred of them, men, women and children, started for the Delaware River, and finally they found their way back to their old home in Dutchess County. They remained in New York State for some years, but in 1788 they were back again living on the old farm on Searle Flats, where they remained for ten years or more, going from thence to New Jersey, after which they moved either to Chester or Orange County in the State of New York. They both died there about 1795 and are buried at Goshen, New York. At Pawlings Precinct in that county, May 20, 1773, he deeded two hundred acres of land (one-half his holdings) in the Connecticut Company's Purchase in the Wyoming Valley to Henry Carey. [3]

Parents
Christopher Stark 1698–1778
Johanna Phoebe Walworth Stark 1699–1778

Spouse
Mary Cary Stark 1745–1795

Children
Nathan Stark 1763–1837
Lucy Stark Fancher 1768–1848
Mary Elizabeth Lee Stark Clark 1772–1859

References

[1] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/98716714/william-stark

Sources

[2] Wyoming Valley in Encyclopedia and Campbell's poem "Gertrude of Wyoming.")

[3]"The Aaron Stark Family: seven generations of the descendants of Aaron Stark of Groton, Connecticut"

[4] "A Brief Family History and Some Family Heirlooms" compiled by Rollo S. Clark in the year 1916.
Additional material brought up to date - 1954 - by Lucy Clark Brown. Courtesy of Mary Beth Brown Milford, Oct 12, 2012.

[5] A Patriot of the American Revolution for PENNSYLVANIA. DAR Ancestor #: A108986