Gilbert Clark

Gilbert Clark was born on 12 January 1791 in South Carolina. His parents were Benjamin and Mary Ann McClendon Clark. He moved with his parents from South Carolina to Tennessee as a young boy. Gilbert Clark married Mary Ann Ward on 11 October 1811 in Tennessee. The couple soon migrated on to the Arkansas Territory with the rest of his Clark family. Gilbert was a circuit-riding Methodist preacher in those times. He rode the Ebenezer Prairie Circuit. The couple had eight children named Nancy White, David, Rebecca D., Benjamin T., Thomas Carr, James Perry, John Luke, and Casandra (Cassie) Clark. Gilbert Clark followed his brother, James, and moved on to the Red River District of Texas. He is said to have worked alongside his brother to establish the town of Clarksville, Texas. He worked on building the first courthouse there. While living in Red River County, Gilbert was appointed the Fourth Chief Justice of Red River County from 1841-1842. Gilbert and Mary Ann Ward Clark moved on to Hopkins County, Texas by 1850. There he lost his wife to pneumonia in 1852. Gilbert Clark then married Elizabeth Rogers Moore on 28 April 1853 in Hopkins County, Texas. Gilbert Clark died on 16 September 1854 in Hopkins County. He would have been sixty-three years of age. He was buried in the McFall Cemetery at Nelta, Hopkins County, Texas.