Why Abraham John?

A Clark Genealogical History

My Clark paternal line is that of Viking blood according to y-dna testing. At some point one of my paternal ancestors made his way to England, where his descendants not only adopted the Clarke surname, but y-dna testing also suggests the surnames of Hall, Poorman, Tindell, Fitzsimmons, and Chisholm. In addition, close y-dna matches have been made to families in what is now Finland.

The first paternal ancestor I have information on is Abraham Clarke, born in 1745 in North Carolina. (Sometime around 1800 the “e” was dropped from the surname.) He was a landowner in Rutherford County and a member of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church.

His son, Abraham Clark II was born in 1770, and served as a drummer (1780-81) during the American Revolution.

His son, Abraham Clark III was born in 1798. The family then moved west, first to the Nashville, Tennessee area, then to other areas, most notably Kentucky and Illinois. Abraham II eventually ended up in Iowa. Present day Kentucky has the highest percentage of the Clark surname of any state. What percentage of those are descendants of Abraham I is not known, but I have matched exactly on the y-dna test with another Clark family in Kentucky that also is a direct descendant of him.

Abraham III had a son John, born in 1840. John fought as a Union soldier for Illinois during the Civil War of 1861-1865. John lived most of his life as a farmer in Illinois but spent a short time in Arkansas. He had a son, John II by his first wife (she died young) in 1871.

John Clark II, who worked as a plumber, had a son, Fred Clark I, in Carbondale, Illinois, in 1916. Fred I traveled around the country in varying jobs. He lived for a short time in Louisiana and Missouri but spent over 30 years in Florida.

My father is Fred Clark II, a Navy veteran of 35 years, born 1938 in East St. Louis, Illinois and a resident of Collinsville, Illinois.

I am Fred Clark III, born 1963 in East St. Louis, Illinois. I lived most of my life in Collinsville, Illinois, but now live in Houma, Louisiana. I am a graduate of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. My wife is the former Lauren Lottinger.

My sons are Fred Clark IV, born in 2006, and Abraham John Clark (Abraham IV), born in 2008. Both were born in Houma, Louisiana.

In addition I have 4 daughters: Stefanie, born 1986 in Maryville, Illinois (during my first marriage), Colette, born 2000 in Metairie, Louisiana, Bernadette, born 2002, and Bridget, born 2003, both in Houma, Louisiana.


Abraham I, 1745-1810
Abraham II, 1770-1850
Abraham III, 1798-1859
John I, 1840-1916
John II, 1871-1951
Fred I, 1916-2001
Fred II, 1938-
Fred III, 1963-
Fred IV, 2006- and Abraham IV, 2008-