Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Isaac Sturges, brother of Miss Sturges, was born at Wilton and there educated, attending the school of Hawley Olmstead. Later he studied law in Norwalk, Conn., and was admitted to the Bar in 1837. For some time he practiced his profession at Newtown, later removing to Bridge- port, where he followed . his profession some thirty years. He became a very prominent man in his profession, and enjoyed the confidence of all who knew him. ' Aaron Sturges, the other brother, was always .a farmer. He died suddenly August 7, 1856, at at the age of forty-seven years. Tradition tells ,of his remarkable memory. Angeline, the twin sister of Catharine Sturges, was a most generous, .unselfish woman, possessed of high practical ability, and was much esteemed and beloved by all who knew her best. WESLEY L. CLARK, secretary and treas- urer of the Derby Silver Company, was born October 24, 1857, and is a son of Joseph M. Clark, whose sketch is embodied herein. In the Derby or East Side public school he received a good academic education, and after leaving school entered the Derby post office as clerk, re- maining there ten years, acting as clerk, how- ever, only during the first year, the other nine years being assistant postmaster. This period of ten years ended September i, 1882, and he was then employed as bookkeeper for the Derby Sil- ver Company, which position he retained until he was elected secretary and treasurer of the company, at its annual meeting in 1889, and ihis position he has filled ever since. Mr. Clark has been successful in whatever he has undertaken, and is one of the prominent younger business men of the town. He is a member of Ousa- tonic Lodge, No. 6, I. O. O. F., of Derby, and of the Derby and Shelton Board of Trade. As a Republican, Mr. Clark has always been interested in the success of the party, and while not a mem- ber of any Church, yet contributes toward the support of and attends the Congregational Church of Shelton. He is secretary and treasurer of the South End Land Company, director in the Shel- ton Savings Bank, and in the Shelton Building and Loan Institution. Mr. Clark was married, in 1879, to Ida M. Rockwell, daughter of Lorenzo Rockwell, of Derby, Conn., and has two sons, viz.: Walter R. and Earnest W. Besides Wesley L. , Joseph M. Clark and wife had the following children: Howard E., born August 21, 1859, now a pattern-maker of Mid- dletown, Conn.; Myrtle M., born August 21, 1861, married to Noyes D. Baldwin, a livery- man of Derby, Conn.; Joseph L. , born in 1864, now a burnisher in the Derby Silver Company's factory; and Bessie S., born in the year 1875, living at home. Joseph M. Clark was a joiner by trade, and was in the employ of the Derby Lumber Company from the time he learne^i^ his trade until July, 1896, a period of forty-five years. While not actively engaged in political affairs, yet he has always sympathized with and aided the Republican party, in his own quiet way. He is an attendant of the Congregational Church, and an excellent citizen in every sense of the word. Following is a brief ancestral history of the Clark family, which will be found of more than ordinary interest: George Clark, the planter, with his wife, Sarah, and two children, emigrated from England to America in the year 1637, in company with John Davenport and his congrega- tion, from Kent and Surrey, near London, to- gether with several other parties of wealth and respectability, the whole forming a considerable colony of persons, who early in the year 1637 left England to escape persecutions on account of their religious belief, to take up their abode in the New World. They landed at Boston, Mass., where they remained about one year; but for sev- eral reasons Mr. Davenport and his companions decided to leave Boston and to make their perma- nent settlement at New Haven, Conn., then I •!; '/ .r 1 ' ,ci! " . ; - :,:• i COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 115 known by the Indian name of Quinnipiack. They sailed from Boston March 30, 1638, and reached Quinnipiac in about two weeks. In the year 1639 a part of Mr. Davenport's congregation, including George Clark (i), re- moved from New Haven and settled at Milford, then known by its Indian name of Wopowage, it being about ten miles westerly from New Haven. George Clark (i) continued to reside at Milford during the remainder of his life. He was a "free planter" and a man of consider- able property and influence. He was many times a deputy or representative from Milford to the general court of New Haven and Con- necticut, the two colonies being separate and distinct until their union May 11, 1665, under the name of Connecticut. He died in 1690 at about eighty years of age, leaving a good estate. His wife, Sarah, died July 19, 1689. They had nine children. George Clark (2), third son of George Clark (i) the planter, was born at Milford, New Haven county, Conn., the Church records at Milford showing that he was baptized April 30, 1648. He resided in Milford until his death, which occurred in the year 1734. He was much esteemed and respected. His wife was Deborah, daughter of Nathan Gold, and by her he had < four children. George Clark (3), the youngest son of George Clark (2), was born at Milford, Conn., in the year 1686, and was baptized September 26, but the precise date of his birth is not known. He was married to his wife, Mary, probably in the year 1722, continuing to reside at Milford until his death, which occurred in the year 1762. He had six children — three sons and three daughters. Hezekiah Clark, first son of George Clark (3), was born at Milford, Conn., in the year 1723. He was married about the year 1746 to Mary Peck, of Bethany, New Haven county. Conn., purchased a farm in Bethany, and lived there after his marriage until 1776. In that year he entered the Revolutionary army, and while in the service of his country was attacked by malignant dysentery, of which he died the same year at the age of fifty-three. He had thirteen children. Aaron Clark, third son uf Hezekiah Clark, was born at Bethany, Septem- ber 30, 1758. He married Elizabeth Fowler, of Orange, and continued to reside at Bethany until the spring of 1809, when he removed to Orange, in the same county, where he died May 7, 1848. His wife Elizabeth died May 11, 1862, at the advanced age of ninety-seven years. They had six children. Aaron Clark, Jr., son of Aaron Clark, and grandson of Hezekiah Clark, was born Novem- ber 10, 1796, at Bethany, Conn. He married Lovisa Merrick early in 18 19, and afterward lived at Orange, Conn., where he died in 1886. His wife Lovisa died there January 6, 1873, at the age of seventy-nine. They had eight children. Joseph M. Clark, son of Aaron and Lovisa Clark, was born September 11, 1831. He married Julia Ann Kiggs, and now lives in Derby, Conn. A brief account of his life has already been given. Edward Riggs, the head of the Riggs family in this country, came from England and settled at Roxbury, Mass., early in the summer of 1633. He had a wife and two sons and four daughters, his son, Edward, being about twenty years of age. Within three years of his arrival he buried his wife, his son John, and two daughters. Ed- ward Riggs (2), son of Edward (i), married Elizabeth Roosa in 1635. In 1637 he was a sergeant in the Pequot war, and greatly dis- tinguished himself in rescuing his commander and twelve of his companions from an am- buscade, and was afterward known as " Ser- geant Riggs." Nothing further is known of him until 1646, when he settled at Milford, Conn. In 1654 he, with Edward Wooster and perhaps one or two other families, settled at Paugasuck (afterward Derby) — Wooster by the side of the river where Derby village was established, and Riggs on the hill a mile east, where his descend- ants have until recently resided and held pro- perty. The house of Edward Riggs stood by the rock a few rods west of the present house, a Mr. Finney being the present owner. This first house was the one where Whalley and Goff, the judges of Charles I, took refuge in 166 1, as recorded by President Ezra Stiles in his history of those celebrated and honored men. In being the protectors of those refugees the Riggs family will bear lasting honors by true lovers of consti- tutional liberty. Edward Riggs being one of the company which purchased the claims of Mr. Goodyear to Paugasuck lands in 1653, made his choice of a farm before any division of the lands was made, and secured a beautiful location and good land. Here he remained until 1666, when he became one of the planters of Newark, N. J. His wife Elizabeth was the only woman there the first summer. His children, except Samuel, removed with him. Samuel Riggs, son of Edward Riggs, married (first) Sarah, daughter of Richard Bald- win, of Milford, June 14, 1667, and settled on his father's homestead, which he probably inherited. He married (second) Mrs. Sarah Washburn, May 6, 17 1 3. He was a man of great ability and business capacity, and was honored to the end 116 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. of his life. He was a representative for several years, made justice of the peace and served in many other offices. He built the first house in Seymour, and gave to his sou at that place 200 acres of land with houses and other comforts, in 1708. He was made ensign in the train band in 1790, and always thereafter bore that title. He had nine children.