Man of Mystery - Dr. John Thomas Clark

Dr. John Thomas Clark - Man of Mystery

by Sue Fulcher and Tina Foreman Beacham

    A few months ago, I came across a posting in the Goose Creek Island Album on Facebook concerning Dr.  John Clark, doctor on Goose Creek Island 1894 – 1906.  I contacted Mrs. Sue Fulcher, great granddaughter of Dr. John Clark and together we decided to put together a story.

    The story of Dr. John Thomas Clark is a mixture of fact and fiction.  It’s one of those stories that is hard to sort out but leaves your mind to wonder.  In order to solve a mystery, you first must have documents that serve as clues.  Second, you must understand the circumstances in which events could have taken place. And third, you have to piece all the information together to solve it.

    In this story, you will find facts within various stages of Dr. John Thomas Clark’s life. However, you will find there are a few years of this mystery man that are unaccounted for. It is an ongoing study into the life of Dr. John Thomas Clark and his granddaughter hopes to one day have all the pieces put together to learn who this “mystery man” was. 

    

                  From L-R; Cora Lee Alcock Clark, Gertrude Isabelle Clark Leary,George Clarence Clark, Dr. John Thomas Clark,Circa 1903-1904.Photo Courtesy Sue Fulcher

     To learn about Dr. John Thomas Clark’s early life, our story begins in York County, South Carolina. Situated on the North Carolina border, near Charlotte, its largest city is Rock Hill.  In the 1840’s through 1860’s, York County had finally recovered from the effects of the Revolutionary War.  One of the biggest battles was the Battle of Kings Mountain along the present day North Carolina – South Carolina border. 

    Heavily populated by Scots-Irish Presbyterians, York County became one of the first original counties established in South Carolina.  From 1840 through 1860, York County was home to many small to medium sized farms.  Plantations were not typical in York County as one would imagine in the antebellum years, but there were a few.  The movie Gone with The Wind probably sensationalized the antebellum south, but this was not the case in York County. 

    Cotton was “king” in York County during these years and John Clark’s grandparents, Thomas and Sarah Bradshaw most likely produced the much sought after commodity.  Thomas and Sarah Bradshaw owned a small farm.  They were members of the Sharon Associate Reform Presbyterian Church that was organized in 1796 in Sharon, York County, SC. 

    In 1845, Thomas Bradshaw died, leaving Sarah to care for their children and the farm.  The 1850 Census Slave Schedule records Sarah Bradshaw as owning 6 slaves.  Sarah’s children, Margaret, Mary, Isabella, Martha, Andrew, and Eliza carried on the day to day activities of running the farm.  Even Sarah’s mother, Rachel Gaither (John’s great grandmother) was living with the family at that time.  One can imagine the chores the children and the matriarchs of the household endured during this era; milking cows, cutting firewood, feeding chickens, picking cotton, all those things that were required to run a farm. 

    In 1854, Margaret, Martha and Andrew all died within 2 months of each other.  Isabella and Eliza were left to support each other and their mother and grandmother on the farm.  We assume Mary had married and left the Bradshaw farm during this time.  Imagine how hard working these women were. To continue to etch out an existence on their farm and the impending unrest on the South Carolina coast that was leading up to the beginnings of Civil War.

    In 1860, Isabella Bradshaw met James Jefferson Clark of Chester County, SC.  James Jefferson Clark was of one of the old distinguished pioneer families of South Carolina who helped to establish our country during the American Revolution.  They were married and before long, the unrest in South Carolina had escalated to secession.  South Carolina had seceded from the Union in December 1860 and the country was in conflict.

                            James J. Clark, 17th South Carolina Infantry Regiment, Company F Photo Courtesy Sue Fulcher

    James Jefferson Clark, Jr. enlisted in the Confederate Army soon after,  He enlisted in the 17^th South Carolina Infantry Regiment, Company F, known as the Carolina Rifles.  This company was heavily comprised of men from York County, South Carolina.  On April 4, 1861, Isabella and James’ first child was born, William Guthry Clark.  It is unknown if the child was born before James enlisted in the Army.  Unfortunately, William died in 1862.  He is buried in the Sharon Associated Reform Presbyterian Churchyard Cemetery, York County, South Carolina.

    Private James Jefferson Clark, Jr. began his service with the Confederate Army in 1861.  Isabella most likely continued to reside with her mother on the Bradshaw farm.  James came home as often as he could and on August 11, 1863, John Thomas Clark was born in York County, South Carolina.   

    In the spring of 1864, Private Clark found himself in Petersburg, Virginia.  In a battle that became known as The Siege of Petersburg, the campaign lasted several months.  Private Clark was killed in action on July 2, 1864 in Petersburg, Virginia. His was buried with other “brethren in arms” in a mass grave near the Old Blandford Church in Petersburg, VA. 

    It is unknown when or how Isabella learned she had become a widow.  The uncertainty of raising a child on her own and the anguish of her son without a father had to be hard.  It’s even hard to say if Private Clark had even seen his son.  During those days and the strife of war, soldiers did not return home on leave very often. 

    Isabella raised the young boy on the Bradshaw farm with her mother, grandmother and sister.  The Civil War was finally over in 1865.  Most of the country was trying to recover.  In 1870, Isabella, John and Sarah are listed in the York County census and we assume, still operating the family farm as best they could under extreme circumstances of recovering from the war.

    In December 1870, Isabella was tending laundry at an outside wash pot.  As many of us know, a fire is built under the wash pot to heat the water.  An unfortunate accident occurred and Isabella died on December 20, 1870 from possible burns from the fire.  It is assumed that maybe her dress caught on fire and the fire could not be extinguished quickly.  Hospitals and medicine were not readily available in those days.  Infection may have set in.  One can only speculate on the dire circumstances she endured.

    John Thomas Clark was now an orphan at 7 years old.  His father killed in battle, his mother gone by an unfortunate accident.  It was now just him and his grandmother. At some point during the next decade, John and his grandmother Sarah were living with his Aunt Sarah Moore.  According to the 1880 census, Clark W. Moore and Sarah Moore listed Sarah Bradshaw (mother in law) and John Clark (nephew) residing with them. Can you imagine what life must have been like during this time of transition?  With no slaves to help tend the land, did the Bradshaw family farm succumb to foreclosure and eventual ruin which forced them to relocate with other family members?

    John was 17 years old in 1880. Here is where our mystery begins.  Because 1890 census are not available, we do not know what transpired between the years of 1880 and 1890.  Stories passed down through the generations are the only proof of what we believe could have occurred.

    John at some point married Mary Montgomery, possibly in the early 1880’s.  During his marriage he learned of Mary’s infidelities with another man.  John challenged the man to a duel.  Dueling had since become outlawed in South Carolina in 1880.  A challenge ensued. A death occurred. And John Thomas Clark had been charged with a crime.

    John Thomas Clark was imprisoned.  It was during his imprisonment that he began learning the trade of physician.  It is believed John Thomas Clark was imprisoned in Charleston, South Carolina.  At the time the Old Jail was located adjacent to the Old Roper Hospital, which is still there today.  John apprenticed with a doctor while he was incarcerated and thus began his journey to become a doctor.

    On August 31, 1886, a most spectacular disaster occurred on the East Coast. An earthquake shook the colonial town of Charleston.  The shock was felt throughout the city and as far away as Boston and New Orleans.  Buildings were destroyed and lives were lost.  In today’s terms, the earthquake measured around 7.3 on the Richter scale. 

    John Thomas Clark was amongst the people of Charleston who survived and witnessed the destruction of the earthquake.  The Old Jail was heavily damaged and prisoners, in an effort to save themselves, escaped the ruined building.  John Thomas Clark was one of those prisoners.

    Without the 1890 census, it is hard to know where John Thomas Clark fled to.  Did he travel back to York or Chester Counties, South Carolina?  One would imagine not.  He was an escaped prisoner, his crime was still known to the communities of those counties.  John Thomas Clark had fled to the coast of North Carolina and landed on Goose Creek Island.

As one could imagine, any stranger arriving on Goose Creek Island at this time would have been met with speculation.  How did John Clark find his way to our secluded hamlet on the edge of the sound?  Did he come to work on the Jacob Farm with the Roanoke Lumber Co.?

    Or was Dr. Clark, traveling throughout eastern North Carolina and trying to stay hidden from any attention his past could have brought him?  Unlike today, trying to search for an escaped prisoner would have been much more difficult and burdensome.  Besides, South Carolina had more dire problems to overcome; rebuild a city after an earthquake, feeding and housing the refugees from that disaster and trying to build an economy after the Civil War. 

    John Thomas Clark arrived on Goose Creek Island at some point prior to 1894. Once here, Dr. Clark made his mark in the area.  It was on May 25, 1894 that he married Cora Lee Alcock of Hobucken. It is assumed that Dr. Clark made his living farming and also providing medical care to the Island residents.  On February 25, 1897, Dr. Clark swore an oath in Superior Court in Pamlico County to practice medicine.  

    It was customary at the time, doctors who had not been educated in a formal school setting but had trained and “practiced” medicine prior to 1890 could formally take an oath to practice.  By swearing an oath with the Superior Court of the County, a doctor was granted a license to practice.  Records show that John Thomas Clark had also sworn oaths to practice medicine in Dare, Tyrrell, Camden and Currituck Counties in 1896 and 1897. 

    Dr. Clark had a practice in Hobucken.   He also traveled by horse and buggy throughout the Island and surrounding area when needed.  Dr. Clark and Cora Lee had four children, Gertrude Isabelle, George Clarence, Leona and a child who died in infancy.  Eventually, Dr. Clark and Cora settled in Lowland and lived in the present day Fenner & Mary Jane Whitfield home.  Dr. Clark practiced medicine up until his death on June 6, 1906.

    Dr. John Thomas Clark, orphaned child of the antebellum Civil War era, prisoner, earthquake survivor, doctor, was laid to rest in the Cahoon Cemetery, behind the Manning Lupton home in Hobucken.

    It is has been told that Dr. Clark may have succumbed to being poisoned.  According to family stories, Dr. Clark made his own medicines and did not share these with other doctors in the area.  When Dr. Clark was taken sick with what was called “rabbit fever”, a treatable illness, another county doctor was “sent” for to come and help treat him. 

    There was probably some rivalry between the two doctors, maybe some jealousy, but within a matter of days, Dr. Clark had died.  His sickness was not life-threatening and could be cured with the proper medicine.  The family quietly suspected he had been poisoned by the rival doctor.

    As often the case with history, details are hazy and surviving records can leave much to be desired.  Thankfully, Sue Fulcher, Dr. John Clark’s great granddaughter has compiled much information and research into learning “who” this man of mystery was.

    From York County, to Charleston, to Goose Creek Island, Dr. John Thomas Clark was without a doubt an extraordinary man who lived during extraordinary times.  He lived on the frontier of the Civil War era, was incarcerated, but given a chance to learn the medical profession through unfortunate circumstances.  An act of God allowed him to flee his reckless past and to make a new beginning,  And of all places to make that new beginning, he choose Goose Creek Island.

Photo courtesy Eunice Clark Jones

     In the fall of 2013, during the annual Goose Creek Island Homecoming, Eunice Clark Jones and Sue Fulcher, granddaughters of Dr. John Thomas Clark and Cora Lee Alcock Clark, placed a headstone at the grave of their grandfather in the Cahoon Cemetery.  For over a hundred years, his final resting place had been unmarked and that of his infant child.  Dr. Clark has finally been given a proper tribute to his service to our Island and honored by his family he never knew.