Lemuel Clark, Sr.

A Patriot of the American Revolution for CONNECTICUT with the rank of CORPORAL. DAR Ancestor # A022544

Lemuel Clark born in England, was a soldier and lived with his family in Birmingham, Vermont, often going on long voyages. He and his son, also named Lemuel were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. Both were honorably discharged at Rochester,NY. Lemuel Jr received $100, a horse and a saddle from the government. He married an orphan girl named Linnie West who lived in New York state. Their daughter, Linnie West Clark, was the first white child born in New York State after it became a state in 1787 and this fact is recorded. They shortly afterward moved to Erie County, Pennsylvania, some 10 miles back on the hills from Fort Erie.

Commodore Perry was in command of a small fleet on Lake Erie in 1813. He ran out of ammunition. In the interior towns or forts there was plenty. But at that time, there was no apparent way to get it to him.

The farmers of that section took their horses and oxen and brought the ammunition to him and his fleet, dragging it through the virgin forests where no white man had been. There were no roads of course. Lemuel Clark Jr was one of those farmers. One of his oxen was killed and he himself received an injury in one of his knees which proved to be permanent. The United States government paid him for his ox and granted him a pension for life. This supply of ammunition greatly aided Perry in his victory over the British on Sept 18, 1813.