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Clarke (Ethan Ray) Correspondence and Ephemera
MSS 0685
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Table of contents
Languages:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Ethan Ray Clarke Correspondence and Ephemera
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0685
Physical Description:
0.2 Linear feet
(1 archives box)
Date (inclusive): 1822-1930
Abstract: Correspondence and ephemera collected by Ethan Ray Clarke, a Rhode Island Civil War regimental chaplain and small-town minister
in New York and Michigan, with the bulk of material representative of the period from 1860 to 1880.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Acquired 2007.
Ethan Ray Clarke Correspondence and Ephemera, MSS 685. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Ethan Ray Clarke born on January 10, 1818, at Potowomut, Rhode Island, to an original Rhode Island settler's family. Clarke
was the second surviving son of the ten children of Ray Clarke (1782 - 1847) and Celia Greene (1776 - 1829 - a descendent
of the Revolutionary war hero, Nathaniel Greene.) Clarke was educated at Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts, and inherited property
from his grandfather, including a farm in Oxford, New York. He married Mary Elizabeth Millard, of Rhode Island, on October
29, 1840, and they moved to Oxford. He entered into the ministry in 1851 and became the first pastor of the newly erected
Oxford Free Will Baptist church. His children included Susan Celia (Mrs. William E. Marwin), Anna Augusta (Mrs. James P. Boyd),
Isabella Emily (Mrs. Arthur M. Mayhew), Mary Elizabeth (Mrs. William J. Rose), George Brayton Clarke (married Florence J.
Holley), and Ward Greene Clark (physician and professor of dental surgery at Rush University, Chicago). Two children, Jessie
(aged 15) and Ray (aged 10), died in 1864 and 1865 respectively.
During the United States Civil War, the forty-five year old Clarke served as one of only 930 regimental chaplains. He was
commissioned (1863 - 1865) with the 1st Regiment of the Rhode Island Cavalry and later served with the 25th New York Cavalry.
He witnessed many famous battles including Chancellorsville and Rapidau Station (1863); the White House on the York River,
Shenandoah Valley; and Charleston battles (1864). After the war, he returned to Oxford and continued his work as a pastor.
In 1870, Clarke accepted an offer to become a pastor in Michigan and spent most of his remaining years in village churches
(New Haven, Mt. Clemens, Tekonsha) in south-eastern and south-central Michigan. The 1880 census reported him as a sixty-two
year old Baptist preacher living in Burr Oak along with his wife, his son, Ward, his daughter, Isabella (then a widow) and
an eleven year-old grandson, George C. Rose (born 1869). The date of his death and burial are uncertain.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Ethan Ray Clarke Correspondence and Ephemera collection provides a small glimpse into the life of a Civil War chaplain
and small-town minister and is a mix of correspondence to Clarke as well as miscellaneous writings, certificates, flyers,
train tickets, and other items that Clarke collected during his lifetime. The collection is arranged in two series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE,
and 2) EPHEMERA.
SERIES 1: CORRESPONDENCE
The CORRESPONDENCE files contain letters to and from Clarke during his Civil War service including a letter to his wife,
Elizabeth, written on the back of another letter that requested Clarke to perform burial services for two recently killed
soldiers; the letter of a family that thanked Clarke for recovering and burying the body of their son; correspondence from
fellow ministers and former employers including many letters of introduction and references as to his competency; requests
for Clarke to speak at other churches; a postcard that appointed him chaplain for a Temperance Society Fourth of July celebration;
a parishioner's letter that thanked him for his "faithful ministry"; and a letter of reference for Clarke's father, Ray Clarke,
dated 1822, written in Frankfort, Kentucky.
SERIES 2: EPHEMERA
The EPHEMERA series contains writings by Clarke, including handwritten lists of the battles his Civil War regiments were
involved in, and a composition entitled, "Evening Hymn"; an engraved certificate of the Washington National Monument Society
documenting Clarke's contribution of $1.00; member certificates from the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (1865, 1874) and
the Masonic Order (1866, 1879); a flyer and "Honorable Testimony" certificates associated with a Sabbath School convention
where Clarke gave a speech entitled, "The best means of awakening interest in the Sunday School work among the members of
the Church"; an autographed (by Clarke) printed illustration of the Industrial Exhibition building in Hyde Park, London, built
for the Great Exhibition of 1851 (and later dubbed the Crystal Palace.)
Additional materials include: Clarke's professional card when he was pastor at the Tekonsha Baptist Church (1879); a clergyman's
Erie Railway certificate (1868) that entitled him to reduced fares; an Old Colony & Newport Railway "check" (ticket) showing
the distances from Boston on the verso side; a newspaper clipping that mentioned Clarke's position as Past Grand Chaplain
of the Vernon Masonic lodge; and a black and white photograph of the eastern view of the United States Capitol building, ca.
1920-30s.
Personal items included are Mrs. Clarke's collection (eleven folded-paper packets) of her relatives' hair (most braided into
small concentric circles with a small ribbon or cut-out paper flower bouquet attached), including her husband and mother,
and a small hand-drawn and painted picture of a country house annotated that it was given to Clarke by his sister, C.G. Clarke.
This work may be used without prior permission.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources