Mary (Clarke) Taylor’s Roots in Stanhoe, Norfolk, England

Mary (Clark) Taylor, our ancestor who came to Canada from Norfolk, England in 1836 with her husband John Taylor and their children.

Wedding bells rang out at St. Michael’s Church in the village of Ingoldisthorpe, Norfolk, England on 4 January 1821 when our 25-year-old ancestor, John Taylor (1796-1847) married 22-year-old Mary Clark(e) (1798-1883). (More about the spelling of Mary's maiden name later.)

St. Michael’s Church in Ingoldisthorpe (pronounced: in-g'l-thorp) where Mary Clark(e) married John Taylor.

Both bride and groom were residents of the nearby village of Snettisham.

Snettisham, in Norfolk County, is located about 45 miles (72 km) northwest of the city of Norwich.

John Taylor and Mary Clark(e) were from Norfolk County (in red on this map) on the east coast of England.

 

John and Mary soon began raising a family in Snettisham.

In 1836, 15 years after they married, John and Mary and their six children left England for reasons unknown to us. It appears there were quite a number of other families from Norfolk who left the country at that time, as well. For a detailed account of emigration from rural East Anglia in the 19th century (including Norfolk), click here.

The Taylors spent several months in Toronto before moving to Pickering Township, Upper Canada (Ontario) in 1837 where they settled and had two more children.

The Taylor property in Pickering Township (bounded by Finch Avenue and Altona Road) as it looked in 2018, more than 180 years after the Taylors settled there. Part of the land is protected as the Altona Forest.

What do we know of Mary Clark’s life before she married John Taylor? If you’d asked me that question at the start of this year, I’d have replied, “Nothing.” However, if you’re asking me now, I have some answers for you. Read on!

Thanks to DNA testing, I discovered a distant relative, Rosalynd Eagle, who lives in England. Rosalynd is descended from Mary Clark’s sister, Sarah Clarke. Rosalynd provided me with some information about the Clarke family history. Without the help of Rosalynd, our Mary Clark’s lineage might have forever remained a mystery.

First of all, Mary Clark wasn’t a Clark, she was a CLARKE with an “e” at the end. Her father's surname was Clarke (with an "e") and her siblings also used spelled their surnames with an "e." Mary named one of her children "James Clark Taylor" and here we see Clark without an "e" again. It's unlikely that Mary learned how to read or write. Therefore, if she said "Clarke" to a government registrar or Census taker, he would have written the name as it sounded to his ears. That's how "Clarke" probably became "Clark." From now on, I'll be using "Clarke" as Mary's maiden name, as that was the surname of her father and all her siblings.

Mary Clarke was born 16 July 1798 in the small village of Stanhoe, Norfolk, England.

Stanhoe has been a farming community since Roman times. The 2021 Census shows a population of 282.

Mary Clarke was the firstborn child of John Clarke (c1776-1852) and Mary Mason (1779-1822) of Stanhoe.

A screenshot from my "Mary Jane Culbert Family Tree" on Ancestry, showing Mary Clarke's parents as John Clarke and Mary Mason of Stanhoe, Norfolk.

Mary Clarke would later be joined by nine siblings.

To the best of my knowledge, Mary was the only one of John Clarke & Mary Mason's children who immigrated to Canada. 

Mary Clarke and her siblings...

A screenshot from my "Mary Jane Culbert Family Tree" on Ancestry, showing the 10 children of of John Clarke & Mary Mason. Our Mary was their first-born child. There are two children named Robert. The first Robert died in infancy. It was common practice to name the next-born child of the same sex after the deceased child.

For the benefit of genealogists and family historians, I’m listing the 10 children of John Clarke & Mary Mason, including their spouses:

Mary Clarke (1798-1883) & John Taylor (1796-1847)

Ann Clarke (1800-1886) & William Bone (1795-1862)

Elizabeth Clarke (1803-1870) & Robert Mason (1805-1874)

Robert Clarke (1805-1805, infant death)

Robert Clarke (1807-1893) & Ann Rought (1809-?)

Sarah Clarke (1810-1898) & Edward Palmer (1795-1862)

James Clarke (1813-?)

Rose Clarke (1815-1897) & James Collinson (1801-1863)

Frances “Fanny” Clarke (1817-1903) & James Moore (1816-1898)

Mason Clarke (c1820-?) & Margaret Hotchin (c1816-?)

Mary (Clarke) Taylor died on 16 July 1883 in Pickering Township, Ontario, Canada on her 85th birthday. Mary Clarke and John Taylor had raised a family of eight children, all who lived to adulthood. (For a list of the eight children of Mary Clarke and John Taylor, click here. For details about where Mary Clarke and John Taylor's adult children lived, click here.)

It’s highly unlikely that Mary ever returned to England, and she probably never saw her siblings again. 

Thankfully, we now know the names of Mary's parents and her siblings. We raise our glasses to these ancestors and to the village of Stanhoe, Norfolk, England, where Mary was born and raised. To learn more about Stanhoe, visit stanhoe.org.

John Taylor and Mary Clarke are buried at Highland Creek Wesleyan Cemetery, a pioneer cemetery located at 396 Old Kingston Road in the Highland Creek neighbourhood of Scarborough/eastern Toronto, Ontario.

Note: Thanks to my DNA match and 4^th cousin once removed, Rosalynd Eagle of England for shining a light on Mary Clarke’s origins. The descendants of Mary Clarke and John Taylor are grateful to you.