Emanuel Clarke, our progenitor for this Clarke line from England, first appeared in New England as a plaintiff in the Essex Quarterly Court held in Salem in December, 1650. He also was a settled debtor in the inventory of a Boston will in January, 1650/1.  Emanuel was a codfish merchant in Marblehead during the 1650s, and by the winter of 1660/1 he was undertaking winter trade voyages as part of his merchant marine business.  Emanuel married Mary Sherman, daughter of Samuel and Grace Sherman, by 1662, and they had a son Benjamin Clarke b. abt. 1663.  The last known historical record for Emanuel was a court case in which he was a defendant at the Essex Quarterly Court held in Salem on 29 June, 1669.

In 1681 Benjamin, the son of Emanuel Clarke, was being provided for until the age of 21 by his great uncle, Philip Sherman of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, suggesting that both Emanuel and Mary Clarke had died by that year.  Benjamin married twice, first to Mercy Smith with whom he had 6 children in Kingstown, Rhode Island: Mary, Sarah, Benjamin, Emanuel, Samuel, and Jeremiah.  He married second Jean (     ), by whom all 8 of the remaining  children of Benjamin were born:  Theophilus, Martha, Ann, Hannah, Rest, Elizabeth, Abigail, and James.  By 1702 Benjamin had purchased land and become a freeholder in Plainfield, Connecticut.  In the deed to this land purchase, Benjamin called himself the carpenter of Kingstown of the Colony of Rhode Island.  Benjamin Clarke, yeoman, was buried at the age of 87 in Plainfield, Connecticut in June, 1750, and his will was proved on 3 July, 1750.

After only about two generations in New England, the Clarke family dropped the "e" in their surname and used "Clark" instead in subsequent generations.  The transition began with Benjamin Clarke 1663-1750, who was raised as "Clarke," but later in life signed his name on a deed and in his will as "Clark."  Based on these considerations, "Clark" will be used in this Project to refer to this family line in the USA, recognizing however that "Clarke" was used by the earliest members of the family line.  For purposes of searching historical records, it is recommended that both surnames are used because it was not uncommon in historical documents for the two surnames to be used and recorded interchangeably. 

Genetic genealogy technology has recently been utilized to study this particular Clark line in greater detail.  Based on strong matching of Y-DNA test results from three male Clarks in the USA having family trees based on traditional records, Benjamin Clarke has been verified as a common ancestor for this Clark line in the United States.  Thus through use of Y-DNA the family tree for this Clark line has been biologically validated back to the first family member born in North America.