Comments, Speculation, and Suggestions for Further Research

Created, Edited and Maintained
by June Clover Byrne

 

        The assumption of many researchers has been that the Arkansas and Texas Clovers are all descended from the Monroe County, Illinois Clovers.  There is, however, very little actual proof to substantiate this assumption. I think it is very likely that William Clover was the son of Adam or John Clover, but I do not know of any proof.  However, I have been interested in this group and have gathered together various pieces of information from many different sources.  I will list here exactly what I have searched and the results in the hope that this will provide a solid basis for further research.  Please share this website instead of the information.  That way, your cousins will get the latest updates.  I expect to update these pages regularly.
    Please also check Monroe County, Illinois which can be reached via the Illinois Page

 

 
   The theory that William Clover was born in Monroe County, Illinois is based upon an 1850 census entry. 

• 1850 Clark County, Arkansas Caddo Township, NARA M432 roll 25 page 202: 21 November 1850 Line 1: 175/175 William Clover 50 Farmer IL; Eli 20 AR; Frances Ann 18 AR; Elizabeth 16 AR; Amanda 14 AR; Louis 12 AR; Ameranda 12 AR; Josiah 9 AR

        He died shortly after this census so this is the only one we have for him. I do not know where all of his daughters thought he was born in the 1880 census, but William H. Clover listed both parents as place of birth unknown.  Eli and Josiah died in the Civil War. 

 

         There are serious problems with assuming that the information in censuses is absolutely correct, but this is basically what we have on William.  If he was, in fact, born in Illinois around 1800, he just about had to have been born in Monroe County.  No other Clover groups are known to have been in Illinois that early.  There were four male Clovers in the Monroe County area and one female Clover. These were William Clover, Jacob Clover, John Clover and Adam Clover. Susanna Clover married Solomon Guice.  Jacob Clover left estate records which prove his children. William Clover left a will naming his children. Therefore, we can eliminate them from discussion.  William's possible parents are then narrowed down to John or Adam or some unknown Clover who left no record.  I use the term Monroe County area because Monroe County was not formed until 1816 so the earlier records are in Randolph or St. Clair Counties. Thus, if William was born in that area, he was born in St. Clair County which became Randolph and later Monroe County.

 

       It is significant that a John Clover sold out in Monroe County, Illinois and shortly thereafter a John Clover appeaed in Clark County, Arkansas.  Note that many people have said that Tabitha appeared in records in Clark County.  As far as I know, that is NOT true. If you have a copy of an actual record on Tabitha in Arkansas, please let me know.  The only other place that a John Clover appears in early Clark County is in the tax records. See my notes on Arkansas Census Records prior to 1830.

 

     It is also possible that Adam Clover could have been William's father.  Adam apparently left Monroe County sometime after the deed record in 1817.  The next time he appeared was in the 1820 census in Louisiana.

• 1820 Concordia Parish, Louisiana page 23 Adam Clover 110211-00011-0500 [1 male under 10, , one male 10-16, two males 16-26, one male 26-45, one male over 45/one female 26 to 45, one female over 45/5 involved in agriculture]

          After the census, Adam appears to have moved to Arkansas near John according to James Logan Morgan, 1820 Census of the Territory of Arkansas (Reconstructed), (Conway, Arkansas: Arkansas Research, 1992).  I was sent the information in this book by Ray Thompson who tells me that there were three Clovers in Clark County. On page 16: Adam Clover and William Clover appear in Clark County in 1821. John Clover appears in 1819, 1820, and 1821.

 

         The problem is, of course, that this is suggestive, but not proof.  We cannot absolutely prove that the three mentions of an Adam Clover are referring to the same Adam Clover.  In the same way, we cannot prove that the mentions of a John Clover are to the same person. I keep seeing that this is proven, but it is not. However, most researchers will tell me that William was absolutely the son of John and Tabitha Clover.  I have received this information at least 25 times with no proof attached.  I think we need to keep an open mind on this subject.
         I feel that there is much work to be done in early Arkansas.  I have not seen a copy of the estate records of William Clover which do exist according to indexes. This should prove his children. That is important because a number of individuals have been noted as children of William, but who are clearly too old to be his children.  One of these is John Clover of Texas who was born, according to census records, before William was married. Naturally, William could have had a previously unknown wife, but his estate records should prove or disprove this.  I personally am of the opinion that John of Angelina County, Texas was the son of another Arkansas Clover.  There seem to be an number of possibilities.  

          We need to check for Clovers in the records of Arkansas County because Clark County was formed from it.  There is some possibility of a record there.
         We need to check for this William Clover of Independence County who purchased land in Randolph County in 1838.  Is this the same William?  If so, what happened to the land?  What was he doing up there?
         We need to check the records of Concordia Parish, Louisiana. Is there anything that now exists with records of this Adam Clover?
         We need to track down those Clover males and females who married early in Clark County.  Where were they born according to the censuses?  Did any of them move elsewhere and leave a county history article of interest?  Where did their children think they were born in the 1880 census?
         When we have his estate records, we need to track all of the descendants of William Clover, to see where they think their father was born in the 1880 census.   I feel strongly that we need some tiny bit of evidence besides the one 1850 census.
         I also think we need to track down the female Clovers who married early in Clark County.  I have very little information on them and finding them may help clarify the situation.
         As far as I know, there are no church records for this group.  But I don't know for sure. I have not seen any. Has anyone else looked at this problem? 
         The probate records of Clark County are still in existence.  If you look at the FHL microfilm catalog at www.familysearch.org, you will see that the William Clover estate should be on microfilm no. 1010379 or 1010132. The first covers the period 1840 to 1851. The second starts in 1851 and goes to 1863.  The estate was not settled immediately so it could appear in either.  If anyone has actually looked for this estate on these microfilm, I would very much like to hear about it.  Somewhere in this estate record, there should be a list of heirs.
         We need to sort out the court records extracted in the Source Book and those in the on line index at Ouachita Baptist University.  There are some names which appear there which are not in the Source Book.  Therefore, they must be out of previous or later years. If they are earlier, we must be desperate to see them.  However, I suspect that most, if not all, of these other names are much later.  Nevertheless, we need to be sure. 

         I keep hoping desperately that some cemetery records will appear.  However, I have come to suspect that when the DeGray Resevoir was created, the tombstones were either moved or covered with water.  

         Then we have the problem of the mysterious Isaac Clovers.  I have repeatedly been told that Isaac was the father of John Clover of Texas.  I don't know what this is based on other than the fact that John was apparently born in Arkansas according to the census and Isaac is the only other Clover in Texas that we can find. 
         The Isaac Clover who married Zilphy White in Clark County is NOT the same Isaac who left records in Texas.  In the first place, he married much too late to be John's father. He died in the 1840s sometime, possibly in Sevier County and his widow is in the 1850 census in Clark County with a Hendrick White who is probably a relative of hers.  Her children are with her. Since Zilphy Clover is in the Sevier County tax list in 1839, I suspect that she is connected to the James Clover in the Sevier County census in 1840.  Since both James and Isaac married in Clark County, then James and Isaac's widow turn up in Sevier County, I wondered if Isaac and James were actually brothers.  I also wonder if some of the children with Zilphy in the 1850 census belonged to James. Since he owned land in this area, it should be possible to find estate records and settle exactly who his children were.    

See Isaac Clover, son of Paul, hero of the Texas Revolution.

 

         It is possible that the exact parentage of all these Clovers may be unprovable by ordinary research. The only way may be through future DNA studies. Nevertheless, we have much work to do before we can say that we have done everything possible.  If anyone is interested in working on this group, I will be happy to hear from you.  And please check back regularly for updates.  If you happen to have any of the information I am missing, please share it with me so I can post it here for future researchers.  I feel strongly that it is very useful to put all of the available information in one place.  It is quite possible that several researchers have different pieces of the puzzle which will become clearer when they are all put together. That is one of the goals of this website.   

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Copyright 2006 June Clover Byrne

Contact me at junebyr@yahoo.com

Last Updated 14 September 2009