Clover
Family Research Compendium
John Clover of Connecticut and New York
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John Clover of CT and NY
Children of John Clover
John Clover born ca. 1778 in CT per 1850 census.
Child of John Clover Williston Clover
William Clover Born perhaps 1776-1780
Frederick Clover Born ca. 1783 per tombstone.
Collins Clover Born prior to 1790, possibly about 1787.
Betsey Clover Born ca. 1790
Cornelius Clover Born 1794 according to his bible record.
1782-1788
Our earliest
records of John Clover are in
Connecticut. I found them by searching the deed records. It has been my
experience that deed records can be more
helpful that one might casually assume. Since I had run
low on early evidence in regards to the John Clover family of
Connecticut, I decided to do some deed browsing. I thought that even a
tidbit of information on this family would be welcome.Since the earliest place where we are sure he was living was Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut in the 1790 census, I checked this area first. In Connecticut, records are kept by town. Middlesex County was not formed until 1785 from portions of Hartford and New Loudon Counties. The town of Durham is also in Middletown.
Middletown, Connecticut Deed Book 22: 414-5, FHL microfilm 4802: 16 January 1782, James Bartlit of Middletown, sold ½ acre of land, for £3 to John Clover of Middletown. The land was described as being in triangular form, in the town of Middletown and in the Parish of Middlefield, easterly on Jonathan [illegible Tum~~] land southerly on highway and Westerly on "my own land." The deed was signed by James Bartlit, in the presence of Philip Mortimer and Sarah Camp.
Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut Deed Book 29: 13, FHL 4806: 11 February 1788, John Clover sold a lot in the Parish of Middlefield, Town of Middleton, to Hezekiah Johnson, for £35 pounds containing about ½ acre, same land he had of James Bartlit together with a dwelling.
No mention is made of a dwelling in the 1782 deed so he may have built a house on the land, and that is why he sold it for so much more. It would have been unusual not to mention the dwelling on the first deed if there was one. I was disappointed to see that John’s wife did not sign the deed. Unfortunately, Connecticut did not require the signature of the wife at this time. Many of the deeds did include the wife, but not all of them. The important item here is that we know exactly where the family was living during those years. And since John was described as being of Middletown when he purchased the land, he was living in the same area before he bought the land. This is also the first time that I have seen Middletown as his residence.
We can draw few conclusions from these deeds except that he was living there. I did note that the date of 1782 is towards the end of the American Revolution. This fuels some speculation in my mind as to why he bought land and started building a house in 1782. He had at least two children by then. There are no later deeds for any Clovers in the county which gives us no reason to believe that he remained in Connecticut very long after the 1790 census was taken.
I am told that the 1782 purchase price was pretty normal for a piece of town land with no dwelling. So I don't think anything can be deduced from the difference between the purchase and sale price. Since he sold the land in 1788 and was still living in the area in 1790, I wonder where he was living. If anyone has the deeds nearby I still think that they should be checked to see if it is a normal price.
1790
In 1790, the family left two records. The first was the 1790 Connecticut census.
John Clover Middlesex County, CT page 88 Middletown 01 04 02 00 00
[1 Free white male over 16/4 under 16//2 free white females//0 other free persons// 0 slaves]
This particular census shows the four boys who were baptized, the father, the mother and a daughter who was probably born after the baptism and before the census.
Children
of John Clover
On
27 April 1790, 4 of the
children of John Clover were
baptized. Christ's Church, Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut
This scan is a copy of a church record from the Holy Trinity Protestant Episcopalian Church in Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticu, which was originally named Christ's Church when it was formed in 1750. The other name was adopted in 1858. The copy was sent to me from the Connecticut State Library. Consequently, the following numbers apply only to their system. The page was on LH 4097, 4217-4218, roll 76 according to what was written on the page.
This church record is of special interest to descendants of New York Clovers. John, William, Frederick, and Colley Clover, the children of John Clover were baptized on 27 April 1790. The sponsors were the parents and John Wetmore. These children all turn up in New York records although some move on to other places.
Please note that this is not a birth date. I keep receiving information that all four of these children were born on 17 April 1790. This is not correct.
This particular entry deserves some consideration. The first thought is, of course, why is no mother listed? Mothers are listed for most of the other children. The sponsors for the Clover children are “Parents and John Wetmore.” Since this says parents, one has to assume that the mother was alive if not there. It is odd that all of these children are baptized at the same time. One possible reason is that the family members were converts from another religion. An expert in Connecticut research suggested to me that they might have been German or Dutch Catholics converting. I thought this sounded great until I realized that the parents were sponsors. The parents would have been included in the baptism if this was a conversion. Sponsors are normally church members. Clearly, the reason for the multiple baptism is something else and I do not know what it is. The identity of John Wetmore is unknown but there is a John Wetmore living close to John Clover in the 1790 census and he may be associated with the church in some way. The 1790 CT census shows John Clover in Middletown, Middlesex County, CT page 88 and there is a John Wetmore, II on page 89.
My most recent theory on why the mother is not there has to do with her daughter Betsey Clover who was born shortly after this baptism. The mother may not have been able to attend church due to an illness associated with the pregnancy. This still does not explain why all were baptized together.
The records from Christ's Church/Holy Trinity Protestant Episcopalian Church in Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut have been microfilmed by the LDS Church. They are available on microfilms 4841 through 4846. The early baptisms are all on roll 4841. I ordered this, and laboriously looked at every page of it. There were absolutely no other Clovers. There was one set of data which were interesting. Item no. two in the volumes was Christenings from July 1764 to November 1790. This is the set of records which includes the christenings of William, John, Frederick and Colly.
On page 11 of this record there was another multiple baptism: Sunday, 17 July 1768, Christened: Cornelia, William, Tobias, John, children of William Clever.
Notice that these four children all were Christened on the same date, but are probably not the same age. If John was the oldest and born ca. 1754, it would just be possible for him to be our John Clover. Our William Clover was probably born ca. 1776 and was probably the eldest so if this John was born much later than 1755, he can't be our John. I am queasy about the Clever name and it does definitely say Clever. However, if you have been chasing the family of John, you will realize immediately that these names are all familiar except for Tobias. Cornelia is the female form or Cornelius.
Now if you are hoping that I will prove or disprove the theory that this is our John, I am sorry. I can't right now. I just found it of great interest. Maybe someday more information will spring up and tell me for sure if these Clevers are connected to the Clovers or not. Meanwhile, I have been sitting on this for years hoping to get more information but it has never arrived. So I am publishing it for better or for worse. I am not comfortable with not publishing it, but please do not say that JUNE says that this John Clever is our John Clover of CT and NY. I am not saying that. I just think it is a possibility that deserves further consideration. And I would like to see someone look for these people.
1795-1820
1800 John Clover Greene, NY page 1096 Freehold 02201-00101
[two males 10-16/2 males 16-25/ one male over 45/1 female 16-26]
1810 John Clover Greene NY 326 Wingham 00101-00001
[1 male 16-26/1 male over 45/1 female over 45]
http://oneida.nygenweb.net/
1814 Westmoreland, Oneida County, New York list of owners of land
Claver, Collins
Claver, John
Claver, John Jr.
Claver, William
The letters o and a are very very difficult to differentiate in this early writing. I have not seen the list myself but I feel quite sure from the names that these are our Clovers.
1820 John Clover Oneida NY 213 Westmoreland 000001-00001-0000 [Living next to Collins Clover]
[1 male over 45/1 female over 45]
This 1820 census is the last time I can be reasonably sure that a John Clover record belonged to John Clover sr. The problem is that his son John and a John/Jonathon from the Nicolas Claver line live in the same area.
We do not know his date of death. The 1814 Oneida County tax list has a John and a John junior so we can be pretty sure he was still alive then and that he had moved with his sons to Oneida County from Greene County by 1814. Cornelius Clover stated in his application for a pension for the War of 1812, that his original discharge papers were thought to have been lost in the burning of his father's house. He did not give a date or place for that event. He was discharged in 1813.
There is a statement in the Greene County History that a Mr. Clover froze while going for food for his family. Clearly, whoever this was, it was not our John Clover if he moved to Oneida and was still living there in 1820.
Geography
Problem
We have
records for this family in Windham, in Freehold, in Durham.
Durham was named after the town in Middlesex County,
Connecticut
because so many people came to the area from there. The
several
towns always confused me. After looking at these maps, I
realize
that they didn't more. This is another case of the boundaries moving
around them. This was originally published in Greene Genes,
which is the newsletter for the local society. One of the
people
who is very involved with it, checked the indexes in all the issues for
Clovers for me.
Greene, Albany and several other counties of interest.
Deed
Searches in Greene County, New
YorkGreene, Albany and several other counties of interest.
The problem with this comment is that John Clover moved to Oneida County before the census in 1820. So this Mr. Clover is not John and I have no idea if he is a Clover unknown to us or a Glover or what.
We could reasonably assume that John Clover came to the area about the same time, between 1790 and 1797, before Greene County had been formed from Albany and Ulster Counties.
We do not know the exact date on which this family moved to Greene County. However, Cornelius Clover, the youngest son, is always said to have been born in New York. According to his bible record, Cornelius was born in March 1794. All of his census records, all of the county history articles, all of the family records have him born in New York. So I think that they must have moved between 1790 and 1794.
I searched the deed records in Greene County, New York, where we know that John Clover and his family were living in Windham at the time of the 1800 and 1810 censuses and where John’s daughter, Betsy Clover, married Matthew Shue. One of the reasons for searching the deed records was to find out when the members of the family moved to Oneida County, New York. I have never known for sure where to look for the marriages of John, William, Frederick, Collins, and Cornelius Clover. Girls usually marry close to home. But I was never sure if the boys went off to a new county before or after they were married. Unfortunately, all of the deed records in the books refer to John Clover, Junior and his wife Mehitable, instead of to John Clover, Sr.
Greene County, New York, Volume C: 172: 14 November 1807, John Clover, Junior, and Mehitable, his wife, of the town of Windham, Greene County, New York, sold land to Joel Kelsey of the town of Fothington, [sic] State of Connecticut. Joel Kelsey paid $750.50 for 108 ½ acres of land in the town of Windham, Greene County, New York. Part of the land description reads: Beginning at the Southeast corner of John Clover’s Lot, a stake and stones, thence 92 degrees West, seventy five chains to a stake and stones the South west corner of Wm Clover’s lot... Signatures read John Clover, Jr and Mehitabel Clover. Witnesses, John Newel, Asahel Hough, Thos E. Barker, judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
Greene County, New York, Volume C: 245: 14 September 1808, John Clover, Junior, and Mehitable, his wife, of Oneida County, New York, sold land to Henry Davis, of Durham Town, Greene County, Ohio. Henry Davis paid $100, for 19 acres, 20 rods, of land in the Town of Windham. Part of the land description reads: Beginning at a stake and stones, the southeast corner of a piece of property, surveyed for William Clover,..... Signatures read John Clover, Jr and Mehitable Clover. Witness, Thomas Barker, judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
I found no entries in the Grantee Index for Clovers. There were some Claver entries but they were 40 years later and had no connection that I could see.
We can make several deductions from these two deeds. We can see that John Clover, Junior, moved to Oneida County about the time of the two deeds. Since both deeds mention land surveyed to William Clover, William Clover probably still owned land there and thus might still have been living there. However, since we have no deed records on the land which was surveyed to William we cannot draw any sure conclusions. It is very unfortunate from our viewpoint that there was no legal requirement to register deeds.
Since both William and John Clover were apparently living in Windham, in Greene County in 1807 and 1808, and were married by then, we can assume that they married in that area before they moved to Oneida and Madison Counties. I did check for the surname Hammond in the Greene County deed index and found none at all. At least, we do know that we are looking in this area for wives and not in Oneida County. No other Clover entries were found in the grantee or grantor indexes.
Albany County, New York Deed Records:
I wondered exactly where John Clover, Junior, got the land. Greene County, New York was formed from Ulster and Albany Counties in 1800, so I checked the Albany deed records. Both Windham and Durham are in the northern part of Greene County which would have been in Albany County prior to the formation of Greene County. Unfortunately, the only possible Clover entries in the Albany deed records were for Nicholas and Susannah Claver. Since their children changed the spelling of the name to Clover, I have also been interested in this Claver pair. I have periodically tried, with absolutely no success, to find out if John Clover of Connecticut was connected with them. All records I have so far found for Nicholas and Susannah have their name as Claver. See the New York page for these deeds. New York Research
See Oneida Deeds for an index to deeds in that county. There are some entries which may belong to John Clover sr. I cannot be certain one way or another.
I like to know church membership on families that I am researching. I can zero in on likely places to search for records. It is interesting here that John and his children left records in three different churches in three different denominations. This may be a matter of attending the closest church. It was difficult to go many miles to church. In 1790, the children were baptized in Holy Trinity Protestant Episcopalian Church in Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut. In 1801, Frederick, son of John, joined the First Presbyterian Church Record, in Durham, New York. In 1810, his daughter, Betsey, was married in the Oak Hill Dutch Reformed Church. These three records only prove that every church record in sight needs to be searched. Bear in mind that members of German and Dutch Reformed Churches sometimes had lapses between pastors. It was common for the members to then go to a Presbyterian Church. They did not commonly go to an Episcopalian Church.
A Bit of New York
Speculation
Let me state clearly that I do not know where John Clover was actually born. He is most likely to have been the original immigrant of this family. However, there are a few facts which researchers might start with. I published a note in the Clover Family Exchange, 7: 2/3: 26 about a J. Clover who commanded the schooner “Nimble Shilling” in 1781. The schooner was also commanded by S. Hill in 1781. Ergo, one of them succeeded the other. Could John have been the commander and left the ship then? If so, the fact that he purchased land in Middletown in 1782 is nice timing.
That, of course, begs the question of where John Clover and his family came from. Since I have basically been unable to find any Clover records in Connecticut before the 1782 deed, I really think it is likely that he was originally from somewhere else. There is a very interesting book in the Salt Lake City Library entitled, Refugees of 1776 from Long Island to Connecticut. There were two volumes, indexed. There were no Clover entries in the index, but it was an interesting book. I had not been aware that people from Long Island fled to Connecticut during the English occupation in the Revolution. Long Island is very close to the New Jersey Clover group. I had wondered if John Clover could have been connected in some way to John Peter Clover. Long Island is basically just across the river from other Clover groups. However, recent DNA evidence has shown no connection between the descendants of John Clover of New York and Connecticut and any other Clover group which has so far been tested.
It is possible that there is new material available since I searched in Green County for Clovers. However, I had the local Genealogy Specialiest check for me and she found nothing more. Greene was formed from Albany and Ulster Counties. I have also searched Albany County early records and found only the Nicholas Claver/Clover family. However, at the time it is possible looking at the maps that John Clover moved to the area which was in Ulster County prior to the formation of Greene County. I have NOT searched in Ulster County and someone should do so.
Just as we do not know the exact age or origin of John Clover Senior, we do not know to whom he was married. The Sarah Collins marriage is a myth. Please see New York Myth of John Clover's Marriage for more on this subject.
I have, however, thought about something a lot. I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but the oldest daughters of two of John's sons, Collins and Cornelius, were named Armenia. I certainly have no evidence that John was married to an Armenia, but it is so common to name first sons and daughters after mothers and fathers that I have to wonder how it happened that these two men named their first daughter with the same name. As to William and John, they had childen whose names we do not know according to the early censuses. If you spend some time with google as I did, you will discover that none of the name books list Armenia as a first name. I did finally find the name male name Armen which is derived from the country of Armenia. I don't know if Armenia is a female form of Armen. I do know it is an extremely rare name. To find it twice as the eldest daughter of two brothers is highly suspicious. I don't know the connection, but I think it has to be looked for.
I have heard speculation that John Clover was Dutch because he had a son named Cornelius, but I have also heard speculation that he was English because he had a son named Collins. The same person who thought he was Dutch said that Armenia is a Dutch name but I can find absolutely no evidence of this. I really don't have any evidence that either John or his wife were Dutch or German or English. I would point out that early in the 20th century there was a serious prejudice again Germans because of the wars. Consequently, lots of families decided that they were Dutch or English instead of German. This complicates current research where we are just after the truth.
We have bible records for his grandson Williston Clover . Note the comment that Adelia Johnson and Williston Clover were related. I don't know what this connection is, but it could be important to follow up. I wondered if there was a connection to one of the wives of the sons of John Clover. We know that Williston's mother was Armenia Clover, daughter of Collins Clover. We do not know the surnames of his grandmother or of his aunts. Adelia lived long enough to leave a death certificate. Since she was living with a sister, the information might be useful.
I also wonder about the estate records in Connecticut. I wonder if John and his wife might appear in some estate record there. I have not searched for this. At the time I was searching these were not easily available for me. It may be that sometime the records will be transcribed and fully indexed.
(1) “Early CT Settlers of Greene County, New York,” Connecticut Nutmegger, Volume 24: 426 (1991), reprinted from the History of Greene County, New York, published in 1884.
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Created,
Edited, and Maintained by June Byrne
For the Clover Family Historical Society
This page is copyrighted 2007 by June Clover Byrne
For contact information, please return to Home Page.
Search Engine for everyname index for full site is also available at the bottom of the Home Page.
Last Updated 7 February 2012
sFor the Clover Family Historical Society
This page is copyrighted 2007 by June Clover Byrne
For contact information, please return to Home Page.
Search Engine for everyname index for full site is also available at the bottom of the Home Page.
Last Updated 7 February 2012