Name: Clark, (Clarke) Michael J.
Born: 1817
Place Ireland
Ordained: 02/28/1841
Place Ordained: Vincennes, Indiana
Years of Service: 1841-1857 (to Chicago Diocese)
Died: 01/09/1872
Place Died: Wenona, Illinois
Burial Info: Saint Mary’s Cemetery, Wenona, Illinois
Notes: His last name is written as Clark or Clarke. His gravestone says “Clark”. His departure from the Vincennes Diocese is shown as 1857.
Biography from “Find-A-Grave”
Michael Joseph Clark was ordained on 28 Feb 1841 at Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana. The ordination book recorded the event in Latin as Michaelem Clarke ex Clogherinsi diocasi, meaning Michael Clarke from the Diocese of Clogher. The Diocese straddles the Irish border, consisting of County Monaghan, much of County Fermanagh and parts of Counties Tyrone, Donegal and Louth. His last name is spelled both as Clark and Clarke in histories and records from the Diocese of Indianapolis Archives.
DIED: At Wenona, Jan. 9, of pneumonia, Rev. Father CLARK, pastor of Catholic church at Wenona.-The Henry Republican, Henry, IL, Jan 16, 1873
Father Clark, the Catholic priest of this place, died of pneumonia this morning at six o’clock. Father Terry, of Ottawa, and several other prominent members of the Catholic church are here. -Marshall County column, The Pantagraph, Bloomington, IL Fri, Jan 10, 1873
Rev. Father Clarke, Catholic Pastor of Wenona and adjacent Missions, died Thursday morning, at Wenona, after an illness of three weeks. -The Pantagraph, Bloomington, IL, Fri, Jan 17, 1873
Censuses Records:
Residence 1850: Lafayette, Tippecanoe, Indiana, Occupation: Priest
Residence 1860: Amboy, Lee, Illinois, Occupation: C Priest
Residence 1870: Wenona, Marshall, Illinois, Occupation: Clergyman
Father Clark was assigned to Bloomington, Illinois in 1857, per info from the Archdiocese of Indianapolis Archives.
St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Wenona
During the years from 1839 to 1842 any member of the Catholic faith in the Sandy area who wished to attend service or receive the Sacraments would have to travel to Peru, Indiana where Rev. M. J. Clarke served as pastor of a small frame church. In 1843 Father Clarke went to LaFayette, Indiana, erected a church and school there and was pastor there until 1857. Worship was a bit easier for Wenona area Catholics by 1859 because this same Father Clarke became pastor of Amboy, Illinois and attended many communities including Sandy Hill, Maytown, Perkins Grove and Wenona area. The first resident pastor in Wenona was Rev. Murphy, appointed by the Bishop of Chicago, November 24, 1867 and the first recorded baptism was on that date. Rev. M. J. Clarke became pastor of Wenona from May, 1868 to August, 1869 and again from March, 1870 to January 9, 1873, the date of his death. He had contracted a cold at Christmas time and complications caused his death. During his career he had been through many hardships and endured much for his faith. Born and educated in Ireland, he was ordained at Vincennes, Indiana where the people were predominantly French. He was buried in Wenona, Illinois.
– Old Sandy Remembers: Evans Township, Marshall County [history], published 1968 [with typo edits]
Fr. Thie Biographies:
CLARKE, MICHAEL J., studied in Vincennes and ordained there. Minor Orders April 5, 1840, Subdeacon August 16, 1840, Deacon December 19, and Priest February 28, 1841. His name appears on baptism register at Fort Wayne , August 13, 1841 and June l, and July 1842. For a while in 1842 he was resident pastor of Peru. In 1843 he became the first resident pastor of Lafayette and held that pastorate till l857 . In latter part of 1858 he was pastor of Anderson attending also Muncietown (the place is named after the Muncie Indian Tribe) and Noblesville, Hamilton County, and Union, Warren County, and Winchester Randolph County. (Cath. Directory) In Lafayette in 1843 Clark rented a one story brick building on Fourth Street for services and then built in 1844 Sts. Mary and Martha Church on corner of Fifth and Brown Sts. at a cost of $10,000. this was later St. Joseph’s Hall, now called Columbia Hall; built a rectory rear of the church which burned down shortly after and a sohool was built in its place. Clark held this pastorate fourteen years and then in 1857 took charge of Bloomington, Ill. in June 185?. (Ind. Cath. August 2i, 1914.)
In 1860 be joined Chicago diocese and was given charge of Amboy, Illinois, till late in 1864 or longer. If he was pastor of Bloomington that must have been in 1865-1868. (Directory 1866, 1867 and 1868 not at hand) Some time in 1868 he became pastor of Winona. Illinois, (Chicago) La Salle County. (Obit. in Cath. Dir.) “January 9,1872 Reverend Michael Clark. late Pastor of Winona. His death resulted from pneumonia contracted during the cold spell preceding Christmas. He held regular services during the holy season and called too late for medical aid. He was in the thirty-third year of his priesthood and sixty-fourth year of his age.”
He was the first priest to visit Crawfordsville. where he celebrated Mass in the courthouse about 1850. Also the first to say Mass in Anderson (court house) in 1857 and in 1858 laid the foundation of the church, parish of sixty souls. (History of Fort Wayne p. 279) (Dir. of 1858 possibly omits his name by mistake)
In 1843 there were twenty-five catholic families in Lafayette. These would assemble on Sundays when the pastor was engaged elsewhere and a lay teacher would lead in prayer RnG teach’ Cateohism. (Cath. Ch.of Ind.)
