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Wedding Day for Robert and Salucia

On November 26, 1857, Robert Squibb left his home south of Elvira, Iowa to go get married. He had been into Clinton the week before with his bride-to-be, Salucia Sophronia Clark, to get the license, and now he had the necessary paperwork.


The crops were generally harvested by then, so he had some time off. November 26th was a Thursday, the fourth one of November in fact, but Thanksgiving hadn't yet been established as a national holiday.

Robert Squibb just had to take his bride to the Justice-of-the-Peace for the ceremony. The JP was William W. Beatty, who lived just a few miles north.


This 1865 map of a portion of Clinton county, Iowa shows where Robert's father's farm was, in the lower left, and the Justice-of-the-Peace in the upper right, just four or five miles away. You will also see, not far from the Squibbs, an A. Clark. Could it be that Salucia lived on the road to the JP?

Is it possible that A. Clark was father or, at least, a relative of Salucia Clark? The 1860 census shows an Alexander Clark, b. 1832 in Ohio. Salucia was born around 1841, so he wasn't her father, but certainly could have been her brother. He was married to Martha Jane Bohart, widow of Peter Bohart. In the 1856 Iowa census Alexander was a hired hand for Jacob Bohart. Salucia wasn't anywhere to be found. Where did Alexander come from and was Salucia there?

Not a lot to go on as there were several Alexander Clarks from Ohio. But, one stands out having the right age and birthplace, living in Oxford township, Guernsey county, Ohio with the Andrew Poul family. And interestingly, a girl named Sophrona lives there as well. Not Clark though, Sophrona Woodburn. But this Sophrona Woodburn married Jacob Burkey and definitely could not be our Salucia, even if there was some way to explain the last name of Woodburn. Not only that, there aren't any people who could be Salucia's parents, assuming her father was born in Connecticut and her mother in Pennsylvania, as stated in her 1880 and 1900 censuses. And Salucia isn't there. It seems like A. Clark is a dead end.

Salucia lived somewhere, and Robert Squibb may well have picked her up there on the way to the wedding. She could have been a servant or could have lived with family. But we don't know. Not yet.




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