The history of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts, By a committee of the Dorchester antiquarian and historical society ...

HISTORY OF DORCHESTER. 115
when his daughter Mehitable was presented for baptism in 1640,.by his relative, Capt. Stoughton. Mr.
Clark was a successful merchant. He removed his
residence and business to Boston in 1644 or'45, in
company with Gibson, Houchin, Duncan, Willis,
Upsall, Farnham, and other Dorchester settlers,
whose names may be seen as the founders of the
Old North Society, in 1650. Clark's name is perpetuated in Boston by the name of a street near his
house, and a wharf, at the north part of the city.
He commanded the artillery company and the Suffolk regiment in 1651, and the same year was chosen
Deputy from Boston, and continued in that office
eighteen years, five of which he was Speaker of the
House. He was afterwards chosen Assistant for five
years in succession. It should be mentioned to his
honor, that in 1658, when the sanguinary law was
passed condemning Quakers to death, he and one
other requested that their dissent might be recorded. When Charles II. sent over his Commissioners
in 1665, and threatened to annul the Massachusetts
Charter on account of their sympathy for the revolution, that instrument was taken from the public
archives and placed in the hands of Major Clark
and three others for safe keeping.'He was sent,
with Mr. Pynchon, to New York, in 1664, to represent the Bay Colony at the transfer of Manhadoes
from the Dutch to the English authorities. He left
~1,500 for a hospital in case his two daughters
should die childless, which did not occur.
After Mr. Clark's removal to Boston, his wife was
called before the church at Dorchester for lying