Household #135: Clarke, Charley

Back to the 1900 Census & Household Index

In the 1900 Barney census, Charley Clark headed a 3-person household. The table below preserves the exact names, relationships, ages, birthplaces, and occupations recorded for the household.

Household Snapshot

Charley Clark headed a 3-person household in the 1900 Barney census with 1 spouse or marital partner and 1 child.

Charley Clark's listed occupation was Laborer mill.

All listed household members were reported as born in Georgia.

1900 Census Household

Name	Relation	Age	Birthplace	Occupation
Charley Clark	Head	28	Georgia	Laborer mill
Milia Clark	Wife	28	Georgia	—
Memory Clark	Son	6	Georgia	—

Children and Later Trails

This section is reserved for later-life child evidence. No later spouse, death, burial, obituary, probate, separate household, or descendant-line identification has been added here yet from direct records.

Family Narrative

The 1900 Barney household contains Charley Clarke, wife Milia or Amelia Clarke, and son Memory Clarke.
The family can be followed in Barney through the 1910 census, and Amelia then appears as head of household in 1920 with nieces Connie Dasher and Blanche Dasher.
Their son Memory E. Clark is unusually well documented through a 1917 marriage, a World War I draft card, induction and transport records, service-death records, and later military index entries.

Charley Clarke appears in 1900 as a farm laborer born about 1871 or 1872 in Georgia. His wife is recorded there as Milia, also born about 1871 or 1872 in Georgia, and their son Memory appears as a six-year-old child born in Georgia. The household was renting in Barney. The 1900 entry establishes the three-person core household and provides the earliest firm Barney placement now in hand.

The 1910 census keeps the family together in Barney and fills out the middle part of the household's story. Charley, recorded there as Charlie or Charley Clark, was working in naval stores. Amelia was still in the home, and Memory, then about fifteen, was still with his parents. The census indicates that Charley and Amelia had been married about seventeen years and that Memory was their only child then living. The surname appears both as Clark and Clarke in the record set, but the family is stable enough across residence, age, household structure, and later military records to treat the entries as the same Barney family.

A 6 August 1910 Valdosta Daily Times article on a shooting at Barney names Charley Clark in the reported sequence that began with a fight on a South Georgia train and Clark's arrest after being put off at Barney. Because the article gives only the name and Barney setting, it should be treated as a possible later-life lead for this household head rather than a closed identification. If it does refer to this Charley Clark, it places him in a concrete public-order event only months after the 1910 census.

Memory E. Clark is the best documented member of the household. His Brooks County marriage record shows that he married Rendy James on 11 October 1917. His World War I draft card places him at Barney, gives his birth date as 25 November 1894, describes him as a single Black man working in farming, and provides a physical description. Its single-status entry conflicts with the October 1917 marriage record, so it should be used cautiously for marital status. The other details strongly identify him as the Barney resident.

The military records then provide a short but clear service chronology. A Brooks County local board record shows Memory inducted on 21 August 1918 and entrained for Camp Gordon. A Georgia service card states that he was inducted at Quitman on 22 August 1918, served as a private in Company B, 539 Engineers, and died on 11 October 1918 of lobar pneumonia. Outbound transport records place him leaving New York on 3 September 1918, and related military index material ties him to Barney or Bonney, Brooks County, to Amelia Clarke as mother or contact, and to the same October 1918 death in service. Later military compilations, including the Veterans Administration Master Index and Soldiers of the Great War, support the same basic conclusion. One small conflict remains in the birth date, which appears as 25 November 1894 on the draft card and 24 November 1894 in the VA index.

The 1920 census shows the household after Memory's death. Amelia Clark appears as head of household in Barney, with Connie Dasher and Blanche Dasher in the home and identified there as nieces. Charley does not appear with her in that census. The record supports the change in household structure, but it does not by itself show whether Charley had died, separated from the family, or was simply elsewhere when counted. The Dasher girls clearly belonged to Amelia's wider family network, though their exact parentage still needs direct proof before the relationship can be placed more precisely.

Taken together, the records support a careful reconstruction of this household. The parental household is solidly placed in Barney in 1900 and 1910, Amelia is still in Barney in 1920, and Memory's adult path from marriage to wartime service and death is well anchored. The weaker parts of the file are Charley's life before 1900 and after 1910, Amelia's life after 1920, and the later record trail for widow Rendy James Clark.

Military Service

Memory E. Clark, the son in this 1900 household, has a well-supported World War I service trail. Brooks County local-board material shows induction in August 1918, the Georgia service card places him as a private in Company B, 539 Engineers, and related military records show he died of lobar pneumonia on 11 October 1918. The only small conflict currently noted is the one-day birth-date difference between the draft card and Veterans Administration Master Index.

Open Research Questions

Charley Clarke's life before the 1900 census still needs firmer placement, including any 1880 or 1870 parental household identification.
Charley's disappearance from Amelia's 1920 household should not be treated as proof of death without a direct death, burial, or other closing record.
Amelia Clarke's later life after the 1920 census still needs a death or burial record.
Rendy James Clark, widow of Memory E. Clark, still needs a stronger later-life record trail after the 1917 marriage and Memory's 1918 death.
Connie Dasher and Blanche Dasher are called Amelia's nieces in 1920, but their parentage still needs direct documentation.
Memory's birth date differs by one day across records: 25 November 1894 on the draft card and 24 November 1894 in the Veterans Administration Master Index.

Research Status

Well-researched for the core 1900-1920 household and for Memory E. Clark's military service, but not complete. The entry now rests on a firm three-census household trail, a 1917 marriage record for Memory, a draft card, induction and transport records, a Georgia service-death card, and later military index support. The main remaining gaps concern Charley before 1900 and after 1910, Amelia after 1920, the later life of Rendy James Clark, and the parentage of the Dasher nieces.

Sources

1900 U.S. census, Barney Precinct, Brooks County, Georgia, Charley Clarke household.
1910 U.S. census, Barney Precinct, Brooks County, Georgia, Charlie Clark household.
The Valdosta Daily Times, 6 August 1910, page 5, "Shooting at Barney," possible Charley Clark later-life lead.
1920 U.S. census, Barney Precinct, Brooks County, Georgia, Amelia Clark household.
Brooks County, Georgia, marriage record, 11 October 1917, Memory E. Clark and Rendy James.
World War I draft registration card for Memory E. Clark of Barney, Brooks County, Georgia.
Brooks County local board induction or entrainment record for Memory E. Clark, 21 August 1918, entrained for Camp Gordon.
Georgia World War I service card for Memory E. Clark, private, Company B, 539 Engineers, inducted 22 August 1918, died 11 October 1918 of lobar pneumonia.
U.S. Army transport record for Memory E. Clarke departing New York on 3 September 1918 on the Karmala.
Related U.S. Army transport material for Memory E. Clark associated with the return phase, matching residence, mother contact, unit, and service number.
U.S. Veterans Administration Master Index entry for Memory E. Clark, giving Bonney, Georgia residence and death date 11 October 1918.
Soldiers of the Great War entry for Memory E. Clark of Bonney, Georgia, private, died of disease.

If you have photographs, family records, oral history, corrections, or additional information about this family, please contact the project with the details.