Household #146: Clark, Ruben

Back to the 1900 Census & Household Index

In the 1900 Barney census, Ruben Clark headed a 6-person household. The table below preserves the exact names, relationships, ages, birthplaces, and occupations recorded for the household.

Household Snapshot

Ruben Clark headed a 6-person household in the 1900 Barney census with 1 spouse or marital partner, 2 children, and 2 extended-family members.

Ruben Clark's listed occupation was Farmer.

All listed household members were reported as born in Georgia.

1900 Census Household

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

Household summary

Ruben Clark, also recorded as Reuben Clark, was listed in the 1900 Barney census as a Black farmer, age 66, born in Georgia in April 1834. He rented his farm. His wife was Millie Clark, age 63, also born in Georgia. The census reports that Ruben and Millie had been married for 40 years. Their 1900 household also included daughter Georgia Clark, son Rubin Clark, and granddaughters Millie Clark and Ada Clark.

The surviving record trail reaches back into Reconstruction. Reuben Clark registered to vote in Brooks County on 1 July 1867. He appears in the 1870 Brooks County census with Millie and a group of children, then in an 1871 Morven District freedman tax-list entry associated with employer W. R. Ryall. By 1880, he was recorded in Morven as a farmer with wife Millie and children still in the household. An 1880 agricultural schedule also records him in Brooks County.

The last direct record now preserved for Ruben is a likely 1910 Richmond County census household. That record lists Reuben Clark, age 73, on Waynes Bard Road with wife Sedina Clark, age 60, and grandson John T. William, age 17. It also says Reuben had been married 42 years. That creates the main unresolved problem in this entry. Sedina may be a later wife, a recording or name issue involving Millie, or a different relationship. The present evidence does not settle it.

Family Narrative

• 1867: Reuben Clark, Black, registered in Brooks County, Election District 7, on 1 July 1867.
• 1870: Reuben Clark, age 35, Black farm laborer, appears in Brooks County, Georgia, Quitman post office. Millie Clark, age 35, appears in the household with children Queen, Hing, Peggy, Laura, William, Mary, Thomas, and Fortune.
• 1871: Reuben Clark appears in the Brooks County Morven District freedman tax list, associated with employer W. R. Ryall.
• 1880: Reuben Clark, age 46, farmer, appears in Morven, Brooks County, with wife Millie and children Georgia, Reuben, Jenny, Laura, William, Mary, Thomas, Fortum/Fortune, and Charlie. The census marks Reuben and Millie as unable to read or write.
• 1880 agricultural schedule: Reuben Clark appears in Brooks County, District 4, on 16 July 1880, OS page 47, line 3.
• 1900: Ruben Clark, age 66, farmer, appears in Barney, Brooks County, with wife Millie, daughter Georgia, son Rubin, and granddaughters Millie and Ada. The record reports about 40 years married and rented farm status.
• 1910: A likely same Reuben Clark, age 73, appears in Richmond County with wife Sedina and grandson John T. William. This supports a post-1900 move or late-life residence, but it does not explain what happened to Millie.

Connections to Other Barney Families

The Clark surname appears in several Barney-area households. This entry does not yet prove a specific connection to HH#135 or to the broader Clark-Rountree network. Those remain research leads, not conclusions.

Open Research Questions

• The 1910 Sedina/Sednia Clark problem remains unresolved. No direct record currently proves whether she was a second wife, a name variant for Millie, or a separate relationship.
• Ruben's death is only bounded as after the likely 1910 Richmond County census record. No death, burial, probate, or later tax record has been found in the current source set.
• Millie's life after the 1900 Barney census is not proved by the preserved records. A possible later connection to Anderson Clark should not be used as fact without the 1920 census image and supporting evidence.
• No direct marriage record has been found for Ruben and Millie or for Reuben and Sedina.

Research Status

• Status: Source-exhausted for currently available direct records; unresolved late-life spouse and death questions remain.
• Strengths: The entry now rests on a direct record chain from 1867 through 1910: Reconstruction voter registration, 1870 census, 1871 freedman tax list, 1880 census, 1880 agricultural schedule, 1900 census, and 1910 census.
• Remaining cautions: The record trail does not resolve Millie versus Sedina, Ruben's death, Millie's later life, or any specific Clark-Rountree/HH#135 connection.

Sources

• Georgia, Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869, Brooks County, Election District 7, Reuben Clark, registry date 1 July 1867.
• 1870 United States census, Brooks County, Georgia, Quitman post office, Reuben Clark household; Ancestry summary citing roll M593_137, page 68A.
• Georgia, U.S., Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892, Brooks County, Morven District 660, freedman tax-list entry for Reuben Clark, residence date 1871, associated employer W. R. Ryall.
• 1880 United States census, Morven, Brooks County, Georgia, Reuben Clark household; roll 135, page 330A, ED 004.
• U.S. Selected Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880, Georgia agriculture schedule, Brooks County District 4, Reuben Clark, enumerated 16 July 1880, OS page 47, line 3.
• 1900 United States census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, Ruben Clark household; roll 186, page 7, ED 9, family number 146.
• 1910 United States census, Militia District 124, Richmond County, Georgia, Waynes Bard Road, Reuben Clark household; roll T624_211, page 8A, ED 0078.

Share Additional Information

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