Not just a secret identity

A lot of people have been asking about Clark’s name, and I have to admit, I was a little curious too.  I know it is a family name (it’s my mom’s middle name, and someone’s maiden name from farther up the family tree), but that’s about it.  I asked mom for a little background, so she talked to my grandmother and they came up with the following:

Julia Clark (my great great grandmother, and after whom my mom was named) was the daughter of a doctor in Atlanta, Georgia.  The Atlanta Clarks, despite local prominence, picked up and moved to the Gulf Coast after a tornado destroyed their house.  This was in 452 B.C.  Actually, it wasn’t, but neither mom nor my grandmother had any dates for me to write about.  It was probably closer to 1900.  I’ll update this post if I ever decide to spend money on ancestry.com or a time machine.

Anyway, once they set up shop somewhere on the coast, Julia Clark married into the Doak family, who had made a small fortune building sawmills.  This has nothing to do with gravy.  Julia Clark had three daughters: Emmydell, Maggie and Esther (my great grandmother).

Emmydell married a Mr. Kelly, a banker, and they had a son named Clark Kelly.  Clark Kelly was the vice president of Waterman Steamship Corporation. We’re pretty sure the Kelly family still lives in Mobile, Alabama.  Regardless, I’m told Emmydell was known as “Aunt Daughter”.  Isn’t that just a quaint little slice of hee-haw Americana???  Love it.

Maggie married a dentist, Dr. Granade. Apparently, their descendants are lawyers in Fairhope.  Poor guys.

Here’s a direct quote from mom: “Esther was the youngest daughter, born to an older Mother to a wealthy family and was a little spoiled and catered to, very headstrong and just a touch rebellious...”  This, I think, means she started every sentence, no matter what she was saying, with “As God is my witness…”

Anyway, Great Grandmother Esther met and married my great grandfather, a Dubuisson, who was working at the time for my great great grandfather.   Esther had two children: Ann Julia and William Doak.  William, or “Bud”, was my grandpop.

Then Foghorn Leghorn and Becky Thatcher went to the Piggly Wiggly and… okay that part I made up.

So there we go.  Clark’s name comes from my mom’s middle name, which came from Clark’s great great great grandmother, Julia Clark.

Or it’s from Superman.