A Long Time Coming to Central Illinois

This is the home page of Chuck and Martha Clark, whose longfathers made the journeys that brought our families together.

John Clark was a ship captain and merchant of Rye, Sussex, England, whose great-grandsons Edward and Philip made the long trek to the Sangamon Country frontier of Illinois. Abraham Henckel in Germany in 1500 was the earliest known father of a family whose almost forgotten Central Illinois branch is just one arm of a vast family now finding its way back together. Thomas Bland, possibly of England, established a family still flourishing in the hills of West Virginia and to California and beyond. And Jean Adam, a young sailor for DeGrasse and Lafayette, first fought to free this land, then as John Adams stayed to help build it.

We honor all of these and many more who existed and eventually allowed us to unite all of these families in the same Sangamon Country to which their sons and daughters eventually came.

Surnames researched: ADAMS (North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois), BLAND (West Virginia), BESS (Illinois), CLARK (Illinois), CRUTHERS (Ohio, Indiana),HENKLE or HINKLE (West Virginia), LANTZ (Ohio, Indiana), PETERS (Indiana, Illinois), BLANCHFIELD (Ireland), RALSTON (North Carolina), TROTTER (Kentucky, Illinois) and WILLIAMS (Kentucky).

We would also like to attempt to research the Philippine family JAZMINES and any related families if we can ever figure out how.

Family Tree Maker Reports and Trees

• User Home Page Genealogy Report: The Family of Jean Adam / John Adams


• User Home Page Genealogy Report: Some Descendants of Thomas Bland of West Virginia


• User Home Page Genealogy Report: Some Descendants of Anthony Henckel


• User Home Page Genealogy Report: Descendants of John Clark of Rye, England


• User Home Page Genealogy Report: Ancestors of Fannie Asida Safford