Clark fought at Bunker Hill and it is said he could probably play fiddle in his sleep
By Rebecca Courser, for Black Heritage Trail NH
WARNER–Anthony Clark may have been small of stature (5’3″) but he loomed large with his ability to play fiddle and call a dance. He ran week-long dancing classes at various halls and inns in western Merrimack County and was called a “dancing master.” Theresa Harvey, writing in 1823, recalls Clark at a muster, followed by a party at her Uncle Jonathan’s Musterfield Farm in Sutton:
“…As soon as possible after the dinner tables were cleared away, the hall was made ready for the dancers…Anthony Clark, the fiddler and dancing master, probably did more toward instructing the young people in the arts and graces of politeness and good manners than any other man of his day and generation…”
And a history of Sutton, based on the historical collections of Erastus Wadleigh, Esq. and A.H. Worthen, describe Clark as:
“…fond of mirth; a cheerful, inoffensive man, and a good citizen….For over half a century, Tony Clark was the most noted violinist in all this region. It has even been asserted that he could fiddle when asleep. It is beyond doubt that he could when awake, and to attempt a ball or dance without his aid and presence thereat was never even thought of.”
Clark, born enslaved, served in the Continental Army, enlisting in Dracut, MA, when he was 19. He later served with the Seventh Massachusetts Regiment, stationed near West Point, NY. He was on the muster rolls at Camp Peekskill and York Huts and was “on command at the lines,” meaning he was engaged in active duty. According to the Sutton history, he fought at Bunker Hill. He received his final discharge in 1783 when his regiment disbanded. It is not certain if he returned to Dracut, but according to pension records his military papers were destroyed in a house fire in Dunbarton, NH, sometime in the 1790s.
By 1795, Clark was paying a poll tax in Sutton, NH, and by 1810 he was living in Warner. He supplemented his music income by working as a tenement farmer and shoemaker and, in 1804, married Lucinda (Lucy) Moor of Canterbury, NH. They had 10 children, none of whom, apparently, took up the fiddle.
Clark died January 8, 1856, at the recorded age of 100. A military service was held in his honor, and he was buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery in Warner. His wife was buried by his side in 1862. The Clarks are the only Black family with a headstone marking their burial place in Warner. Several of the Clark children remained in the area, working as laborers, farmers, and mill-hands.
At least one Clark daughter married a musician.
Rebecca Courser is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and took graduate courses in the Heritage Studies Program at Plymouth State University. She has spent the last decades continuing to research the lives of families who lived in western Merrimack County.
This article is part of an ongoing series aimed at highlighting and honoring the stories of notable Black historical figures and families who helped shape New Hampshire and Maine. These stories were originally collected by the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire for a project with the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire. Stories are being shared with the partners in The Granite State News Collaborative.