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Early 20th Century Post Card of Bird Island with light house and accessory buildings.
On November 12, 1862, 24-year-old Susan Clark Berry and 29-year-old Charles Augustus Clark were married by Pastor Richard Dorr, of the Methodist Protestant Church in North Marion.
The bride, a dressmaker, wore a floral brocade silk skirt and bodice in a pale dusky-pink “ashes of roses” color trimmed with thin pleated green silk and a wide band of brown silk taffeta at the hem. Over 160 years later, the ensemble rests at the Sippican Historical Society with a note that the bride sewed it herself.
Susan’s surviving handiwork also includes a linen duster, a light, loose-fitting piece of outerwear, made to keep her husband’s clothes clean while he maintained Marion’s Bird Island Light – the same position his father, John Clark, held years before.
As head keeper, Charles earned $560 annually and living quarters on Bird Island. However, government records from 1888 describe the old stone keeper’s dwelling as “dilapidated” and recommended “that a new dwelling be built at the earliest day practicable.” A new house was built, but not until 1890 and by the next year the family, now including 3 children: Mercy, Abbie, and Charles Leonard Clark, transferred to New Bedford’s Palmer Island Light.
Charles retired from light keeping in 1908. He and Susan chose to spend their remaining years in Marion on property along Main Street purchased in 1875 from Stephen W. Hadley for $200. Susan died at the age of 73 on March 3, 1912 of “exhaustion following acute articular rheumatism” according to Alger W. Rice, M.D. of Marion. Charles died a few years later. Both were buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Marion.
For years, Susan and Charles have been represented in our collection by their clothing, a few scattered government records, and tales passed down through history… until a few weeks ago.
In a collection of cabinet cards, tin-types, and carte de visit generously donated by the Getchell family, one woman, seemingly in her 50s or 60s, stood out. She’s dressed in striped fabric with dark lace encircling her neck and neatly pulled back hair showing off a drop earring. Her expression is stoic, as was the custom over 100 years ago. The front advertises the photographer, N. Gifford of New Bedford, but taped to the back is a handwritten note, “Susan (Berry) Clark, dau. of Leonard and Rebecca C. Berry, and wife of Charles Clark. b. Feb. 28, 1839.”
It’s nice to meet you, Susan.
Epilogue: We’re still waiting to meet Charles and hundreds of other Marion residents from throughout the centuries. If you have family albums or loose photographs to help piece together Marion’s history, please reach out to info@sippicanhistoricalsociety.