This Day in History: Abraham Clark, signer of the Declaration of Independence | Tara Ross

February 14, 2019

During this week in 1726, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence is born in New Jersey. Abraham Clark must have had nerves of steel! On the day that the Declaration was signed, he wrote a stirring letter: “We are now Sir embarked on a most Tempestuous Sea, Life very uncertain, Seeming dangers Scattered thick Around us . . . Let us prepare for the Worst. We can Die here but once.” Well, I suppose so! Clark was a surveyor and a lawyer who was elected to the Continental Congress, then sitting in Philadelphia. His service so far away from home was a very real sacrifice. His home was in New Jersey, close to the Revolutionary War battles that were then taking place. Can you imagine how he must have worried about his family? Indeed, as it would turn out, much of his property was damaged during the war. But none of that was anything compared to what happened to his children. Two of Clark’s sons were unfortunately captured and held as prisoners of war […]