Modena Chittenden Clark

Narrative:

     Modena Chittenden Clark was born on 4 Oct 1779 in Ira, Vermont.^7,8
     Modena married Gideon Dyer Cobb, son of Elkanah Cobb and Mary Willard, about 1796, in or near Castleton, Vermont.^9,10 According to family lore, Modena's family was opposed to her marriage to Gideon because she was so young (about 17), and forbade him from coming to the house. But one day he was out riding and met her taking a walk. He took her up on his horse behind him and they rode into the next county and were married. If so, no record has been found of their marriage in Castleton; no records survive from that period in Fair Haven.¹²
     Modena and Gideon settled in Castleton after their marriage.¹³

The Trek to the Western Frontier --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---

     Modena and Gideon and their young son Caleb were part of a group of over seventy people who moved from Vermont to Kentucky under the leadership of Matthew Lyon. They were part of a small group that made the trek in late 1799, followed by a larger group who arrived in Jun 1801.^14,15,16 According to family lore, Modena was a favorite of her aunt, Beulah Chittenden, Lyon's second wife, who she visited many times at the Lyon's home in Fair Haven. Supposedly, that is where that Modena met Gideon. When the Lyons decided to migrate to Kentucky they prevailed upon the young couple to join the party.¹⁷
     The group traveled in five wagons across the Allegheny Mountains to New Geneva, on the Monongahela River, over 50 miles above Pittsburgh, arriving in mid-Nov 1799. The water was then too low to float down the river, so they spent the winter preparing their boats. New Geneva is not known to have been a common embarkation point, so it seems likely that the location was chosen because of Lyon's association with Albert Gallatin, minority leader of the House of Representatives when Lyon was serving there, who was a resident if that town. Lyon left the party while preparations were underway, returning to his Congressional duties.^18,19,20 For details, please see The Trek from Vermont to the Kentucky Wilderness.

Life on the Frontier --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---

     Life on the frontier was challenging to a young mother, though exciting to a young boy, if the story passed down through the family is true. Supposedly, while Caleb was still very young Indians who lived nearby would come and want to take him with them. Modena was afraid to let him go, but also afraid of offending the Indians, and the little boy always wanted to go. They gave him an outfit with a bright feathered headpiece, which he loved. One day his mother saw an Indian swimming out in the middle of the river with the child on his back, giving her a terrible fright. Later the Indians threw him in the river, and the little fellow kicked and stayed afloat, after which they returned him home supposedly saying "Him heap plucky." No doubt the story has been enhanced over time, if not invented outright, but it probably gives at least an idea of the perceived risks the families faced.²¹
     According to family lore, Modena was often sent for to administer to the sick and distressed. Her daughter recalled often hearing her mother's account of one such case, "a trip down the river in a canoe six or eight miles to see a sick family. The man who came could not get a physician and no one else to go, so she started with him and he took a chill and she had to paddle her own canoe. When they the landed they had to walk two miles through cane nearly as high as a tree to get to the cabin. Nothing but logs covered in, no shutters or doors and one man dead and not one of the others able to help the rest. She and the man who came with her laid out the corpse and then she went a mile and a half to the spring for water with only a dog for company, sat up all night by herself and the wolves howling around the house."²²
     Samuel C. Clark seems to have moved in with Gideon and Modena and their family by 1807, and became a partner in the tavern operated in their home. He is assumed to have been some relative of Modena's, but no evidence has been found to indicate what that relationship was.²³
     She was probably the female age 26 to 45 listed in the household of her husband, Gideon, in the 1810 Federal Census of Eddyville, Caldwell Co., Kentucky.^24,25
     Gideon sold the property that included their home and tavern to his brother John, on 27 Feb 1816.^26,27 Shortly after that he acquired an 800-acre farm a short distance outside town.^28,29,30 It is unclear whether Gideon and Modena and family moved to the farm or stayed in town. But it seems clear that Samuel Clark, and possibly one or two of his daughters continued to live with the family after his partnership with Gideon was dissolved. She was probably the female over age 45 listed in the household of her husband in the 1820 Federal Census of Eddyville, Caldwell Co., Kentucky, although she would have actually been only 41 years old.³¹

Becoming a Tavern Keeper --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---

     Gideon and Modena returned to tavern keeping after losing the farm. His application for a license was delayed in May and August 1825 by a lack of a quorum at the county court, and was finally approved 17 Apr 1826. The license was regularly renewed until at least 1830.^32,33 It would seem that the tavern was actually run by Modena. Their daughter recalled, many years later, that she kept a hotel where she boarded the men who built barges. She had to have breakfast for them by daylight and then she had clerks who ate between 7:00 and 8:00. She did all this with the help of one Negro man.³⁴
     She was probably the female age 30 to 40 listed in the household of her husband in the 1830 Federal Census of Eddyville, Caldwell Co., Kentucky, although she would have actually been 51 years old. The household included, in addition to their known children, a male age 15 to 20, and seven males age 20 to 30, of whom two might have been their sons Robert and Joshua. It seems likely the rest were permanent guests at the tavern/hotel.³⁵
     Her husband died on 1 Mar 1834 in Caldwell Co., Kentucky.^36,37
     Modena died on 7 Oct 1837 in Caldwell Co., Kentucky, at age 58.⁸ She was buried in Riverview Cemetery, Eddyville, Kentucky, in the Cobb plot, next to her husband.¹¹