Jim Wenger of Independence Township, at left, with Mark Martin. Photo provided

Fourth in a series on the families who helped build Clarkston and the descendants who still live here, carrying on their legacy.
BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
Jim Wenger’s family roots run deep in Clarkston, all the way back to its founders.
“Our nephew, Mark Martin, who is Charles Bruce Martin’s son, likes doing family research – my wife Sharon is Bruce’s sister,” Wenger said. “As it turns out, I am related to Sarah Clark, the daughter of Jeremiah Clark.”
Family stories were passed down by his grandfather, but it took Martin’s hard work to make the connection to the Clarks.
“We were talking during Thanksgiving and he said it was something he was looking at. He’s very persistent and a very acute researcher,” Wenger said. “I’ve heard stories about my grandfather’s family connection to Clarkston, and I’ve seen a couple references to locations on Washington Street. What Mark has done is amazing, putting the pieces together.”
His family tree leads from founder Jeremiah Clark (1760-1845) to his daughter Sarah Clark (1806-1872), granddaughter Emeline Walter (1836-1921), great grandson John Turner Peter Smith (1863-1921), great-great grandson Sydney Samuel Smith (1887-1978), great-great-great granddaughter Jaquelin Elizabeth Smith (1915-1995), and finally Jim Wenger, Jeremiah’s great-great-great-great grandson.
Also, Sydney Smith’s mother, Charlotte D. Johnson (1863-1943) is the daughter of Ransom Johnson (1826-1894), and the granddaughter of Clarkston settlers Thomas and Charlotte Johnson.
“It’s hard for it to sink in. It makes me proud to have ancestors part of Clarkston’s early history,” Wenger said. “It’s a great legacy. I’ve made copies for my sons. I want them to understand.”
Family research sheds light on who we are, Wenger said.
“I grew up knowing my grandfather as he was, but what made him way he was? What was their life like? There’s a lot there I’m still digesting,” Wenger said. “Everybody wants to have a sense of where they came from. This helps a little bit.”
According to records compiled by Martin, Jeremiah and Sarah Clark moved from Connecticut to New York, then Michigan, eventually settling a farm in Independence Township in 1832, where he became the first supervisor and justice of the peace.
Their sons Jeremiah and Nelson Clark were active in the area and the town was named after them.
Sarah Clark married Jacob Walter in 1831. Jacob was one of the first assessors appointed at the first Clarkston town meeting in 1837, and also ran an inn on S. Main Street.
Ransom Johnson owned a farm in Independence Township with his wife, Malvina, and their daughters. An article from the Weekly Bill Poster, Aug. 4, 1880, describes a storm in which Ransom’s and several neighbors’ houses and barns were struck by lightning and burned to the ground.
Emeline Walter was the second wife of Nicholas Napoleon Bonaparte Smith. They married in 1857 and were active in Clarkston.

Nicholas was town clerk in 1857 and 1859, and master of Cedar Lodge #60. He was a merchant and pharmacist, and ran a drug store, Nicholas B. Drugs and Groceries, at 1 E. Washington Street, where the Masonics lodge is located now. In 1865, the Smiths lived at 58 N. Main Street.
Wenger’s grandfather Sydney Smith would take him out ice fishing, he remembers.
“He was crusty, but he did lot with us,” he said. “My grandmother (Agnes Emma Stover) was more nurturing.”
She earned a college degree, something unusual for the time, he said.
“I remember my grandfather tell my grandmother she shouldn’t vote – politics must have been crazy,” Wenger said.
His father, Otto Wenger, came to America from Switzerland when he was 18 years old.
“Through Ellis Island,” Jim Wenger said.
Wenger was born and raised in Flint, and moved to Clarkston in 1967 with his wife. He taught at Clarkston High School until 2005, and served as Independence Township treasurer after he retired
“Clarkston was very rural, a lot smaller as a community,” he said. “Swimming pools were not even thought of as something in the schools. Public lunchrooms, multi purpose rooms, those came later.”
Parents were as supportive as ever, he said.
“It was a very nice place to teach,” he said.
The Clarkston News and Tom Stone, longtime resident and genealogist, are highlighting every month local families who have lived in the area for at least 100 years.

  Family history