Joseph Of Arimathea Legend There is a tradition which connects the Clark family with the descendants of Joseph of Arimathea..... To begin with, we must go back to the days of Christ in order to find whence we came: You have read the story of the crucifixion and the part Joseph of Arimathea played. After 40 years of imprisonment, charged with spiriting away the body from the tomb, profane history and family records show that Joseph and his entire family [consisting of wife and 8 children] with Philip, Lazarus, Mary Magdelene, and Martha, with their servants, were exiled. Joseph and his family settled in Britain, [now Devon County, England] then known as East Anglea. Arbiagus, the King, gave Joseph a warm reception, and Joseph built a church named it after his native home, Arimathea, and preached in the church many years, he died and was buried in it's church yard. About A.D. 300 a colony of Saxons settled in East Anglea, from Saxony, and marriage took place between a family of the Saxons and a descendant of Joseph of Arimathea, from whom the Clarks descend. The ancestors of the Clarks of East Anglea were educated and held high positions of the churches and secretaries to the kings, etc., for many generations. They were devout Christians. About A.D. 1100 the laws of England required the people to take surnames, and our ancestors took the name Clerk, which means a lerned person. Later the "e" was changed to "a" according to the English pronunciation. [Ref: James Clark, Mansfield [family] and Christopher Clark, by McNaught.] [Ref: In Search of England,by Morton] ... gives this:- "The ruins of Glastonbury Abby and it's St Mary's Chapel in Avalon is all that is left of the birth place of Christianity in England, the site of the first church built by British Christians. It is linked by legend to a man who knew Christ. For centuries men believed that in A.D. 61 St Philip sent Joseph of Arimathea, whose hands laid Christ in the tomb, to preach the gospel in England. He is said to have been sent with a band of missionaries bearing the chalice of the Last Supper, which he had begged of Pilate. This chalice held the Sacred Blood from the Cross. Here in the English meadow Joseph of Arimathea is said to have built England's first church of plaited oziers. Joseph, so the famous story goes, planted his staff in the earth. It took root and grew into the famous "Glastonbury thorn". Men came from the ends of the earth to pluck a sprig of the holy thorn, in order that it might be buried with them. The bones of Arthur and Guinevere are said to have been buried beneath the alter. A sprig was sent for the tomb of President Woodrow Wilson. [Ref: Anthony Roots and Branches,pp 179-180, by Nancy Vashti Anthony Jacob. 1971 and revised same with the name, revised Edition-1983, Vol I., and Vol II.] Please place in the Subject Line: WEBPAGE-HISTORY 
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