Rebecca Jane Clark was born around 1842 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, to William and Mary Clark. Her father was a carriage maker and farm laborer. She grew up and attended school in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and by 1880, she was working in a hat factory in Bethel, Connecticut. She never married, and she lived in her parents’ household until at least 1880. By 1900, she was living in her uncle’s household in Ridgefield. A decade later, she was living with a niece, and by 1920, she was living with her sister Josephine in Redding, Connecticut. She died in Redding on May 28, 1928.