Robert Clark was born in Washington County, New York, six months after his family emigrated from the Scottish Lowlands.
He was tutored privately and then studied medicine in the office of his older brother, Thomas Clark.
Although his mother-in-law offered to help establish them in Lachine, Quebec, Canada, his wife's former home, Clark refused to settle in the dominions of the British Crown.
After the house burned to the ground, Clark and his family lived in temporary shelter provided by neighbors, where his third child was born.
They soon afterward moved to Stamford, New York, and later settled near Delhi, where he continued the practice of his profession.
When the land office was moved to White Pigeon, Clark returned to the practice of medicine.