Jeremiah Clarke | |
|---|---|
 Jeremy Clarke grave medallion | |
| 2nd President of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations | |
| In office 1648–1649 | |
| Preceded by | John Coggeshall |
| Succeeded by | John Smith |
| Personal details | |
| Born | baptized 1 December 1605 East Farleigh,Kent, England |
| Died | January 1652 |
| Resting place | Clifton Burying Ground, Newport |
| Spouse | Frances (Latham) Dungan |
| Children | Walter, Mary, Jeremiah, Latham, Weston, James, Sarah |
| Occupation | Constable, captain, treasurer, assistant, president |
Jeremiah Clarke (also known asJeremy Clarke) (1605–1652) was an early settler in theEnglishColony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Born into a prominent family in England, he was a merchant who came to came to theNew England with his wife,Frances Latham, and four stepchildren, settling first atPortsmouth in 1638, but the following year joiningWilliam Coddington and others in establishing the town ofNewport. Here he held a variety of civic positions until 1648 when Coddington's election as President of the colony was disputed, and Clarke was chosen to serve in that office instead. He was the father ofWalter Clarke, another governor of the colony, and also had family connections with several other future governors of the colony.
Born in centralKent in southeastern England, Jeremy Clarke was the son of William Clarke and Mary Weston. His maternal grandfather was Sir Jerome Weston, Baron of the Exchequer, and his uncle wasRichard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland,Lord High Treasurer of England.[1] Clarke was a merchant in London before sailing toNew England.[1][2] While in England he marriedFrances (Latham) Dungan, the widow of William Dungan, and the daughter of Lewis Latham, and she and her four Dungan children accompanied Clarke to the American colonies. They first settled onAquidneck Island (later Rhode Island), and Clarke was listed as an inhabitant there in 1638.[2] In April 1639, while living inPortsmouth he wasone of nine men who signed a compact, agreeing to establish a government just prior to settling inNewport.[2] In Newport he held a variety of positions from 1639 to 1649, including treasurer, constable, and assistant.[2] In March 1640 he had 116 acres of land laid out for him in Newport, and the same year he was one of three appointed to lay out remaining lands in Newport.[2] In 1642 he was chosen lieutenant of the military in Newport and in 1644 he became captain.[3]
In 1648 Clarke was Newport's assistant to the governor, but became President Regent, or acting governor, of the entire colony (four towns) when accusations were made againstWilliam Coddington, who had been elected to that position that May.[2][3] Coddington did not particularly care for the patent thatRoger Williams had obtained from the crown in 1644; he much preferred autonomy for the two Rhode Island towns of Portsmouth and Newport, or even their union with the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Also, Coddington was a Royalist, supporting the King, Charles I, while most of the Rhode Island settlers supported the Puritan Party in England.[3] For these, and probably other reasons not made clear in the court records of the day, Coddington was suspended from the office of President to which he had been elected, and Jeremy Clarke became the governor in his place.[4]
One of the most important events of Clarke's administration was the granting of a charter to the town of Providence on 14 March 1649. Though first settled in 1636, this was the first recognition of organized government in what was called Providence Plantations in the Narragansett Bay in New England.[4] This charter of civil incorporation gave the free inhabitants of the town full power and authority to govern and rule themselves.[4]
Civil records do not show Clarke serving in any official capacity beyond his presidency.[2] While theSociety of Friends (Quakers) had not become established until after his death, his son Walter became a Quaker, and the Friends' records indicate that Jeremy Clarke was buried "by the street by the waterside in Newport" in the "11th month, 1651," which is January 1652 in the current calendar.[2] While the location of his burial is no longer known, he has a governor's grave medallion next to the marker for his sonWalter Clarke in theClifton Burying Ground in Newport, where a number of prominent Quakers are buried. His widow later married William Vaughan, dying early in September 1677 "in the 67th year of her age.[2] She is buried in theCommon Burying Ground in Newport, with the inscription on her marker reading, "Here lyeth ye body of Mrs. Frances Vaughan, Alius Clarke, ye mother of ye only children of Capt'n Jeremiah Clarke."[2]
Clarke and his wifeFrances had seven children together, the oldest of whom wasWalter Clarke, a future colonial governor of Rhode Island. Their oldest daughter, Mary, marriedJohn Cranston, another future governor of the colony, and their son Weston married Mary Easton who was a granddaughter of two other governors,John Coggeshall andNicholas Easton.[5] Their youngest child, Sarah, married the future colonial governorCaleb Carr as her second husband.[6]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)| Judges of Portsmouth (1638–1640) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Judge of Newport (1639–1640) | ||
| Governor of Newport and Portsmouth (1640–1647) | ||
| Chief Officer (Providence and Warwick)(1644–1647) | ||
| Presidents ofRhode Island (Patent of 1644)(1647–1663) | ||
| Governors ofNewport andPortsmouth (Coddington Commission)(1651–1654) | ||
| Governors ofRhode Island (Royal Charter of 1663)(1663–1686) | ||
| Governors underDominion of New England(1686–1689) | ||
| Governors ofRhode Island (Royal Charter of 1663)(1690–1776) | ||
Italics Gorton, Smith and Dexter were presidents of Providence and Warwick only, since Coddington had received a commission to remove Newport and Portsmouth from their jurisdiction, valid from 1651 to 1654; before and after these dates the President presided over all four towns of the colony. Dudley presided over the "Narragansett Country" only, later to become Washington County, Rhode Island; Andros subsequently presided over the entire colony. | ||
| First settlers of Providence with Roger Williams (1636) |  | |
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| Original proprietors of Providence (signers of "initial deed", October 1638) |
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| Pawtuxet Claimants (settled 1638; under Massachusetts jurisdiction 1642–1658) | ||
| Founders of Portsmouth (signers ofPortsmouth Compact, 7 March 1638) |
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| Founders of Newport (signers of initial agreement, 28 April 1639) |
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| Founders of Warwick (original purchasers, 1643) |
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Italics: The names of Clarke, Johnson, Hall, and Brightman at the end of the Portsmouth list were crossed out, and it is uncertain if they came to Portsmouth, though most, if not all, of them did appear on Aquidneck Island. | ||
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