BIOGRAPHY: John CLARKE, Sr., Mifflin County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by P. S. Barr 

Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://files.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/mifflin/
_______________________________________________ 

The Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, Comprising 
the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, Pennsylvania.
Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, Volume I, page 477.

  JOHN CLARKE, SR., Lewistown, Mifflin county, Pa., was born at Cookstown, 
County Tyrone, Ireland, November 18, 1822.  He is a son of Robert and Jane 
(Clarke) Clarke.  Mr. and Mrs. Robert Clarke were not related;  she was a 
daughter of John and ------- (Hutton) Clarke, and was of Scotch-Irish descent, 
by both parents.  Robert Clarke, who was a shoemaker, came to America in 1826 or 
'27;  he readily found employment at this trade in Philadelphia, and after a few 
years of industry and frugality, he sent for his wife and son, John, then the 
only child.  They joined him in Philadelphia in 1832, and the family continued 
to reside in that city;  the other children were born there;  they are:  
William, married Mary Sloan, has three children, resides in Philadelphia;  
Daniel, married Melissa Heins, has three children living, resides in 
Philadelphia;  Eliza Jane, died aged about forty-five;  and David Graham, 
married Eleanor Heath, has three children, resides in Philadelphia.  Robert 
Clarke died at the age of sixty-seven;  his good wife survived him until she had 
completed her three score and ten years.  Both were members of the central 
Presbyterian church, at Eighth and Cherry streets, Philadelphia.
  John Clarke was already a school boy before he came to America, and he 
attended school for a few years after in Chester county, Pa.  He lived with his 
parents during his youth, learning his trade of shoemaking with his father, and 
afterwards, while working on his own account, remained in the city until 1850.  
He then came to Lewistown.  Here he worked for some time at this trade before 
opening a store, part of the time as foreman for his brother-in-law, William 
Johnson.  In 1859, Mr. Clarke began dealing in shoes in the house where Mr. 
Joseph M. Selheimer now resides, and was very successful.  In 1865, he removed 
to his present location, and has so conducted business there as not only to 
build up a flourishing trade, but to give his establishment a high reputation.  
Mr. Clarke is regarded as a worthy and public-spirited citizen;  he is an ardent 
Democrat, and has served the borough as burgess and as assessor of taxes, being 
elected as an independent candidate.
  John Clarke, Sr., was married January 22, 1846, to Margaret Johnson.  They 
have had four children, one of whom, Samuel Hazlett, died in 1855.  Those 
surviving are:  Annie Jane;  John J., Jr.;  and William Robert, married 
Elizabeth Firobed, has three children, James F., Mary Grace, and John Robert.  
Mr. and Mrs. Clarke are members of the Presbyterian church.  Mrs. Clarke is a 
daughter of Thomas and Nancy (Hazlett) Johnson, and a sister of William Johnson.