John Hopkins Clarke

Who was John Hopkins Clarke?

John Hopkins Clarke was a United States Senator from Rhode Island. Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, he moved to Providence where he studied under a private teacher. He graduated from Brown University in 1809, studied law, admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Providence in 1812. He was clerk of the supreme court of Providence County in 1813 and proprietor of a distillery in Cranston until 1824 when he became a cotton manufacturer in Providence, Pontiac, and Woonsocket. He was a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1836 to 1842 and from 1845 to 1847.

Clarke was elected as a Whig to the U.S. Senate and served from March 4, 1847, to March 4, 1853; he resumed his former manufacturing pursuits and died in Providence in 1870. Interment was in the North Burial Ground.