Richard Henry Clarke

Richard Henry Clarke (February 9, 1843 – September 26, 1906) was a politician and U.S. Representative from Alabama.

Richard Henry Clarke
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama's 1st district
In office March 4, 1889 – March 3, 1897
Preceded by	James T. Jones
Succeeded by	George W. Taylor
Member of the Alabama House of Representatives
In office 1900-1901
Personal details
Born	James Taylor Jones February 9, 1843 Dayton, Alabama
Died	September 26, 1906 (aged 63) St. Louis, Missouri
Political party	Democratic

Biography

Born in Dayton, Alabama, Clarke attended Green Springs Academy. He graduated from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa in July 1861. He soon enlisted in the Confederate Army. During the Civil War, he served in the Confederate States Army as a lieutenant in the First Battalion of Alabama Artillery.

After the war, Clarke studied law with an established firm (read the law). He passed the bar in 1867 and commenced practice in Dayton, Alabama.

He moved to Demopolis, Alabama, and continued the practice of law. There he was elected as State Solicitor for Marengo County, serving 1872-1876. He served as prosecuting attorney of the seventh judicial circuit in 1876 and 1877.

He moved to Mobile, Alabama, where he resumed a law practice.

Helen Gaines Clarke

Mary Morris Clarke

Marriage and family

In 1877 he married Helen Gaines Foot, a native of Mobile. Her father, C. K. Foot, was a native of Vermont, and a descendant of Nathaniel Foot, one of the early settlers of Wethersfield, Connecticut. Her mother was Sarah Lyons, of Mobile, of the distinguished Pendleton and Gaines families. His wife spent her early years in Mobile, but she later attended school in New York City.[1]

Their daughters, Helen Gaines and Mary Morris Clarke, resembled their mother in face and manner.[1]

Later political career

Clarke was elected as a Democrat from Alabama's 1st congressional district to the Fifty-first and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1889 – March 3, 1897). He was not a candidate for renomination, as he ran in 1896 for governor. He was not successful.

Clarke resumed the practice of law in Mobile. He was elected to the State House of representatives in 1900 and 1901.

He died in St. Louis, Missouri, on September 26, 1906. His body was returned to Mobile, where he was buried in Magnolia Cemetery.

References

• United States Congress. "Richard Henry Clarke (id: C000469)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Specific

1. Hinman, Ida (1895). The Washington Sketch Book.

External links

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.