Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men
Here was laid the foundation of that robust constitution which was
calculated to build up the excellent physical man we see in him.
Studying at Atkinson Academy, he was prepared to enter Dartmouth College
at the age of nineteen years, from which he graduated with high honors
in the class of 1843, being only outranked in scholarship by the late
Prof. J. N. Putnam.
After leaving college, Mr. Clarke was for three years principal of the
academy at Gilford (now Laconia), exhibiting an aptness for teaching
rarely possessed. While thus engaged, he commenced the study of law in
the office of Stephen C. Lyford, Esq., and continued his studies in
Manchester with his brother, William C. Clarke, until admitted to the
bar of Hillsborough county in 1848. February 2, 1849, he started for
California, _via_ the Isthmus of Panama, where he was detained eleven
weeks, and bought for the Manchester party of forty-three with him, in
company with a gentleman of Maine with twenty men, the brig Copiapo, in
which they left the isthmus for California with one hundred and
fifty-eight passengers, Mr. Clarke being supercargo. He remained in
California a little more than a year, practicing law and working in the
mines. He then spent about four months in Central America, returning
home in February, 1851. He went to Salem, Mass., with the intention of
establishing a law office there, but returned to Manchester and opened
an office, applying himself to the practice of his profession with
success, until February, 1852, when, at the request of Mr. Joseph C.
Emerson, he took charge of the editorial department of the _Daily
Mirror_. Mr. Emerson becoming financially embarrassed, the property was
sold at auction on the 20th of October, 1852, Mr. Clarke being the
purchaser of the _Daily_ and _Weekly Mirror_, and of the job-printing
establishment connected therewith, of which he has ever since been the
sole owner and manager. Subsequently he purchased the _Daily_ and
_Weekly American_ (in which the _Weekly Democrat_ had been previously
merged), and the _New Hampshire Journal of Agriculture_. These were all
combined with the _Mirror_, and the name of the daily changed to _Mirror
and American_, and the weekly from _Dollar Weekly Mirror_ to _Mirror and
Farmer_. Since these additions to the _Mirror_, Mr. Clarke has found it
needful to enlarge both the daily and weekly papers twice.
Though Mr. Clarke commenced his journalistic career at Manchester, in
1852, without training and without capital, he had what at that time
proved most valuable to him, the capacity to see quickly and to express
correctly the tendencies of opinion; and consequently his paper seemed
to echo the voice of the people without any appearance of attempting to
create it. From the day he came to Manchester as a citizen of the
growing city (or town it then was), he has labored for the welfare of
the place and the prosperity of its people. An examination of the
records and the history of Manchester shows us that he was one of the
most active to recommend and push forward the manufacturing, mercantile,
and mechanical interests of the corporations and people, as well as to
aid in the perfection of all the educational, charitable, and
reformatory institutions of the city, county, and state. He in the
outset aspired to make the _Mirror_ one of the leading newspapers of the
country, cost what it might; and his adroitness, energy, persistency,
and straightforward devotion to that idea has enabled him to realize his
aspirations. When Mr. Clarke took possession of the _Mirror_, the weekly
paper had but a few hundred subscribers, while it now has a larger
circulation than any other paper of its class published in New England
out of Boston. Doubtless much of his success is due to his great
knowledge of men, as this enables him to select the best suited to carry
out his purposes, whether as assistants in the various departments of
his business, or to attend to details in any city, state, or national
measures in which he takes an interest. He is possessed of a brave,
earnest, and sound mind, and never wastes his energies or time upon
aspirations which may be barren of results. His work is steady, like a
good fire, throwing out light and heat constantly and continually.
Previous to the war the _Mirror_ had been non-partisan politically; but
Mr. Clarke decided that there should be no neutrals in time of war, and
his paper came out boldly on the side of the administration, and has
ever since advocated the principles of the Republican party.
In connection with his daily and weekly newspapers, Mr. Clarke has built
up a very extensive book and job printing business, and to this has
added a book-binding establishment. He has published many valuable works
of his own and others: among his own publications will be found "The
Londonderry Celebration," "Sanborn's History of New Hampshire,"
"Clarke's Manchester Almanac and Directory," "Clarke's History of
Manchester," and several smaller works.
Readers of the _Mirror_ know that Mr. Clarke is accustomed to talking
and writing with great positiveness. He generally forms his opinions
quickly, and acts upon them with directness. He will decide upon a
project, map out a plan for its execution, select the men to carry out
its details, and dispose of the matter, while other men would be halting
and trying to determine whether it was feasible. He never does anything
lukewarmly; whatever cause he espouses he enters into heartily, bending
all his efforts to bring about success and make certain the desired end.
If Mr. Clarke would do his friend a favor, he devotes himself to that
purpose with as much zeal as if its attainment were the chief object of
his life. He never wears two faces; and whether your friend or opponent
you will know his position from the start.
Mr. Clarke has always refused to be a candidate for office, because he
believed that office-holding would interfere with his influence as a
public journalist, but was a delegate to the Baltimore convention that
nominated Abraham Lincoln for the second time to the presidency, and was
one of the national committee of seven (including ex-Governor Claflin,
of Massachusetts, ex-Governor Marcus L. Ward, of New Jersey, and Hon.
Henry T. Raymond, of the _New York Times_), who managed that campaign.
He has been connected with the College of Agriculture, been a trustee of
the Merrimack River Savings Bank since its organization, in 1858; a
master for three years of the Amoskeag Grange No. 3; for two years
lieutenant-colonel of the Amoskeag Veterans, and was twice elected
commander, but declined that honor. Six times he has been elected state
printer; in 1867, 1868, 1869, 1877, 1878, and in 1879 for two years.
Mr. Clarke has always manifested a great interest in the subject of
elocution, probably having learned how faulty many students were as
orators during his senior year in college, when he was president of the
Social Friends Society, and in 1863, after he was elected president of
the Tri Kappa Society. For two years he gave to the Manchester high
school forty dollars a year for prizes in public speaking and reading.
He then offered (in 1874) one hundred dollars a year for five years to
Dartmouth College for the same object. In October, 1879, Mr. Clarke
proposed to give forty dollars a year for five years for superiority in
elocution in the high and grammar schools of Manchester, to be divided
into four prizes of $16, $12, $8, $4, the awards to be made at a public
exhibition in the month of January each year, the proceeds from sale of
tickets to which should be invested, and the income from the investment
applied for prizes for a similar object perpetually. The proposition was
accepted by the school board, and the first contest for the prizes was
made in Smyth's Hall in January, 1880, the net proceeds from the sale of
tickets being $245.00. The succeeding January $287.16 was realized, and
in January, 1882, $362.15, or a total of $894.31 in three years. In
February, 1882, Mr. Clarke offered to add to his original forty dollars
twenty dollars a year for the next two years, with the suggestion that
the forty dollars be divided into prizes of $13, $11, $9, and $7
respectively, for the best four of all the sixteen contestants, on the
score of merit, and the remaining twenty dollars awarded in equal prizes
to the contestants adjudged the best in each of the schools represented,
excluding all who should have received either of the four prizes first
named. The result of this generous offer on the part of Mr. Clarke has
been a great interest and improvement in reading and speaking in the
public schools of Manchester, and it is probable that there will be a
permanent fund of not less than fifteen hundred dollars accruing from
the exhibitions at the end of the five years, insuring a perpetual
income for the Clarke prizes.
Mr. Clarke has always been interested in farming, and, believing that
"blood will tell," has done much with voice and pen to bring about an
improvement in the breeds of horses and other stock in the state. His
admiration for good horses (of which he is never without several in his
stable), and his fondness for hunting, are so much a part of his life
that any sketch of him without allusion to them would be incomplete. As
a coon hunter he has had no rival in the state. He has served as
president of the New Hampshire Game and Fish League from the first, and
was the prime mover in its organization.
Within a few past years Mr. Clarke has learned by experience that there
is a limit to the amount of care and business the strongest man can
undertake, especially when everything is done with the intensity
characteristic of his nature. In 1872, being obliged by the advice of
physicians to abstain from all business for several months, he visited
Great Britain, France, and Germany, to regain the health too close
attention to business had temporarily destroyed. He has since applied
the wisdom thus dearly bought by limiting the time to be devoted to
business, rarely allowing himself to overstep the bounds.
Generous to a fault, Mr. Clarke has contributed liberally to all
measures calculated to advance the interests of his town and city, and
hardly a public work in Manchester now exists that does not owe
something to his influence or pecuniary aid. He has always adhered to
the Christian faith in which he was reared, and has been a liberal
supporter of the Franklin-street Congregational church of the city, a
constant attendant upon its worship, and has been elected to various
offices in that society.
Mr. Clarke married, July 29, 1852, Susan Greeley Moulton, of Gilmanton.
They have two sons,--Arthur Eastman, born May 13, 1854, and William
Cogswell, born March 17, 1856. Both are graduates of the Scientific
Department of Dartmouth College, and both are now employed on the
_Mirror_.