HISTORY OF KENTUCKY, by Lewis Collins, and J.A. & U.P. James, published 1847. Reprinted by Henry Clay Press, Lexington, Ky., 1968, pp. 235-236 [Clark county]. Among the most distinguished citizens of Clark county was the Hon. JAMES CLARKE, late governor of the commonwealth. Our materials for a sketch of his life are exceedingly meagre [sic], and we can attempt nothing more than a bare ennumeration of the most prominent incidents in his career. He was the son of Robert and Susan Clarke, and was born in 1779, in Bedford county, Virginia, near the celebrated Peaks of Otter. His father emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky at a very early period, and settled in Clark county, near the Kentucky river. The subject of this notice received the principal part of his education under Dr. Blythe, afterwards a professor in Transylvania university. He studied law with his brother, Christian Clarke, a very distinguished lawyer of Virginia. When he had qualifed himself to discharge the duties of his profession, he returned to Kentucky, and commenced the practice of the law in Winchester, in 1797. He remained here, however, but a short time, before he set out in search of a more eligible situation, and traveled through what was then the far west, taking Vincennes and St. Louis in his route; but failing to find a place to suit his views, he returned to Winchester, where, by his unremitting attention to business, and striking displays of professional ability, he soon obtained an extensive and lucrative practice. At this period of his life, he was several times elected a member of the State legislature, in which body he soon attained a high and influential position. In 1810, he was appointed a judge of the court of appeals, and acted in that capacity for about two years. In 1812, he was elected to congress, and served from the 4th of March, 1814, until March, 1816. In 1817 he received an appointment as judge of the circuit court, for the judicial district in which he resided, which station he filled with great ability, and to the general satisfaction of the public, till the year 1824, when he resigned. During his term of service as judge, occurred that great and exciting struggle betwen the relief and anti-relief parties, which has left its traces on the political and social condition of Kentucky, in deep and indelible characters, to be seen even at the present day. In May, 1823, Mr. Clarke rendered an opinion in the Bourbon circuit court, in which he decided that the relief laws were unconstitutional. This decision produced great excitement, and was the cause of his being arraigned and impeached before the legislature. But, notwithstanding the temporary dissatisfaction it excited in the breasts of the relief party, there was probably no act of his life which inspired his fellow citizens with greater confidence in his integrity, firmness, independence, and patriotism, than this decision. It was given just before the election, and he must have forseen a temporary injury it would inflict upon the party with which he acted, and which he regarded as the bulwark of the constitution. But his was a nature which knew not the possibility of making a compromise between his principles and policy. In 1825, he was elected to congress to fill the vacancy occasioned by Mr. Clay's appointment as secretary of state, and continued to represent the Fayette district in that body until 1831. In 1832, he was elected to the senate of Kentucky, and was chosen speaker in the place of Mr. Morehead, who was then acting as governor, in the place of Governor Breathitt, deceased. He was elected governor of Kentucky, in August, 1836, and died on the 27th of August, 1839, in his sixtieth year. Governor Clarke was endowed by nature with great strength of mind, and a fine vein of original wit. His literary attainments were respectable, ranking in that respect with most of his contemporaries of the legal profession at that day. A fine person, a cheerful and social disposition, an easy address, and fascinating manners, made him the life of every circle in which he mingled. He was full of fun, fond of anectdotes, and could tell a story with imimitable grace. To these qualities, so well calculated to display the amiable traits of his character in their most attractive light, he added all those stern and manly virtues which inspire confidence and command respect. His death made a vacancy in the political and social circles of Kentucky, which was very sensibly felt and universally deplored. Clarke Blythe Clay Morehead Breathitt = Bedford-VA IN St._Louis-St._Louis-MO Bourbon-KY Fayette-KY http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/clark/clarke.j.txt