Abraham CLARK, Congress, NJ (1726-1794)

CLARK, Abraham, a Delegate and a Representative from New Jersey; born near Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), N.J., February 15, 1726; attended private schools; studied law but never practiced; sheriff of Essex County; member of the New Jersey provincial congress from May 23, 1775, to June 22, 1776, and was appointed assistant secretary October 9, 1775; Member of the Continental Congress 1776-1778, 1780-1783 and 1786-1788; a signer of the Declaration of Independence; delegate to the State conventions of 1786 and 1787; member of the State general assembly in 1776 and 1783-1785; member of the legislative council in 1778; elected as a Pro-Administration candidate to the Second and Third Congresses and served from March 4, 1791, until his death in Rahway, N.J., on September 15, 1794; interment in Rahway Cemetery.

Bibliography

Bogin, Ruth. Abraham Clark and the Quest for Equality in the Revolutionary Era, 1774-1794. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1982.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present