Freeman CLARKE, Congress, NY (1809-1887)

CLARKE, Freeman, a Representative from New York; born in Troy, N.Y., March 22, 1809; attended the common schools; went into business for himself at the age of fifteen; began his financial career as cashier of the Bank of Orleans, Albion, N.Y.; moved to Rochester, N.Y., in 1845; became director and president of numerous banks, railroads, and telegraph and trust companies of Rochester and New York City; delegate to the Whig National Convention at Baltimore in 1852; vice president of the first Republican State convention of New York in 1854; appointed Comptroller of the Currency in 1865; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1867; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); was not a candidate for renomination in 1864; Comptroller of the Currency from March 9, 1865, to February 6, 1867; again elected to the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses (March 4, 1871-March 3, 1875); resumed his former business pursuits; died in Rochester, N.Y., on June 24, 1887; interment in Mount Hope Cemetery.

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