Sacramento County
Biographies
HON. RICHARD M. CLARKEN
HON. RICHARD M. CLARKEN.
As justice of the peace of Sacramento township, Sacramento
county, Hon. Richard M. Clarken is sustaining the
reputation for ability and judgment, energy and thorough qualification for holding
public office won by him in the earlier part of his career in the county. Upon the death of Jay R. Brown in 1904 he was
appointed to fill the office of justice of the peace thus left vacant.
Of southern
birth and parentage, Richard M. Clarken was born in
the city of Charleston, S.C., August 18, 1839, and is a son of John and Agnes Clarken. Although
born in South Carolina he was reared and educated in Kentucky,
being enrolled among the pupils in the Jesuit college in Bardstown, Nelson county, that state.
The day on which he left Kentucky for California,
November 6, 1860, was also memorable in history as the day on which Abraham
Lincoln was first elected president. On
reaching the state he joined his parents at Folsom City, Sacramento
county, where his father was filling the position of
postmaster. He had received his
appointment at the hands of President Pierce, and was continued in office under
President Buchannan. He was a justice of
the peace and a large property owner in the county. During his father’s incumbency as postmaster
Richard M. Clarken found many an opportunity to
assist in the various duties connected with the office, and it is to this point
in his career that he dates his first work of a public character. Upon reaching this state he was well prepared
for teaching, though he took up newspaper work in Sacramento a short time and
later taught in San Jose in a preparatory school conducted by the Jesuits. In 1867-68 he was elected by the assembly
engrossing clerk of the seventeenth session of that body. Later he went to Napa county and taught in the public schools of Yountville one
year, after which he returned to Sacramento
county and taught in the public schools for four years. He then removed to San Francisco
and for two sessions taught in the grammar department of St.
Ignatius College. His election to the assembly followed in
1875, and during the session of 1875-6 he figured prominently on several
important committees. In the meantime he
had studied law, and upon retiring from state duties he returned to San
Francisco for the practice of his profession,
continuing there until 1879. While in
that city he was a candidate for delegate to the constitutional convention
which met in Sacramento in 1879,
but with the rest of his party he was defeated, the candidates on the
workingmen’s ticket receiving the majority of votes.
Taking up
his permanent residence in Sacramento
in 1880, Judge Clarken entered actively into the
practice of law in partnership with Judge John W. Armstrong, an association
which was both remunerative and congenial, but owing to the election of the
latter as judge of the superior court a dissolution of
partnership was made necessary.
Subsequently Judge Clarken was associated with
R.T. Devlin, now United State
district attorney, but the latter being appointed by Governor Stoneman as state’s prison director, their partnership was
necessarily dissolved. He then formed a
partnership with H.C. Ross for the practice of his profession. He has served as a member of the Democratic
county central committee, as well as the city central committee. In various sections he has canvassed the
state in the interest of his party, both for national and state campaigns, and
is generally sent by his party as delegate to all state conventions. He has been mentioned prominently on two or
more occasions for Congress, but refused to allow his name to go before the
conventions. Once he received the
nomination for judge of the superior court, but was defeated; twice for
district attorney, but defeated by a small majority in both cases. Since September 14, 1904, he had filled the
office of justice of the peace to the entire satisfaction of all concerned, his
office being located at No. 608 I street.
Judge Clarken is identified with two fraternal
orders, Knights of Columbus and Young Men’s Institute. Personally he is a man of earnest, positive
nature, of absolute fearlessness in matters of right and wrong, and of noble
characteristics, all of which attributes bind him to his many friends.
Transcribed
by Kathy Porter.
Source: “History of
the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley,
California” by
J. M. Guinn. Pages 483
- 484. Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1906.
© 2007 Kathy Porter.