Matthew Clarkson (mayor)

Matthew Clarkson (April 1733 – October 5, 1800) was the mayor of Philadelphia from 1792 to 1796. He was elected to the Confederation Congress in 1785, but did not attend.

Biography

Clarkson was born in New York City in April 1733. He moved to Philadelphia, where he was justice of the court of common pleas, quarter sessions of the peace, and of the Philadelphia orphans' court in 1771 and 1772. He was elected to the Confederation Congress in 1785, but did not serve. He was a member of the board of aldermen in 1789, then served as mayor of Philadelphia 1792-1796.

Clarkson was involved in numerous mercantile pursuits in Philadelphia, notably a dry-goods store on Second Street.[1] He was also part owner of two schooners registered in 1757 and 1758.[2] In 1765 he became involved in land settlement in the British colony of Nova Scotia, where a 100,000 acre township called Monckton was granted by the government in Halifax to Clarkson and several land partners including Anthony Wayne, John Hughes and Benjamin Franklin.[3]

He died in 1800 in Philadelphia, where he was interred in Christ Church Burial Ground.

References

  1. ↑ Pennsylvania Journal, Oct. 25, 1764
  2. ↑ 'Ship Registers for the Port of Philadelphia, 1726-1775,' Penn. Mag. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. 26, pp. 128, 140
  3. ↑ Leonard W. Labaree, The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, American Philosophical Society, 1968, Vol. 12, pp. 348-9
Political offices
Preceded by
John Barclay		 Mayor of Philadelphia
1792–1796 		Succeeded by
Hilary Baker


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