George J. F. Clarke (October 12, 1774 – 1836) was one of the most prominent[1] and active men of East Florida (Spanish: Florida Oriental) during the Second Spanish period. As a friend and trusted advisor of the Spanish governors of the province from 1811 to 1821, he was appointed to several public offices under the colonial regime, including that of surveyor general.[2]
Clarke served in the Spanish militia from 1800 to 1821, defending East Florida in the "Patriot War" of 1812 and leading militia forces against the freebooters Gregor MacGregor and Louis-Michel Aury in 1817. By the order of Governor Enrique White he platted the town of Fernandina in 1811[3] and oversaw the construction of new buildings there. He was a central figure in organizing a local government in the area between the St. Marys and St. Johns rivers, which brought a workable peace to that tumultuous section during the final years of Spanish rule.
Clarke supervised every land survey made in East Florida between 1811 and 1821, and profited from the acquisition and resale of large tracts of land; his landholdings were among the largest in Florida. In his will he distributed more than 33,000 acres to his heirs, as well as several houses and scattered lots.[4] He spoke Spanish fluently, but his writing in the language was ungrammatical. His initials have been given incorrectly by many historians as I. F., confusion arising because the capital Is and Js of his handwriting were indistinguishable. His will shows his given name to have been George John Frederic Clarke.[5]
In his later years, he invented a horse-driven sawmill, practical enough that the Spanish Governor José Coppinger gave him a "sawmill grant"[6] of 22,000 acres of timbered land, although the customary such grant was for 16,000 acres.[7][8] Clarke published his opinions on a wide array of subjects in the provincial newspaper, the East Florida Herald, including experimental agriculture, fruit tree cultivation, diet and health, archeology, and the white man's relations with the Indians.
- ^ Albert Hazen Wright (1941). Studies in History. A. H. Wright. p. 15. Retrieved July 12, 2013.
- ^ Louise Biles Hill (January 1943). "George J. F. Clarke, 1774-1836". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 21 (3). The Florida Historical Society: 187. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
- ^ United States. Congress. House. House Documents, Otherwise Publ. as Executive Documents: 13th Congress, 2d Session-49th Congress, 1st Session. p. 20.
- ^ Louise Biles Hill (January 1943). "George J. F. Clarke, 1774-1836". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 21 (3). The Florida Historical Society: 197–198. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
- ^ Richard Keith Call; George John Frederic Clarke; John and Antonio Huertes; Joseph Marion Hernández, United States, United States. Supreme Court (1830). Argument of the Counsel for the United States in the Supreme Court: In the Cases of the United States Vs. George J.F. Clarke, John and Antonio Huertes, Joseph M. Hernández, Et Al. Retrieved July 15, 2013.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ United States. Supreme Court; Stephen Keyes Williams; Edwin Burritt Smith; Ernest Hitchcock (1883). Reports of Cases Argued and Decided in the Supreme Court of the United States: 1-351 U.S; 1790- October term, 1955. Lawyers' Co-operative Publishing Company. p. 1003. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
- ^ Workers of the Writers Program of the Works Progress Administration. "WPA History of the Spanish Land Grants". Florida Memory. Division of Library & Information Services Florida Department of State. p. xxvii. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
- ^ Workers of the Writers Program of the Works Progress Administration. "WPA History of the Spanish Land Grants". Florida Memory. Division of Library & Information Services Florida Department of State. p. xxvi. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
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