History Focus
October 8

Born October 8, 1608 in Westhorpe, England. John Clarke was an American clergyman. He was one of the founders of Rhode Island, and the founder of Newport, Rhode Island.

John Clarke was born in England in 1608. He came to America in 1637, and settled in Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

In 1638 he, along with William Coddington, a colonial governor, and several other sympathizers of the exiled American religious reformer Anne Hutchinson were driven from the colony. ( Anne Hutchinson an earlier History Focus)

They consulted with Roger Williams, an English clergyman and a founder of the colony of Rhode Island at Providence, before establishing their settlement of Pocasset. The town now exists as Portsmouth. The following year Clarke and Coddington settled in Newport, where Clarke founded the second oldest Baptist church in America. In 1651 he and Williams went to England as agents for the colony. Roger Williams soon returned to the colonies, but Clarke remained for in England for 12 years. While there he secured a second charter, which until 1842 was the fundamental law of Rhode Island.

John Clarke returned to the colonies in 1663. He resumed the care of the Newport church. He remained as minister there until his death in 1676. He was a member of the General Assembly from 1664 to 1669, was deputy governor in 1669 and 1671, and afterward codified the Rhode Island laws.

Sources: On This Day | Microsoft(R) Encarta(R)