Clarkson was born in New Jersey in April 1733. He moved to Philadelphia, where he was a justice of the court of common pleas, quarter sessions of the peace, and of the Philadelphia Orphans' court in 1771 and 1772. From 1779-1781 he served as treasurer of the American Philosophical Society, which he was elected to in 1768.[1] 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 businesses, notably a dry-goods store on Second Street.[2] He was also part owner of two schooners registered in 1757 and 1758.[3] In 1765 he became involved inland 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.[4]
^Bell, Whitfield J., and Charles Greifenstein, Jr. Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society. 3 vols. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1997, 2:305–311.
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