John B. Clarke.
JOHN B. CLARKE.
BY JOHN W. MOORE.
Among the various pursuits of the American people there can be no one which ranks higher in a literary point of view than journalism. Once the orator, the teacher, the learned adviser, and the judge had the greater influence among the people; but now the newspaper, as a power in civilization and culture, exceeds all other influences, for journalism has become, in this country, a most potent agency for good, and editors now, far more than statesmen, teachers, or ecclesiastics, are the guides of current opinion. It was at one time a common saying in England, that "America is too much governed by newspapers." Thomas Jefferson, hearing this assertion, answered, "I would rather live in a country with newspapers and without a government, than in a country with a government but without newspapers." The well managed newspaper of to-day is not only a recorder of events, but it occupies itself with all the thoughts and doings of men, the discoveries of science, the treasures of literature, the progress of art, the acts of heroes, and the sayings and doings of Christendom. Sustained by the people, and laboring for them, it has the power to make and unmake presidents, control parties, build up free institutions, and regulate the minutest details of daily life; it becomes in one sense school-master, preacher, lawgiver, judge, jury, and policeman, in one grand combination. Among the influential newspaper-men of this country who are now, and who for thirty years past have been, busy in publishing journals, speaking for truth, honesty, liberty, religion, and good government, is found the subject of this sketch, John Badger Clarke, the well known, genial, liberal, enterprising, able, and very successful editor and publisher of the Manchester, New Hampshire, Daily Mirror and American, and the Weekly Mirror and Farmer.
John Badger Clarke was born at Atkinson, January 30, 1820, and was the junior of six children—five sons and one daughter—of Greenleaf and Julia (Cogswell) Clarke. Atkinson was a good town to be born in, and an excellent place in which to gain religious, moral, and educational instruction. The direct ancestors of the present Clarke family were from Atkinson; and from that excellent farming town the children of Greenleaf Clarke went forth on their way to college and to places of responsibility, and to high callings in life,—the ancestors being known as intelligent, honored, enterprising, patriotic people, conscientiously religious, after the Puritan faith.
Julia Cogswell, the mother of Mr. Clarke, was the daughter of Dr. William and Judith (Badger) Cogswell, and sister of Rev. William Cogswell, Hon. Thomas Cogswell, Hon. Francis Cogswell, and Hon. George Cogswell, biographical sketches of whom appear in this book. She was a woman of great intellectual powers, a fine scholar, and was preceptress of Atkinson Academy at the time when John Vose, author of a treatise on astronomy, was principal.
The Badger family, connected with the Clarkes and Cogswells, are descendants of Giles Badger, who settled at Newbury, Mass., in 1643. Gen. Joseph Badger, born at Haverhill, Mass., January 11, 1722, and who died April 4, 1803, in the eighty-second year of his age, was active in the Revolution, a member of the provincial congress, and of the convention which adopted the constitution. After removing to Gilmanton, N. H., he held many town offices, was made a brigadier-general, was a member of the state council, and was a stanch supporter of the institutions of learning and religion. Hon. William Badger, born in Gilmanton, January 13, 1779, was a representative, senator, president of the senate, and governor of the state in 1834 and 1835. He was also an elector of president and vice-president of the United States in 1824, 1836, and 1844; was an associate justice of the court of common pleas from 1816 to 1821, and for ten years high-sheriff of the county. Hon. Joseph Badger, Jr., son of the general, was born in Bradford, Mass., October 23, 1746; was distinguished as a military officer for thirty years, passing from captain to brigadier-general. He served in the Revolutionary war, and was present at the capture of Burgoyne. He died at Gilmanton, January 15, 1809, aged sixty-two. His wife was a daughter of Rev. William Parsons, and their marriage was the first one recorded in Gilmanton.