Governor Jeremy Clarke

Jeremiah Clarke (1605–1652) was an early settler in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Born into a prominent family in England, he was a merchant who came to came to the New England with his wife, Frances Latham, and four stepchildren, settling first at Portsmouth in 1638, but the following year joining William Coddington and others in establishing the town of Newport. Here he held a variety of civic positions until 1648 when Coddington's election as President of the colony was disputed, and Clarke was chosen to serve in that office instead. He was the father of Walter Clarke, another governor of the colony, and also had family connections with several other future governors of the colony.