1692, he was clerk of said church, and resigned that office May 21, 1708, and Joseph Clarke, jr., was appointed to fill that place. Rev. Joseph Clarke was ordained Aug. 12th, 1712. Rev. Thos. Clarke was ordained as elder, Oct. 2, 1750. Rev. Joshua Clarke, his son, was ordained as elder, in May, 1768. All the foregoing Clarkes, except John, have been pastors of the church of Hopkinton, then Westerly.-From the Church Records.

Judge Samuel Clarke, of Portsmouth, R. I., is in regular descent from this highly distinguished family. He has six brothers and two sisters, now living at Clarkesville, Brookfield, N. Y. The Hon. John H. Clarke, Senator to Congress, from Rhode Island, is also of the same family, and has distinguished himself in the various important stations which he has been called to occupy. Also W. Edward Clarke, Esq., of Providence, who has in his possession the Bible, formerly belonging to John Clarke.

TO THE MEMORY OF

DOCTOR JOHN CLARKE,

One of the original purchasers and proprietors of this Island; and one of the founders of the First Baptist Church in Newport, its first

pastor, and munificent benefactor.

He died on the 20th of April, 1676, in the 66th year of his age:
And is here Interred.

THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY HIS TRUSTEES.

May the descendants of the Clarke's follow the example of their illustrious predecessor.

Jeremiah Clarke.-We have not been able to trace any connection between this family and that of John Clarke, one of the first settlers. It is possible that they were remotely connected, though we should rather be inclined to doubt it. Jeremiah Clarke was Governor of the colony in 1745, and died in Newport, 11th month, 1751, and was buried in a tomb which now stands by the water side.-Friends' Records.

He was father of Governor Walter Clarke. Weston Clarke, the Recorder, and Rev. James Clarke, of the Second Baptist church of Newport, were grandsons of Jeremiah Clarke. They were among the early settlers of Newport. Many of their des cendants have been highly respectable.

THE COMMERCIAL RELATIONS OF NEWPORT.

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There is a tradition that this family originated from the Hon. Lewis Latham, who was Falconer to His Majesty, King Charles I. This was an office of distinction. He is also said to have been an illegitimate child of King Charles, the sot, and lived to the advanced age of 100 years. This Latham subsequently mar. ried, and had two daughters, one of whom married Randal Houlden, of Warwich, one of the original settlers, and the other a Clarke, the father of Jeremiah, and the grandfather of Walter Clarke, and these are the descendants of said Lewis Latham. The name of Latham is often found as the Christian name of families in Newport. We had in our possession, until within a few years, a portrait of Lewis Latham, but by some unaccountable negligence on the part of the person who had it in charge, it cannot be found. He was a venerable looking man, with a long flowing beard reaching to his bosom: there was also a coat of arms appended. We think that, considering all the circumstances, Jeremiah Clarke, the father of Walter, could not have been related to John. Walter Clarke was, however, a distinguished man in the colony. He owned the land from the corner of the Parade, as far as to the Jonathan Marsh estate, afterwards belonging to Wm. I. Tilley, to the water, and extending to Clarke-street, named in honor of him. There is one singular fact connected with the Clarkes of Rhode Island, that the name ends with an "e," by which they can be distinguished from the other families who bear the name.

We have said much more of this family, especially of John Clarke, than we otherwise should have done, had there not been a disposition on the part of historians, to treat his name and good deeds with indifference, in order to exalt Roger Williams, and Providence, of which he was the founder, at the expense of the honor and glory of Newport.

THE COMMERCIAL RELATIONS OF NEWPORT.

As late as 1769, Newport outrivalled New-York, in her foreign and domestic commerce. The inhabitants of New-York, New-Haven, New London, &c., depended entirely on Newport for a market to supply themselves with foreign goods, and here they found a ready market for the produce of their own States.

Her merchants were among the most enterprising and wealthy. Mr. Aaron Lopez, is said to have employed more than thirty sail of vessels, of different descriptions, at one time. Mr. Lopez was the first, or among the first, to push the whaling business as far as the Falkland Islands. Col. Godfrey Malborn, was an extensive ship-owner, and did much in building up the town, of which we shall speak more particularly. Jonathan Nichols was an enterprising merchant of Newport, and son of DeputyGovernor Nichols; he was distinguished for his enterprise, public spirit, hospitality, and charity-rare virtues combined. He was extensively engaged in foreign commerce, and owned at the time of his death, sixteen sail of vessels. His residence was the estate on the Point, now owned by the heirs of the late Hon. William Hunter, which at that time had one of the best wharfs and ranges of stores in Newport, all of which he built. The workmanship of the interior of this house, is truly elegant and costly; the stair-ways being of English oak, and twisted, with the rich carved pannel work, shows the taste of its former owner, and the great superiority of the ancient buildings over the modern. There is also the Cheesborough estate, at present belonging to the heir of the late Hon. C. G. Champlin ; the Redwood House, on Bridge-street, now in possession of the widow Pierce; the Tillinghast property, now in possession of Gov. W. C. Gibbs; the Redwood House in Thames street, with its heavy iron gate, now the residence of the widow of S. F. Gardner, Esq.; and the Gov. Wanton estate, in Thames street, with others, which clearly proves that a sad deterioration has taken place in the mode and manner of building, and corresponds well with the minds of the present age. Mr. Nichols was for many years a deputy from Newport, afterwards an assistant, and at the time of his death was Deputy Governor of the Colony. He died on the 8th of September, 1756. He was great-grandfather to Edward Hazard, Esq., of the Park House, Newport.

Messrs. E. and F. Malborn, Henry Collins, the Wantons, and many other merchants, also did an immense business before the revolution. The remains of the foundations of old wharves, from Robinson's Wharf on the Point, to Overing's at the extreme south, a distance of one mile, which at that interesting period were crowded with commerce, will give the reader some idea of the prosperity of Newport.

THE COMMERCIAL RELATIONS OF NEWPORT.

83

The town at this time was in the zenith of her commercial prosperity. The population is said to have been 12,000. She had about two hundred vessels employed in the foreign trade, and between three and four hundred coasting vessels, including a regular line of London packets, and employing no less than twenty-two hundred seamen.

Such was the amount of business done at that period, that goods were not stored, owing to the want of room, while the wharves were literally covered with merchandize, viz. : sugar, rum, molasses, and every kind of foreign and domestic articles.

The coasters would take on board the merchandize, as before remarked, and proceed to New-York and Connecticut, where there was a quick demand, which went to build up and enrich the town of Newport.

We have been told an anecdote of Capt. Hicks, of Warren, who, coming to this port with a load of hoop-poles, found great difficulty in finding a place to land, having passed every wharf without finding room for his cargo, until he reached Overing's wharf at the extreme south of the town.

Her West India trade was immense. This grew partly out of the quantity of rum which was there distilled, there being, in full blast, about thirty distilleries. This gave constant employment to coopers,-their shops were to be found on almost every wharf-brass-founders, and to draymen, and others, for all participated in the benefits resulting from this extensive trade. There was around the Cove, some ten or twelve distilleries, as the remains of the old cisterns plainly show.

Simon Newton owned two; the great-grandfather of the firm of E. F. Newton, brothers, Samuel Johnson, the Richardsons, and William Burroughs, each owned a distillery. In this section of the town, the business done was immense. There was seven wharves in the Cove, and before the Long Wharf were extended, vessels entered the Cove and discharged their cargoes; and subsequently, through the drawbridge.

The town, at the same time, contained seventeen manufacturers of sperm oil and candles, also three sugar refineries, one brewery, and five or more ropewalks.

-Tweedy, apothecary, a large importer and exporter of drugs; such was his business, that he supplied Rhode Island, a part of Massachusetts, all Connecticut and North Carolina, with

drugs, and had an establishment in New-York, where merchants might ascertain his prices; this appeared from his books, when in the hands of the late Dr. Edmund T. Waring.

Stephen Dellois, Esq., had a large wholesale hardware store, as also Stephen Ayrault, Samuel Ayrault, Thomas Wilkinson. These were all importers, and did an extensive business. Newport, at this period, was the grand emporium of trade. We have heard aged men remark, that they have known of the arrival of eighteen West Indiamen in one day." It was said, at that period, however strange it may sound, "that possibly New-York might, in time, equal Newport." A degree of activity then prevailed, which would astonish us at this day.

CUSTOM HOUSE RECORDS.

It is to be regretted that the books and papers at this period are lost, in the regular set, which would have afforded us correct statistics of the amount of merchandize imported into Newport.

We have procured, quite incidentally, from Mrs. Dudley, widow of the late Hon. Charles Dudley, Esq., former Mayor of Albany, who was the only son of Charles Dudley, Esq., Collector under the Crown, some portions of the records of the Customs, which will aid the reader in forming an opinion of the extent of commerce at the period of 1768-9. These quarterly returns were forwarded from England by the executor of Charles Dudley, Esq., a few years since. What became of the regular set of books, and papers, belonging to the Customs, is entirely unknown.

It appears by the books and papers in the author's possession, that in the year 1768-9, the entries and clearances amounted to some hundreds of vessels.