Clarkson, Joseph

Clarkson, Joseph, a Protestant Episcopal minister, was born in 1766. During the early part of the Revolution he attended a classical school in Lancaster, Pa., of which Dr. Robert Smith, a Presbyterian clergyman, was principal. In 1782 he graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, and, after studying theology, was ordained deacon in 1787. in which year he acted as secretary to the House of Bishops. He began his ministry in Philadelphia, but soon after went to Wilmington, Del., and ministered until 1799 in the old Swedes' Church. In April of that year he became rector of St. James's Church, Lancaster, his field of labor embracing two country parishes besides St. James's, and here he died, Jan. 25, 1830. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, v, 282.