George Clarke of Hyde and Hyde Hall NY

Son of George Hyde Clarke (1742-1824) of Hyde Hall Cheshire.

George Clarke (Lt-Gov of New York, and son of George Clarke of Swanswick or Swainswick in Somerset, d. 1760) m. Anne Hyde; their son George Clarke of Swanswick and Hyde died 1777 and was succeeded by his nephew George Hyde Clarke (son of Edward Clarke, who had married a Jamaican widow). George Hyde Clarke married Catherine Hussey and had two sons: George (1768-1835) and Edward (q.v., 1770-1826).

According to the History of Parliament entry for Edward Clarke, George's brother, their father George Hyde Clarke had deserted his wife and was reportedly 'virtually disinherited' by his family. His son George had allegedly inherited Swanswick estate in Jamaica from his grandfather in 1776 [in fact, Swanswick was left to George Hyde Clarke under the will of his father Edward Clarke in 1776 and George Clarke inherited after his own father's death in 1824] but George Clarke certainly inherited the Hyde estate in Cheshire from his great-uncle in 1777. At the same time, George's younger brother Edward Clarke (q.v.) inherited Hyde estate in Jamaica and reportedly Swainswick estate in Somerset. The will of their grandfather left £300 to their 'dear, unhappy and much injured' mother Katherine Clarke née Hussey 'to enable her to come to England to see her children'.

George Clarke settled in New York in 1806 on land he had inherited. In 1817 he bought land near Cooperstown, New York, where he engaged the architect Philip Hooker to design Hyde Hall.

"Ann Cary Cooper Clarke was the daughter of Col. Richard Cary, of George Washington’s staff. She married Richard Cooper (1775-1813), the oldest brother of novelist James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851), and a land agent for George Clarke. After Richard Cooper’s death in 1813, she married George Clarke (1768-1835), the builder of Hyde Hall."

T71/874 Trelawny claim no. 34 (Swanswick).

For an account of the lineage of the Clarke family see John Burke, Genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, enjoying territorial possessions or high official rank: but uninvested with heritable honours (London, Henry Colburn, 1835) Vol. 2 pp. 189-191 and Vere Langford Oliver, Caribbeana being miscellaneous papers relating to the history, genealogy, topography, and antiquities of the British West Indies (6 vols., London, Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1910-1919), Vol. 1 p. 375.

For a short biography of Edward Clarke including the quotes from his grandfather's will see http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/clarke-edward-1770-1826 [accessed 07/11/2012].

For a history of Hyde Hall in New York see http://www.hydehall.org/history [accessed 07/11/2012].

The George Hyde Clarke family papers, 1705-1937, including accounts of the Hyde and Swanswick estates, are held at Cornell University: http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/ead/htmldocs/RMM02800.html [accessed 07/11/2012].

Quote from the Hyde Hall website, http://hydehall.org/ann-cary-cooper-clarke/ [accessed 20/11/2017].

We are grateful to Mitchell Owens for his assistance with compiling this entry.