From the Biographical History of North Carolina from Colonial Times to the Present, by Samuel A'Court Ashe:
The bar of the city of Charlotte has always held an enviable place in the legal annals of North Carolina. As one generation of successful practitioners passes away, another supplies its place, and the Queen City loses none of its past prestige.
Among the lawyers who have grown to manhood since the war between the states, and now are located in Charlotte, few have succeeded so well as Heriot Clarkson, of the firm of Clarkson & Duls. Mr. Clarkson was born at Kingsville, a small village in Richland County, S. C. At the time of his birth (August 21, 1863) his mother had come with her family of children from Charleston to escape the attack upon that city by the five monitors. Mr. Clarkson's father was Major William Clarkson, of Charleston, whose wife was Margaret S. Simons. Major Clarkson was an officer in the Confederate army. As lieutanant he commanded the sharp.shooters in Fort Sumter on April 7, 1863, when the Federal forces attacked Charleston. Prior to the war, Major Clarkson was a planter, and afterward engaged in the railroad service. Both the families of Clarkson and Simons were held in high esteem in South Carolina, and they now have a joint representative in the person of Heriot Clarkson, whose life in his adopted State has well measured up to the record of his ancestors. Among the patriots of the Revolution from whom he is lineally descended were Colonel Maurice Simons and Lieutenant. Colonel Robert Heriot. The first of the Simons family to settle in South Carolina was Benjamin Simons, who came to America from France shortly after the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685. Among the other ancestors of Heriot Clarkson was Gabriel Marion, father of General Francis Marion, of Revolutionary fame. He is also a lineal descendant of Thomas Boston, the great Scotch divine.
As was the case with so many southern families, the Clarkson family had its entire property swept away by the vicissitudes of war, and in early boyhood Heriot Clarkson was forced to acquire those habits of industry which have so distinguished him as a lawyer of maturer years. His first labor, however, was not brain. work, but manual labor of a varied character—working the garden, cutting wood, and in other ways aiding to lighten the burdens of his parents. At the age of sixteen it became necessary that he should give up his studies at the Carolina Military Institute of Charlotte (conducted by Colonel John P. Thomas), where he was a pupil, and seek some remunerative employment. He entered the law office of Colonel H. C. Jones and General R. D. Johnston, and there made himself useful in various capacities, doing the chores of the office, keeping books, etc. At the end of four years he had saved three hundred dollars, and with this capital he set out for the University Law School at Chapel Hill, where he spent about nine months in 1884, as a student under Dr. John Manning, then professor of law in that institution. He made the highest marks in the class. He received his license as a lawyer from the Supreme Court of North Carolina at October term, 1884. Immediately thereafter he began the practice of law at Charlotte. He was alderman and vice.mayor of Charlotte in 1887.88, and held the same posts in 1891.92. In 1899 he was a member of the house of representatives of North Carolina. He was a strong advocate of "white supremacy." It was at this session that the constitutional amendment was submitted to the people and was passed which eliminated to a great extent the negro vote from politics in North Carolina. In 1901 Mr. Clark. son became city attorney of Charlotte, and held that office for four years. He twice codified the city ordinances of Charlotte, once in 1887 and again in 1901. In the North Carolina Booklet for October, 1901, he contributed an article on Charlotte, entitled "The Hornets' Nest."
As a Mason, Mr. Clarkson belongs to Phalanx Lodge, No. 31, A. F. and A. M., at Charlotte; he is also a noble of the Mystic Shrine (Oasis Temple), a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He also holds a membership in the Society of Sons of the Revolution and is an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He is a member of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina, joining through the Marion, Horry and Simons families. Mr. Clarkson was for some time a lieutenant of the Hornets' Nest Riflemen of Charlotte, and was chief marshal at the time of the unveiling of the monument to the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. He is an Episcopalian in religion, and has been closely identified with church work. He built as a memorial to his father St. Andrew's Chapel, near Charlotte. For many years he has been a vestry/nan of St. Peter's Episcopal Church at Charlotte. Few men in North Carolina have been so closely identified with the cause of temperance as has Mr. Clarkson. Speaking of his sentiments on this subject, he says: "My strongest ambition as a boy was to see the saloons abolished in Charlotte. I saw early the great evil they did. Every public office I ever held I held as an opponent of the saloon. On July 5, 1904, Charlotte was carried for prohbition by 485 majority, and I led the contest as chairman of the Anti-Saloon League."
He has always been a strong party Democrat and has never voted any other ticket, often disagreeing with the party, but believing that unwavering allegiance to the Democratic party was the only course to obtain good government in the South. He has been a member for many years, and is now, of the State Democratic Executive Committee. He was opposed to fusion on the electoral ticket in 1896, but followed the standard-bearer of his party- loyally.
The first "White Supremacy" club in recent years formed in North Carolina, with "white supremacy" and "white labor" as its only platform, was organized by him and a few others in Charlotte before the election of 1896, and numbered about six hundred members. Then Asheville, Winston and Wilmington formed similar clubs. He was a strong advocate of the white man's resolution passed by only two votes by the Democratic Executive Committee of the State, which did so much to help redeem North Carolina. He is an advocate of a registered primary for white men to nominate all state and county officers under the auspices of the Democratic party. He drew up the platform on which Hon. John D. Bellamy was nominated, and which was unanimously adopted without change by the committee and convention. The platform was received with enthusiasm by the convention which was held in Wilmington. 'Subsequent events show how nobly the people carried out the declarationi "We do hereby declare our determination that white supremacy through white men shall control and rule North Carolina." The platform reads as followsi
"We do most heartily reiterate the resolution of the State Executive Committee in which all white electors are cordially invited to participate in our primaries and conventions, and do call upon all white men who love their home and native land to join with us in the great battle in North Carolina now waged for the supremacy of the white man and against the corrupt and intolerable government now given us by designing white men joining with the negro, and we do hereby declare our determination that white supremacy through white men shall control and rule North Carolina."
He has been in full sympathy with the industrial upbuilding of the State, and was one of the charter members of the Piedmont Fire Insurance Company, established a few years ago in North Carolina. He was, in the legislature of 1899, an advocate of a textile school for North Carolina, and is a firm believer in "trade education." Through his efforts there passed the house, in 1899. by twenty.two votes, a bill establishing a textile school in connection with the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Raleigh. This was the beginning of the agitation which ended in the build. ing and equipping of the present textile building at the Agricultural and Mechanical College. He with his partner did much to have Elizabeth College located at Charlotte and is on the advisory board. He also started the Building and Loan Association of Charlotte.
In 1888 he formed a partnership to practice law with Mr. C. H. Duls.
On December 10,1889, Mr. Clarkson was married to Miss Mary Lloyd Osborne, and to this union have been born eight children, five of whom are now living. Mrs. Clarkson is a daughter of the Rev. Edwin A. Osborne, now archdeacon of the Convocation of Charlotte, who won fame in the Confederate army as colonel of the Fourth North Carolina regiment, and was afterward chaplain of the Second North Carolina regiment of United States Volunteers in the war with Spain. Archdeacon Osborne belongs to the historic Osborne family which has so conspicuously figured in the annals of North Carolina.
Mr. Clarkson was appointed solicitor of the twelfth judicial district by Governor C. B. Aycock in 1904. Judge W. A. Hoke was judge of the district, and was elected to the Supreme Court Bench. Mr. J. L. Webb, the solicitor, was appointed to succeed Judge Hoke. If the appointment of judge had fallen to Governor R. B. Glenn he would have appointed Mr. Clarkson. He was nominated by the Democrats by acclamation for solicitor to succeed himself in 1906. -Marshall DeLancey Haywood.
The bar of the city of Charlotte has always held an enviable place in the legal annals of North Carolina. As one generation of successful practitioners passes away, another supplies its place, and the Queen City loses none of its past prestige.
Among the lawyers who have grown to manhood since the war between the states, and now are located in Charlotte, few have succeeded so well as Heriot Clarkson, of the firm of Clarkson & Duls. Mr. Clarkson was born at Kingsville, a small village in Richland County, S. C. At the time of his birth (August 21, 1863) his mother had come with her family of children from Charleston to escape the attack upon that city by the five monitors. Mr. Clarkson's father was Major William Clarkson, of Charleston, whose wife was Margaret S. Simons. Major Clarkson was an officer in the Confederate army. As lieutanant he commanded the sharp.shooters in Fort Sumter on April 7, 1863, when the Federal forces attacked Charleston. Prior to the war, Major Clarkson was a planter, and afterward engaged in the railroad service. Both the families of Clarkson and Simons were held in high esteem in South Carolina, and they now have a joint representative in the person of Heriot Clarkson, whose life in his adopted State has well measured up to the record of his ancestors. Among the patriots of the Revolution from whom he is lineally descended were Colonel Maurice Simons and Lieutenant. Colonel Robert Heriot. The first of the Simons family to settle in South Carolina was Benjamin Simons, who came to America from France shortly after the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685. Among the other ancestors of Heriot Clarkson was Gabriel Marion, father of General Francis Marion, of Revolutionary fame. He is also a lineal descendant of Thomas Boston, the great Scotch divine.
As was the case with so many southern families, the Clarkson family had its entire property swept away by the vicissitudes of war, and in early boyhood Heriot Clarkson was forced to acquire those habits of industry which have so distinguished him as a lawyer of maturer years. His first labor, however, was not brain. work, but manual labor of a varied character—working the garden, cutting wood, and in other ways aiding to lighten the burdens of his parents. At the age of sixteen it became necessary that he should give up his studies at the Carolina Military Institute of Charlotte (conducted by Colonel John P. Thomas), where he was a pupil, and seek some remunerative employment. He entered the law office of Colonel H. C. Jones and General R. D. Johnston, and there made himself useful in various capacities, doing the chores of the office, keeping books, etc. At the end of four years he had saved three hundred dollars, and with this capital he set out for the University Law School at Chapel Hill, where he spent about nine months in 1884, as a student under Dr. John Manning, then professor of law in that institution. He made the highest marks in the class. He received his license as a lawyer from the Supreme Court of North Carolina at October term, 1884. Immediately thereafter he began the practice of law at Charlotte. He was alderman and vice.mayor of Charlotte in 1887.88, and held the same posts in 1891.92. In 1899 he was a member of the house of representatives of North Carolina. He was a strong advocate of "white supremacy." It was at this session that the constitutional amendment was submitted to the people and was passed which eliminated to a great extent the negro vote from politics in North Carolina. In 1901 Mr. Clark. son became city attorney of Charlotte, and held that office for four years. He twice codified the city ordinances of Charlotte, once in 1887 and again in 1901. In the North Carolina Booklet for October, 1901, he contributed an article on Charlotte, entitled "The Hornets' Nest."
As a Mason, Mr. Clarkson belongs to Phalanx Lodge, No. 31, A. F. and A. M., at Charlotte; he is also a noble of the Mystic Shrine (Oasis Temple), a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He also holds a membership in the Society of Sons of the Revolution and is an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He is a member of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina, joining through the Marion, Horry and Simons families. Mr. Clarkson was for some time a lieutenant of the Hornets' Nest Riflemen of Charlotte, and was chief marshal at the time of the unveiling of the monument to the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. He is an Episcopalian in religion, and has been closely identified with church work. He built as a memorial to his father St. Andrew's Chapel, near Charlotte. For many years he has been a vestry/nan of St. Peter's Episcopal Church at Charlotte. Few men in North Carolina have been so closely identified with the cause of temperance as has Mr. Clarkson. Speaking of his sentiments on this subject, he says: "My strongest ambition as a boy was to see the saloons abolished in Charlotte. I saw early the great evil they did. Every public office I ever held I held as an opponent of the saloon. On July 5, 1904, Charlotte was carried for prohbition by 485 majority, and I led the contest as chairman of the Anti-Saloon League."
He has always been a strong party Democrat and has never voted any other ticket, often disagreeing with the party, but believing that unwavering allegiance to the Democratic party was the only course to obtain good government in the South. He has been a member for many years, and is now, of the State Democratic Executive Committee. He was opposed to fusion on the electoral ticket in 1896, but followed the standard-bearer of his party- loyally.
The first "White Supremacy" club in recent years formed in North Carolina, with "white supremacy" and "white labor" as its only platform, was organized by him and a few others in Charlotte before the election of 1896, and numbered about six hundred members. Then Asheville, Winston and Wilmington formed similar clubs. He was a strong advocate of the white man's resolution passed by only two votes by the Democratic Executive Committee of the State, which did so much to help redeem North Carolina. He is an advocate of a registered primary for white men to nominate all state and county officers under the auspices of the Democratic party. He drew up the platform on which Hon. John D. Bellamy was nominated, and which was unanimously adopted without change by the committee and convention. The platform was received with enthusiasm by the convention which was held in Wilmington. 'Subsequent events show how nobly the people carried out the declarationi "We do hereby declare our determination that white supremacy through white men shall control and rule North Carolina." The platform reads as followsi
"We do most heartily reiterate the resolution of the State Executive Committee in which all white electors are cordially invited to participate in our primaries and conventions, and do call upon all white men who love their home and native land to join with us in the great battle in North Carolina now waged for the supremacy of the white man and against the corrupt and intolerable government now given us by designing white men joining with the negro, and we do hereby declare our determination that white supremacy through white men shall control and rule North Carolina."
He has been in full sympathy with the industrial upbuilding of the State, and was one of the charter members of the Piedmont Fire Insurance Company, established a few years ago in North Carolina. He was, in the legislature of 1899, an advocate of a textile school for North Carolina, and is a firm believer in "trade education." Through his efforts there passed the house, in 1899. by twenty.two votes, a bill establishing a textile school in connection with the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Raleigh. This was the beginning of the agitation which ended in the build. ing and equipping of the present textile building at the Agricultural and Mechanical College. He with his partner did much to have Elizabeth College located at Charlotte and is on the advisory board. He also started the Building and Loan Association of Charlotte.
In 1888 he formed a partnership to practice law with Mr. C. H. Duls.
On December 10,1889, Mr. Clarkson was married to Miss Mary Lloyd Osborne, and to this union have been born eight children, five of whom are now living. Mrs. Clarkson is a daughter of the Rev. Edwin A. Osborne, now archdeacon of the Convocation of Charlotte, who won fame in the Confederate army as colonel of the Fourth North Carolina regiment, and was afterward chaplain of the Second North Carolina regiment of United States Volunteers in the war with Spain. Archdeacon Osborne belongs to the historic Osborne family which has so conspicuously figured in the annals of North Carolina.
Mr. Clarkson was appointed solicitor of the twelfth judicial district by Governor C. B. Aycock in 1904. Judge W. A. Hoke was judge of the district, and was elected to the Supreme Court Bench. Mr. J. L. Webb, the solicitor, was appointed to succeed Judge Hoke. If the appointment of judge had fallen to Governor R. B. Glenn he would have appointed Mr. Clarkson. He was nominated by the Democrats by acclamation for solicitor to succeed himself in 1906. -Marshall DeLancey Haywood.
From the Biographical History of North Carolina from Colonial Times to the Present, by Samuel A'Court Ashe:
The bar of the city of Charlotte has always held an enviable place in the legal annals of North Carolina. As one generation of successful practitioners passes away, another supplies its place, and the Queen City loses none of its past prestige.
Among the lawyers who have grown to manhood since the war between the states, and now are located in Charlotte, few have succeeded so well as Heriot Clarkson, of the firm of Clarkson & Duls. Mr. Clarkson was born at Kingsville, a small village in Richland County, S. C. At the time of his birth (August 21, 1863) his mother had come with her family of children from Charleston to escape the attack upon that city by the five monitors. Mr. Clarkson's father was Major William Clarkson, of Charleston, whose wife was Margaret S. Simons. Major Clarkson was an officer in the Confederate army. As lieutanant he commanded the sharp.shooters in Fort Sumter on April 7, 1863, when the Federal forces attacked Charleston. Prior to the war, Major Clarkson was a planter, and afterward engaged in the railroad service. Both the families of Clarkson and Simons were held in high esteem in South Carolina, and they now have a joint representative in the person of Heriot Clarkson, whose life in his adopted State has well measured up to the record of his ancestors. Among the patriots of the Revolution from whom he is lineally descended were Colonel Maurice Simons and Lieutenant. Colonel Robert Heriot. The first of the Simons family to settle in South Carolina was Benjamin Simons, who came to America from France shortly after the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685. Among the other ancestors of Heriot Clarkson was Gabriel Marion, father of General Francis Marion, of Revolutionary fame. He is also a lineal descendant of Thomas Boston, the great Scotch divine.
As was the case with so many southern families, the Clarkson family had its entire property swept away by the vicissitudes of war, and in early boyhood Heriot Clarkson was forced to acquire those habits of industry which have so distinguished him as a lawyer of maturer years. His first labor, however, was not brain. work, but manual labor of a varied character—working the garden, cutting wood, and in other ways aiding to lighten the burdens of his parents. At the age of sixteen it became necessary that he should give up his studies at the Carolina Military Institute of Charlotte (conducted by Colonel John P. Thomas), where he was a pupil, and seek some remunerative employment. He entered the law office of Colonel H. C. Jones and General R. D. Johnston, and there made himself useful in various capacities, doing the chores of the office, keeping books, etc. At the end of four years he had saved three hundred dollars, and with this capital he set out for the University Law School at Chapel Hill, where he spent about nine months in 1884, as a student under Dr. John Manning, then professor of law in that institution. He made the highest marks in the class. He received his license as a lawyer from the Supreme Court of North Carolina at October term, 1884. Immediately thereafter he began the practice of law at Charlotte. He was alderman and vice.mayor of Charlotte in 1887.88, and held the same posts in 1891.92. In 1899 he was a member of the house of representatives of North Carolina. He was a strong advocate of "white supremacy." It was at this session that the constitutional amendment was submitted to the people and was passed which eliminated to a great extent the negro vote from politics in North Carolina. In 1901 Mr. Clark. son became city attorney of Charlotte, and held that office for four years. He twice codified the city ordinances of Charlotte, once in 1887 and again in 1901. In the North Carolina Booklet for October, 1901, he contributed an article on Charlotte, entitled "The Hornets' Nest."
As a Mason, Mr. Clarkson belongs to Phalanx Lodge, No. 31, A. F. and A. M., at Charlotte; he is also a noble of the Mystic Shrine (Oasis Temple), a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He also holds a membership in the Society of Sons of the Revolution and is an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He is a member of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina, joining through the Marion, Horry and Simons families. Mr. Clarkson was for some time a lieutenant of the Hornets' Nest Riflemen of Charlotte, and was chief marshal at the time of the unveiling of the monument to the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. He is an Episcopalian in religion, and has been closely identified with church work. He built as a memorial to his father St. Andrew's Chapel, near Charlotte. For many years he has been a vestry/nan of St. Peter's Episcopal Church at Charlotte. Few men in North Carolina have been so closely identified with the cause of temperance as has Mr. Clarkson. Speaking of his sentiments on this subject, he says: "My strongest ambition as a boy was to see the saloons abolished in Charlotte. I saw early the great evil they did. Every public office I ever held I held as an opponent of the saloon. On July 5, 1904, Charlotte was carried for prohbition by 485 majority, and I led the contest as chairman of the Anti-Saloon League."
He has always been a strong party Democrat and has never voted any other ticket, often disagreeing with the party, but believing that unwavering allegiance to the Democratic party was the only course to obtain good government in the South. He has been a member for many years, and is now, of the State Democratic Executive Committee. He was opposed to fusion on the electoral ticket in 1896, but followed the standard-bearer of his party- loyally.
The first "White Supremacy" club in recent years formed in North Carolina, with "white supremacy" and "white labor" as its only platform, was organized by him and a few others in Charlotte before the election of 1896, and numbered about six hundred members. Then Asheville, Winston and Wilmington formed similar clubs. He was a strong advocate of the white man's resolution passed by only two votes by the Democratic Executive Committee of the State, which did so much to help redeem North Carolina. He is an advocate of a registered primary for white men to nominate all state and county officers under the auspices of the Democratic party. He drew up the platform on which Hon. John D. Bellamy was nominated, and which was unanimously adopted without change by the committee and convention. The platform was received with enthusiasm by the convention which was held in Wilmington. 'Subsequent events show how nobly the people carried out the declarationi "We do hereby declare our determination that white supremacy through white men shall control and rule North Carolina." The platform reads as followsi
"We do most heartily reiterate the resolution of the State Executive Committee in which all white electors are cordially invited to participate in our primaries and conventions, and do call upon all white men who love their home and native land to join with us in the great battle in North Carolina now waged for the supremacy of the white man and against the corrupt and intolerable government now given us by designing white men joining with the negro, and we do hereby declare our determination that white supremacy through white men shall control and rule North Carolina."
He has been in full sympathy with the industrial upbuilding of the State, and was one of the charter members of the Piedmont Fire Insurance Company, established a few years ago in North Carolina. He was, in the legislature of 1899, an advocate of a textile school for North Carolina, and is a firm believer in "trade education." Through his efforts there passed the house, in 1899. by twenty.two votes, a bill establishing a textile school in connection with the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Raleigh. This was the beginning of the agitation which ended in the build. ing and equipping of the present textile building at the Agricultural and Mechanical College. He with his partner did much to have Elizabeth College located at Charlotte and is on the advisory board. He also started the Building and Loan Association of Charlotte.
In 1888 he formed a partnership to practice law with Mr. C. H. Duls.
On December 10,1889, Mr. Clarkson was married to Miss Mary Lloyd Osborne, and to this union have been born eight children, five of whom are now living. Mrs. Clarkson is a daughter of the Rev. Edwin A. Osborne, now archdeacon of the Convocation of Charlotte, who won fame in the Confederate army as colonel of the Fourth North Carolina regiment, and was afterward chaplain of the Second North Carolina regiment of United States Volunteers in the war with Spain. Archdeacon Osborne belongs to the historic Osborne family which has so conspicuously figured in the annals of North Carolina.
Mr. Clarkson was appointed solicitor of the twelfth judicial district by Governor C. B. Aycock in 1904. Judge W. A. Hoke was judge of the district, and was elected to the Supreme Court Bench. Mr. J. L. Webb, the solicitor, was appointed to succeed Judge Hoke. If the appointment of judge had fallen to Governor R. B. Glenn he would have appointed Mr. Clarkson. He was nominated by the Democrats by acclamation for solicitor to succeed himself in 1906. -Marshall DeLancey Haywood.
The bar of the city of Charlotte has always held an enviable place in the legal annals of North Carolina. As one generation of successful practitioners passes away, another supplies its place, and the Queen City loses none of its past prestige.
Among the lawyers who have grown to manhood since the war between the states, and now are located in Charlotte, few have succeeded so well as Heriot Clarkson, of the firm of Clarkson & Duls. Mr. Clarkson was born at Kingsville, a small village in Richland County, S. C. At the time of his birth (August 21, 1863) his mother had come with her family of children from Charleston to escape the attack upon that city by the five monitors. Mr. Clarkson's father was Major William Clarkson, of Charleston, whose wife was Margaret S. Simons. Major Clarkson was an officer in the Confederate army. As lieutanant he commanded the sharp.shooters in Fort Sumter on April 7, 1863, when the Federal forces attacked Charleston. Prior to the war, Major Clarkson was a planter, and afterward engaged in the railroad service. Both the families of Clarkson and Simons were held in high esteem in South Carolina, and they now have a joint representative in the person of Heriot Clarkson, whose life in his adopted State has well measured up to the record of his ancestors. Among the patriots of the Revolution from whom he is lineally descended were Colonel Maurice Simons and Lieutenant. Colonel Robert Heriot. The first of the Simons family to settle in South Carolina was Benjamin Simons, who came to America from France shortly after the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685. Among the other ancestors of Heriot Clarkson was Gabriel Marion, father of General Francis Marion, of Revolutionary fame. He is also a lineal descendant of Thomas Boston, the great Scotch divine.
As was the case with so many southern families, the Clarkson family had its entire property swept away by the vicissitudes of war, and in early boyhood Heriot Clarkson was forced to acquire those habits of industry which have so distinguished him as a lawyer of maturer years. His first labor, however, was not brain. work, but manual labor of a varied character—working the garden, cutting wood, and in other ways aiding to lighten the burdens of his parents. At the age of sixteen it became necessary that he should give up his studies at the Carolina Military Institute of Charlotte (conducted by Colonel John P. Thomas), where he was a pupil, and seek some remunerative employment. He entered the law office of Colonel H. C. Jones and General R. D. Johnston, and there made himself useful in various capacities, doing the chores of the office, keeping books, etc. At the end of four years he had saved three hundred dollars, and with this capital he set out for the University Law School at Chapel Hill, where he spent about nine months in 1884, as a student under Dr. John Manning, then professor of law in that institution. He made the highest marks in the class. He received his license as a lawyer from the Supreme Court of North Carolina at October term, 1884. Immediately thereafter he began the practice of law at Charlotte. He was alderman and vice.mayor of Charlotte in 1887.88, and held the same posts in 1891.92. In 1899 he was a member of the house of representatives of North Carolina. He was a strong advocate of "white supremacy." It was at this session that the constitutional amendment was submitted to the people and was passed which eliminated to a great extent the negro vote from politics in North Carolina. In 1901 Mr. Clark. son became city attorney of Charlotte, and held that office for four years. He twice codified the city ordinances of Charlotte, once in 1887 and again in 1901. In the North Carolina Booklet for October, 1901, he contributed an article on Charlotte, entitled "The Hornets' Nest."
As a Mason, Mr. Clarkson belongs to Phalanx Lodge, No. 31, A. F. and A. M., at Charlotte; he is also a noble of the Mystic Shrine (Oasis Temple), a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He also holds a membership in the Society of Sons of the Revolution and is an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He is a member of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina, joining through the Marion, Horry and Simons families. Mr. Clarkson was for some time a lieutenant of the Hornets' Nest Riflemen of Charlotte, and was chief marshal at the time of the unveiling of the monument to the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. He is an Episcopalian in religion, and has been closely identified with church work. He built as a memorial to his father St. Andrew's Chapel, near Charlotte. For many years he has been a vestry/nan of St. Peter's Episcopal Church at Charlotte. Few men in North Carolina have been so closely identified with the cause of temperance as has Mr. Clarkson. Speaking of his sentiments on this subject, he says: "My strongest ambition as a boy was to see the saloons abolished in Charlotte. I saw early the great evil they did. Every public office I ever held I held as an opponent of the saloon. On July 5, 1904, Charlotte was carried for prohbition by 485 majority, and I led the contest as chairman of the Anti-Saloon League."
He has always been a strong party Democrat and has never voted any other ticket, often disagreeing with the party, but believing that unwavering allegiance to the Democratic party was the only course to obtain good government in the South. He has been a member for many years, and is now, of the State Democratic Executive Committee. He was opposed to fusion on the electoral ticket in 1896, but followed the standard-bearer of his party- loyally.
The first "White Supremacy" club in recent years formed in North Carolina, with "white supremacy" and "white labor" as its only platform, was organized by him and a few others in Charlotte before the election of 1896, and numbered about six hundred members. Then Asheville, Winston and Wilmington formed similar clubs. He was a strong advocate of the white man's resolution passed by only two votes by the Democratic Executive Committee of the State, which did so much to help redeem North Carolina. He is an advocate of a registered primary for white men to nominate all state and county officers under the auspices of the Democratic party. He drew up the platform on which Hon. John D. Bellamy was nominated, and which was unanimously adopted without change by the committee and convention. The platform was received with enthusiasm by the convention which was held in Wilmington. 'Subsequent events show how nobly the people carried out the declarationi "We do hereby declare our determination that white supremacy through white men shall control and rule North Carolina." The platform reads as followsi
"We do most heartily reiterate the resolution of the State Executive Committee in which all white electors are cordially invited to participate in our primaries and conventions, and do call upon all white men who love their home and native land to join with us in the great battle in North Carolina now waged for the supremacy of the white man and against the corrupt and intolerable government now given us by designing white men joining with the negro, and we do hereby declare our determination that white supremacy through white men shall control and rule North Carolina."
He has been in full sympathy with the industrial upbuilding of the State, and was one of the charter members of the Piedmont Fire Insurance Company, established a few years ago in North Carolina. He was, in the legislature of 1899, an advocate of a textile school for North Carolina, and is a firm believer in "trade education." Through his efforts there passed the house, in 1899. by twenty.two votes, a bill establishing a textile school in connection with the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Raleigh. This was the beginning of the agitation which ended in the build. ing and equipping of the present textile building at the Agricultural and Mechanical College. He with his partner did much to have Elizabeth College located at Charlotte and is on the advisory board. He also started the Building and Loan Association of Charlotte.
In 1888 he formed a partnership to practice law with Mr. C. H. Duls.
On December 10,1889, Mr. Clarkson was married to Miss Mary Lloyd Osborne, and to this union have been born eight children, five of whom are now living. Mrs. Clarkson is a daughter of the Rev. Edwin A. Osborne, now archdeacon of the Convocation of Charlotte, who won fame in the Confederate army as colonel of the Fourth North Carolina regiment, and was afterward chaplain of the Second North Carolina regiment of United States Volunteers in the war with Spain. Archdeacon Osborne belongs to the historic Osborne family which has so conspicuously figured in the annals of North Carolina.
Mr. Clarkson was appointed solicitor of the twelfth judicial district by Governor C. B. Aycock in 1904. Judge W. A. Hoke was judge of the district, and was elected to the Supreme Court Bench. Mr. J. L. Webb, the solicitor, was appointed to succeed Judge Hoke. If the appointment of judge had fallen to Governor R. B. Glenn he would have appointed Mr. Clarkson. He was nominated by the Democrats by acclamation for solicitor to succeed himself in 1906. -Marshall DeLancey Haywood.
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