Jonas Clarke

Who was Jonas Clarke?

Jonas Clarke, sometimes written Jonas Clark, was an American clergyman and political leader who had a role in the American Revolution and in shaping the 1780 Massachusetts and the United States Constitutions.

Clarke graduated from Harvard College in 1752 and became the third pastor of the Church of Christ in Lexington, Massachusetts on May 19, 1755. He married Lucy Bowes Clarke. His wife's cousin was John Hancock, and Hancock was a guest in his home at the time of the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775.

Clarke is buried in the Old Burying Ground in Lexington, Massachusetts. The Hancock-Clarke house is named after him, as is Jonas Clarke Middle School in Lexington.