from which he recovered when the world was in the panic of 1893.
From 1898 until 1908 he was librarian of the General Land Office at Washington, D. C. He died at Salem on August 20, 1909, at the age of 82.
He was married in 1852 to Harriet T. Buckingham in Portland. They had three daughters and one son. One daughter, Mrs. Sarah Clarke Dyer of Salem, presented to the Oregon Historical Society a case full of material, including his history, a personal copy of Sounds by the Western Sea, clippings of his writings in 12 volumes, 17 bound volumes of the Salem Statesman and the Willamette Farmer which he edited, and other things connected with his life and that of Mrs. Clarke.
Reference in a quotation has been made to her as his assistant. She did indeed greatly help him in his editorial work "by conducting a department for home and youth, so had become well known over a wide region." She died on January 27, 1890.
Well-known persons of Oregon and those that passed through Oregon came to visit them, according to an Oregonian account:
The Clarke home was renowned for its hospitality, as Mrs. Clarke was a charming hostess. Among the many noted people who were guests there were President Grant, Schuyler Colfax, General Sheridan, Joaquin Miller, Henry Villard, Bret Harte, David Starr Jordan and George Bancroft, the historian.
In his old age while enjoying his sinecure position in the library of the General Land Office, he found time at last to write his two-volume history of Oregon,
