Coker Fifield Clarkson was an American editor and politician. He served in the Iowa State Senate from 1863 to 1867. He was the owner and editor of the Iowa State Register during the 1870s.
Background
Coker Fifield Clarkson was born on January 21, 1811 at Frankfort, Maine, United States, the son of Richard Perkinhon and Mary (Simpson) Clarkson. His paternal grandfather came to America in 1779, settling in New Hampshire, where his son Richard was born in 1782. Richard Clarkson married the daughter of a Continental soldier and moved to Maine in 1806; he served in the War of 1812. In 1820 the family removed to Indiana settling about thirty miles northwest of Cincinnati.
Career
At seventeen years of age, Coker Clarkson began to learn the printer’s trade and in a few years he became the owner of a newspaper, the Indiana American, which he conducted successfully until 1854. In the following year he moved to Iowa and settled in Grundy County where he developed a highly cultivated farm.
In the summer of 1856 he was chosen a delegate to the state constitutional convention but declined to accept because of his brief residence in the state. He was a member of the Iowa delegation to the Republican convention of 1860 and was one of the earliest supporters of Lincoln. In 1863 he was elected to the state Senate and served four years.
In 1870 with his sons, Richard and James S. , Clarkson purchased the Iowa State Register, published at Des Moines. As its agricultural editor, in which capacity he served for two decades, he -was one of the pioneers in agricultural education in Iowa, becoming known to the people of the state as “Father” Clarkson. He was the leading spirit in the notable contest between the farmers and the Barbed Wire Syndicate, which, supported by capitalists, had formed a combination to control the manufacture and sale of barbed wire. Clarkson understood the situation, and in concert with others called a public meeting, at which he made a vigorous opening speech. He described the controversy and proposed the organization of a Farmers’ Protective Association to resist the syndicate. The Association was formed and a factory established to supply the farmers without purchase from the syndicate. The legal contest which followed was the most stubborn in the history of the state, the farmers being represented by Albert B. Cummins, later governor and senator. The struggle lasted for several years, but the syndicate was finally broken.
Clarkson continued to live in Grundy County until 1878 when he removed to Des Moines. He continued his editorial work until his last illness, although he disposed of his interest in the paper to his sons a few years after the purchase.
Achievements
Religion
For nearly seventy years Clarkson was a loyal Methodist.
Politics
In early life Clarkson was a Whig, a friend of Henry Clay and zealous opponent of Andrew Jackson. Later he joined the Republican party when it was organized, and remained an ardent supporter of it for the rest of his life. In one of his letters he declared, “I never split my ticket to vote for a Democrat in forty-four years".
Personality
In physique Clarkson was large and commanding; his convictions were deep and abiding, and his opinions were held with tenacity. His morals were rigid, but he prescribed for others nothing that he was not willing to require of himself.
Connections
On April 2, 1833, Clarke married Elizabeth Goudie, who died in 1848; in 1849 he married Elizabeth Colescott, who survived him.