Dumont Clarke was born at Newport, R. I., October 1, 1840, and died at Dumont, N. J., December 26, 1909. He was the son of Peleg and Caroline Moore Clarke. He came from an honored ancestry, being a direct descendant of Jeremiah Clarke, one of the early governors of Rhode Island, whose wife was Frances Latham, daughter of Lewis Latham, Sergeant-Falconer to King Charles the First of England. His grandfather, Audley Clarke, was one of the founders and president of the Bank of Rhode Island, and his father, Peleg Clarke, was president and director of the same institution at the time of his death. Mr. Clarke was educated in a private school at Newport, R. I., with the idea of entering the ministry, but his father died when Dumont was 23 years of age and he was then compelled to give up his chosen calling and was never ordained. Deciding to seek his fortune on the Pacific Coast he went to California where he became a merchant, remaining a short period and meeting with moderate success. At the end of this period he returned to Newport and entered his grandfather's bank as cashier, but he soon afterward resigned this position to go to New York where he entered the American Exchange National Bank. For the next six months he occupied the position of check clerk, but his inherent ability and force of character soon brought him promotion and he was advanced to demand loan clerk. In 1868 he was made assistant cashier, 10 years later was promoted to the position of cashier, and in 1883 became a director in the institution. In 1887 he was elected vice-president, and in 1894, when the president, George S. Coe, retired, he was elected to the presidency, which position he held up to the time of his death. In addition to being president of the American Exchange National Bank, Mr. Clarke had many and varied business interests throughout the county. He was president of the Clearing House for two terms, and chairman of the committee on finance of the Chamber of Commerce, which office he resigned in 1907. He was one of the advisers of J. Pierpont Morgan, in connection with measures taken by the latter to restore confidence during the panic of 1907, and was prominent in the reorganization of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, consenting to be named on the directorate chosen after the investigation ; he also had much to do with shaping the official utterances of the American Bankers' Association. Mr. Clarke was identified with many important corporations. He was a trustee or director in the following companies : American Beet Sugar Company, American Felt Company, the Audit Company of New York, Caledonian Insurance Company of Edinburgh, Commercial Cable Company, Commercial Cable Company of Cuba, Delaware and Hudson Company, Federal Sugar Refining Company, Fidelity and Casualty Company, Home Insurance Company, Hudson Companies, Lake Superior Corporation, Lawyers' Title Insurance and Trust Company, Knickerbocker Trust Company, Long Island Consolidated Electrical Companies, Long Island Railway Company, the Mackay Companies, Manhattan Railway Company, Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, New York, Brooklyn and Manhattan Beach Railroad, New York Clearing House Building Company, Orange National Bank, Press Publishing Company, Swift and Company, United States Mortgage and Trust Company, United States Safe Deposit Company, Washington Life Insurance Co., etc., and member of the board of managers of the Adams Express Company. Mr. Clarke was very fond of the country and very seldom left his Jersey home at Dumont for a long period, either in summer or winter. He lived for a time after his marriage at Washington Heights, but decided to take up his residence in the old Dutch borough of Schraalenburg, N. J. He was elected mayor of that town, serving in that capacity for ten years, and took such a deep interest in its affairs and devoted so much of his thought and time to its improvement that it was renamed Dumont in his honor. Outside of his business cares Mr. Clarke's chief pleasure was yachting and he took great pride in his boat Surprise, which was one of the finest pleasure craft afloat. He was a member of several yachting clubs, including the New York Yacht Club, but did not ally himself with the purely social clubs of New York or with other metropolitan organizations to which men of his position usually belong. His benefactions were many, though confined chiefly to the poor in and around Dumont, and he took especial de light in personally directing his charities. He would send his son Stanley to the homes of those he thought in need to inquire as to their wants and soon afterward the need was quietly filled. It was all done with the least possible ostentation and generally took the form of coal, eatables, etc., rather than money, although he was a generous contributor to charitable objects. On May 20, 1869, he was married at Castle ton, Vt., to Cornelia P. Ellery, and to them were born four sons: Lewis Latham, who succeeded his father as president of the bank, Stanley, Ernest (deceased) and Dumont. and five daughters: Mary (Mrs. George B. Case), Alice, Corinne, Maud and Martha (died in infancy). The career of Dumont Clarke ensures his being ranked among the financial geniuses of his period. Conservative in his methods, the conscientious guardian of the interests of his depositors, and a man of unerring judgment, Mr. Clarke's influence was great and was always exerted for sound business principles. His death not only removed from the ranks of his profession one of its most gifted members, but was felt as a personal loss by all his contemporaries. He was held in affectionate regard by his business associates, his subordinates, and by his neighbors, rich and poor. In passing, he has left a gap which it will be difficult to fill.

from American Biographies