Clarkson, James J.

Flourished: Springfield, Illinois

James J. Clarkson was a newspaper editor and publisher and alderman. In May 1853, Clarkson married Nancy M. Owens in Brazoria County, Texas. After living in Texas for a time, the couple moved to Louisiana, and then to Chicago, Illinois. In 1857, Clarkson edited and published the Trestle Board, a paper associated with Freemasonry. A Democrat, Clarkson supported President James Buchanan and his administration in opposition to Stephan A. Douglas and his supporters in Illinois. James J. Clarkson and his wife next moved to Springfield, Illinois. In 1857, Clarkson began publishing the Illinois State Democrat, a pro-Buchanan newspaper. In August 1859, Clarkson won election as an alderman of Springfield's Fourth Ward, filling a vacancy left by the resignation of Samuel Long. In February 1860, Clarkson was arrested on a charge of attempted rape of a minor. Bound over to the next term of the Sangamon County Circuit Court, Clarkson sold his interest in the Illinois State Democrat, resigned as alderman, and left Springfield. At the April 1860 session of the Circuit Court, neither the alleged victim of the sexual assault nor her father appeared to testify against Clarkson. The grand jury failed to indict Clarkson and the court dismissed the case. At the same session, Nancy M. Clarkson retained Lincoln & Herndon and sued James Clarkson for divorce on the grounds of adultery and desertion. James Clarkson failed to appear, and the court awarded his wife a divorce.

Texas, U.S., Select County Marriage Index, 1837-1965, 15 May 1853, Brazoria County (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2014);Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 8 May 1857, 2:3; 2 September 1858, 3:2; 12 August 1859, 3:1; 17 August 1859, 3:1; Illinois Daily State Journal13 February 1860, 3:3; 17 February 1860, 3:2; 18 February 1860, 3:3; 22 February 1860, 3:2; 4 May 1860, 3:2; 1 June 1860, 2:5; Franklin William Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814-1879, vol. 6 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1910), 72, 324; Bill of Divorce, Document ID: 137900, Clarkson v. Clarkson, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), https://lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=138677; Susan Krause, "'Infamous Outrage and Prompt Retribution': The Case of People v. Delny," In Tender Consideration: Women, Families, and the Law in Abraham Lincoln’s Illinois, ed. by Daniel W. Stowell (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002), 192-93.