Coker F. Clarkson

Coker Fifield Clarkson (January 21, 1811 – May 7, 1890), sometimes known by the nickname "Father Clarkson", was an American politician, farmer, and agricultural journalist from Indiana and Iowa. He was active in Whig and Republican politics throughout his life. He served one term in the Iowa Senate and wrote agricultural columns for the Iowa State Register.

Early life Coker Fifield Clarkson was born on January 21, 1811, in Dixmont, Maine, to Mary (née Simpson) and Richard Perkinhon Clarkson. His grandfather was a lieutenant colonel of the British Army in the Revolutionary War. His maternal grandfather was an officer in the Continental Army and was descended from the Puritans. During the War of 1812, a cannonball from a British man-of-war was shot into the family's home and under Clarkson's bed. While in Lawrenceburg, he was friends with pastor Henry Ward Beecher. He published the paper until 1854 or 1858, sources differ, when he sold it to Thomas A. Goodwin. He was then associated with a railroad in the 1850s. The family also farmed. Clarkson conducted agricultural experiments and wrote about farming. He also became involved in the Underground Railroad and the Melrose Farm was a station on the railroad. He served as supervisor of Grundy County. He was a delegate-at-large to the 1860 Republican National Convention and was a member of its committee on credentials. He supported Abraham Lincoln in the second or third ballot, sources differ, at the convention. He declined two postings during the Lincoln administration. In 1876, he was an alternate commissioner of the Centennial Exposition and was a member of its committee on horticulture and floriculture.

In 1878, Clarkson sold the Melrose Farm and moved to Des Moines. In the dispute between farmers and the Washburn Barb Wire Trust, he helped organize the Farmers' Protective Association with Seaman A. Knapp, James Wilson, and Henry Cantwell Wallace. He was also an organizer of the Agricultural Editors' Association with Knapp, Wilson, and Wallace. In 1888, he would support Benjamin Harrison for president. Another grandson Coker Fifield Clarkson was a lawyer and general manager of the Society of Automotive Engineers. The family lived in Brookville. His funeral was held at the First Methodist Church in Des Moines.

Legacy In Herbert Quick's The Hawkeye, Clarkson was the influence for the anti-monopolist character Governor Wade.