Abraham Clark was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, on February 15th, 1726. He was the only child of Thomas Clark, who was an Alderman, in Elizabethtown. Mr. Clark’s ancestors had settled a farm in Elizabethtown, which would eventually pass to Abraham.

Abraham Clark enjoyed what many would refer to in that day as a good “English education,” under competent teachers. Young Abraham was particularly good at mathematics, and civil law.

He became a man, who was both a vigilant and intelligent observer of current events.

Mr. Clark was of a weak constitution and of a slight form, which prevented him from arduous pursuits. Although reared on a farm, he was unable to do the work of a farmer. His principal activities in his early life were surveying, the transfer of titles, and giving legal advice. He was not a lawyer by profession, but by his study made him competent. He gave gratuitously his advice, which through this giving of free advice; Abraham earned the title of “the poor man’s Counsellor."

At the age of 22, in 1743, Abraham Clark married Sarah Hetfield, Daughter of Isaac and Sarah Hetfield, a farming family of Elizabethtown, New Jersey; Isaac Hetfield was an Elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethtown.

Abraham Clark held the office of High Sheriff of Essex County, and that of the clerk of the Colonial Assembly at Amboy, while under the British dominion and was selected to the General Assembly of New Jersey. On June 6th, 1776 he was appointed by the Provincial Congress of New Jersey as a delegate to the second Continental Congress. During the war He was a member of the committee of public safety. Mr. Clark was considered an efficient worker in favor of a national constitution and in the national Congress. He was an inflexible economist in the management of public monies.

Four days after the signing of the Declaration of Independence on, August 2nd, 1776, Mr. Clark wrote a letter and said: “As to my title, I know not yet whether it will be honorable or dishonorable; the issue of the war must settle it. Perhaps our Congress will be exalted on a high gallows. We were truly brought to the case of the three lepers; if we continued in the state we were in, it was evident we must parish; if we declared Independence we might be saved-we could but perish . . . Nothing short of the power of God can save us. . . I think an interposing Providence hath been evident in all the events that necessarily led us to what we are. . independent states.”

As well Abraham Clark wrote the following: “Our Declaration of Independence I dare say you have seen; a few weeks will probable determine our fate: perfect freedom or absolute slavery; to some of us, freedom or a halter. Our fates are in the hands of an Almighty God, to whom I can with pleasure confide my own. He can save us or destroy us. His counsels are fixed, and can not be disappointed. All His designs will be accomplished.”

Abraham and Sarah Clark attended church where her father, Isaac was an Elder, the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethtown which, was pastored by the great Rev. James Caldwell, know as the “Fighting Chaplain.” To this church he had given much, but in turn it had given much to him.

Abraham Clark was elected to congress each year through 1783 and then again, in 1788. During the years of 1784 to 1787 he was in the New Jersey State Legislature. In 1787 he was appointed to the general convention which framed the Constitution, but was unable to join because of ill health. For the year of 1789 and 1790 he was appointed as a commissioner to settle the accounts of the state of New Jersey with the United States. In the congressional election of 1790 he again was sent back to the US congress and held that position until a short time prior to his death. He retired from his public service on June 9th, 1794, at the close of the congressional session. He died of a sun-stroke in early autumn of that same year.

Abraham Clark was buried in the church-yard at Rahway, New Jersey. The inscription at his grave reads:

Firm and decided as a patriot,

Zealous and faithful as friend to the public,

He loved his country,

And adhered to her cause,

In the darkest hours of her struggles,

Against oppression.

Sarah Clark, who survived her husband Abraham by ten years, is buried by his side.

Abraham Clark, beloved son, husband, patriot, statesmen, Christian, framer and signer of the Constitution, and a faithful Founding Father of this United States.

Resources for this biography of Abraham Clark:

Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Volume XLVII. June to November, 1873.

The Cottage Cyclopedia of History and Biography, By Ed. M. Pierce, 1867

Biography of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence, by Robert Waln, Jr., Volume VI, 1824.

The Romance of Old Philadelphia by John T. Faris, 1918

The New Jersey Historical Society online:

http://www.jerseyhistory.org/findingaid.php?aid=0903