David Clarkson (1726-1782)

He was, "an opulent and prosperous merchant" in New York before the Revolution, but as he was, "an uncompromising whig during the war, nearly the whole of his fortune was lost by his devotion to the popular cause". He married Elizabeth French at New York in 1749. She had two distinguished grandfathers: Philip French, Mayor and Speaker of the Assembly of New York; and, Anthony Brockholst, Commander-in-Chief and acting Governor of New York. They were the parents of seven sons and one daughter, three of whom married into the Van Horne family. One son, Matthew, was President of the Bank of New York, and another, Levinus, lived at Holcroft House in Potsdam which is today part of the campus of Clarkson University.