CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

John M. Clarke

Canadian politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 7, 2025
Entity authorityQ16025130 ↗
Source-derived summary

John Montague Clarke (October 1854 – May 25, 1936) was a lumber merchant, contractor and political figure on Prince Edward Island. He represented 5th Kings in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island from 1904 to 1908 as a Liberal.

He was born in Bedeque, Prince Edward Island, the son of Theophilus Desbrisay Clarke. After completing his education in Bedeque, Clarke worked for John R. Calhoun. He then lived in Colorado for five years before returning to the island and opening his own lumber company in Kensington. In 1877, he married Sarah M. Reeves. Clarke worked as a general building contractor for several years. He also was a member of the town councillor for Summerside Town Council and of the Summerside school board. He served in the province's Executive Council as a minister without portfolio in 1908. He was defeated when he ran for reelection later that year.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “John M. Clarke” as canadian politician. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1854, 1936, 1904, 1908—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1854. The account is most persuasive where John, Clarke and Canadian can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as canadian politician. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 7, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q16025130. VIAF identifies the subject as 5104150325537510090003. The Library of Congress control number is no2017106776. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1854, 1936, 1904 and 1908.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John M. Clarke”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John M. Clarke primary sources, John M. Clarke archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John M. Clarke”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “John M. Clarke” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.