Jefferson County FlArchives Biographies.....CLARKE, SCOTT DILWORTH March 31, 1881 - 
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Author: The History of Florida:  Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1923,  Vol. III pg.201

	CLARKE, Hon. SCOTT DILWORTH.  Few leaders in the field of commercial 
and corporation law have advanced more steadily to eminence than Hon. SCOTT 
DILWORTH CLARKE, the prime secret of his uniform success being the union of a 
remarkable business judgment and a keen legal insight into the most involved 
transactions.  His devotion to the cause of civic betterment is, aside from 
his success as a lawyer, the most interesting feature of his career in the 
general public regard.  In 1903 he served Monticello, where his entire life 
has been spent, as mayor, for six years he was president of the city council, 
in 1907 and again in 1909 he was elected to represent Jefferson County in the 
Florida Legislature, and for years he has been a member of the state 
democratic executive committee.  From 1910 until January, 1921, he served as 
county judge of Jefferson County, first going on the bench as an appointee of 
Governor A. W. GILCHRIST to fill a vacancy, and continuing there by successive 
elections.  He is president of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, and in every 
way one of the most representative and dependable citizens of the county.
	Judge CLARKE was born at Monticello, March 31, 1881, a son of THOMAS 
L. CLARKE, who was born in Webster County, Georgia, in 1846, and died December 
8, 1916.  When only seventeen years old he entered the Confederate army and 
served for three years, or until the close of the war.  Returning home he 
began the study of law at Jonesboro, Georgia, and after his admission to the 
bar, in 1872, he came to Monticello, Florida, and from then on until his death 
he was engaged in the practice of law.  He won an enviable reputation as a 
lawyer, and was recognized as one of the most prominent men of Northern 
Florida.  He was president of the City Council of Monticello; represented 
Jefferson County in the State Legislature three times, and was chairman of the 
school board.  For years he was a vestryman of the Episcopal Church, in which 
he was a zealous worker, and at one time he was a trustee of the West Florida 
Seminary at Tallahassee.  For years it was his practice to invest in land, and 
at the time of his death his holdings were extensive.  In 1907 he became the 
first president of the Farmers & Merchants Bank, and held that office until he 
died.  THOMAS L. CLARKE married MARGARET BIRD, born at Monticello, a daughter 
of DANIEL B. BIRD, late captain of the Jefferson Rifles, who was killed in 
active duty in Kentucky during the war between the two sections of the 
country.  She died in 1900, and subsequently, in 1903, he married ANNIE 
MILLER, who still survives.
	Growing up in his native city, Judge CLARKE attended the local 
schools, and then for three years was a student of the South Florida Military 
Institute.  Returning home, he began the study of law in his father’s office, 
and was admitted to the bar in 1901, following which he took a year’s course 
at the University of Virginia.  Upon his return to Monticello in 1902, he 
formed a co-partnership with his father in the practice of law under the firm 
name of Clarke & Clarke, which continued until he was appointed county judge, 
in February, 1905.  From then to the present day he has been one of the 
dominating figures in this region.  In 1907 he assisted his father in the work 
of organizing the Farmers & Merchants Bank, and when the latter died in 1916, 
Judge CLARKE succeeded him as president, and is still at the head of this 
institution.  At present he is county attorney, city attorney and attorney for 
the county commissioners, has a large civil and corporation practice, and is a 
most widely known man.  He belongs to the Jefferson County Bar Association and 
the Florida State Bar Association, and in 1921 was a member of the Judiciary 
Committee of the State Bankers Association.  During the late war he was 
chairman of the local legal advisory board.  Motoring and fishing are his 
recreations, and his Camp Pleasant is on the Wacissa River.  He is vestryman 
and warden of the Episcopal Church, and one of the most prominent factors in 
it.  Well-known in Masonry, he is master of Hiram Lodge No. 26, F. and A. M.; 
and belongs to Monticello Chapter, Council and Commandery, and he is also a 
member of Monticello Lodge, K. of P.
	In July, 1916, Judge CLARKE married at Monticello, Miss CARRIE BAILEY, 
of this city, a daughter of Hon. E. B. BAILEY, a sketch of whom appears 
elsewhere in this work.  Mrs. CLARKE is very prominent in social, club and 
church circles, and is a lady of great refinement and culture.  Judge and Mrs. 
CLARKE have two children, ELSIE BAILEY and SCOTT DILWORTH, junior.


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