Bayard Clarke (1815-1884)

He was born in New York City where his grandfather had grown up at Chelsea in Manhattan. He graduated from Geneva College (1835) in New York associated with his brother-in-law's father, Charles Williamson, and studied law being called to the Bar of New York. From 1836 to 1840, he was attaché to Lewis Cass, U.S. Minister to France, and while in France he enrolled with the Royal Cavalry School. Returning to the States, he was commissioned into the U.S. Army (1841) and fought with the 2nd Dragoons in the Seminole Wars in Florida. He resigned in 1843 when he married his wife, Alletta, daughter of Thomas R. Lawrence, and practiced law in New York City. Representing New York, he sat in Congress from 1855 to 1857. On the outbreak of Civil War, he was commissioned as a Colonel and organized the 1st New York Cavalry Regiment, otherwise known as the Lincoln Cavalry. After he retired, he lived in England for several years before returning to America. He wintered in Florida and in the summer lived at "Isola Bella" on his island on Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks, where he died.