‍F. J. Clarke, tobacco merchant, Owensboro, was born in Halifax County, Va., June 21, 1842. His parents are E. H. and Mary (Robinson) Clarke, both natives of Virginia. He is the oldest of a family of five sons and four daughters. He attended school until May, 1861, when he enlisted in the Third Virginia Confederate Cavalry, and was one of the four original companies at Appomattox; Va., when Lee surrendered. He then returned to Halifax County, and a short time after came to Owensboro and engaged in the tobacco business. In 1882 he formed his present partnership with J. H. Hickman, under the firm name of Clarke & Hickman. Feb. 27, 1867, Mr. Clarke married Ada A., daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Athy) Bransford. They have three children—Benjamin B., born Nov. 29, 1867; Frank R., May 18, 1876; and Mary L.. Dec. 14, 1881. Mr. Clarke is a Knight Templar Mason ; a member of Ogden Lodge, No. 356, and Commandery, No. 15. In 1881 he was appointed City Collector. He has held various offices of trust in the city. In politics he is a Democrat.

‍       - from History of Davies County Kentucky

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‍    Soon after the war Frank followed his uncle William Hobson Clarke to Owensboro KY. In Owensboro, he was engaged in various businesses, sat on the local school board, was elected Councilman and Tax Collector, and married a rich girl, Ada Bransford. (Frank’s father, Epaphroditus Clarke, grew up next door to Ada’s uncle, John Bransford, in Cumberland County VA.) Ada died suddenly at age 35, leaving him with three children ranging in age  from three to sixteen. Two years later he moved to Louisville and remarried, to Isabelle (Belle) Singleton, by whom he had one additional child, Lillian.

‍    Soon, things began to go wrong. The story unfolds in the society pages and legal notices of the Owensboro newspaper. He was sued by the city of Owensboro for tens of thousands of dollars of tax receipts that he had not turned over to the city, and sued by multiple creditors. By the late 1880’s his two youngest children by his first marriage were living with relatives, Frank Robinson Clarke with his older brother Benjamin Bransford Clarke, and Mary Lee Clarke with her aunt, Mary Bransford Nisbet and her husband (until the former died and the latter shot himself, after which she went to live with her brother Benjamin Bransford.) He  owned a parcel delivery company in Louisville in 1891, when he was the victim of a robbery, but moved to Florida in 1892. He was living in Hinson, north of Tallahassee, in 1909 when he applied for a Civil War Pension. In 1920 he was living in Jacksonville as a boarder.

‍    His second wife, Belle Clarke remained in Owensboro for many years, teaching school, until she moved to live with her (now married) daughter on Long Island NY in 1920. No mention is made of Frank in the wedding announcements of any of his 4 children, and there is no further mention of Frank until he is buried in the Confederate Section of the Old City Cemetery in Jacksonville FL in 1924. It is not know whether he kept in touch with his family. His son, Frank, was in Jacksonville from 1902 until 1910, but probably did not cross paths with him.