Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/656

This page needs to be proofread.
622
CLANCY
CLAP

assembly thus obtained repealed the toleration act of 1649, declared that all actual settlei's should be entitled to take up land, regardless of any rights of the proprietary. In January, 1654, Cromwell intervened for the protection of the Roman Catho- lics and the rights of Lord Baltimore, and wrote to Gov. Bennett, of Virginia, forbidding him, or those acting under his authority, from disturbing Lord Baltimore or his officers and people in Maryland. Encouraged by this support, Baltimore ordered Stone to overthrow the Puritan government, and Stone mustered a force and attacked the Puritans on the Severn, at Annapolis, on 25 March, 1654, where he was defeated and taken prisoner. The Claiborne regime was thereby firmly established ; but the progress of affairs in England again inter- fered with Claiborne's fortunes. Lord Baltimore made his peace in some way with the common- wealth in 1656, and the commissioners of planta- tions decided that he ought not to be molested in his province. In 1658 an agreement was made in London by which it was restored to him, and thus Claiborne finally disappears from the history of Maryland. On the restoration in 1660 he was turned out of his secretaryship of Virginia and from the council, and we hear no more of him until 1675, when, on the death of Cecilius Calvert, who was succeeded by his son, Charles, third baron of Baltimore, Claiborne presented a petition to the king in council praying for the redress of his many wrongs at the hands of the Calverts. He made loud protestations of his loyalty; but he had no influence at court ; his friends were dead ; and be- sides this, the royal memory was more tenacious than his own, and no attention was paid to his petition. He died shortly afterward on his estates in Vir- ginia, leaving three sons and one daughter, from whom have descended numerous branches of the family in Maryland, Virginia, Mississippi, Missouri, and Louisiana, distinguished for ability. He has been unjustly called " Claiborne the Rebel," from a novel bearing that title, by W. H. Carpenter (Philadelphia, 1845).


CLANCY, William, R. C. bishop, b. in Cork, Ireland, about 1800; d. in Ireland in 1847. He was a graduate of Carlow college, where he acted as professor after his ordination. He was selected as coadjutor of Bishop England in the see of Charleston in 1835. He remained some months in Ireland after his consecration with the view of se- curing priests to accompany him to America, but in this was unsuccessful. He arrived in Charles- ton on 21 Nov., 1835. He attended the council of Baltimore in 1837, and in the same year was trans- lated to the see of Demerara, British Guiana. As his management of this diocese was not satisfac- tory, he resigned in 1838 and returned to Ireland.


CLAP, Nathaniel, clergvman, b. in Dorchester, Mass., 20 Jan., 1669 ; d. in Newport, R. I., 30 Oct., 1745. He was a grandson of Deacon Nathaniel Clap, who settled in Dorchester in 1636, and was graduated at Harvard in 1690. In 1695 he began to preach in Newport, and continued with his work under many discouragements until a church was formed, of which he was ordained pastor in 1720, remaining there until his death. Whitefield and Bishop Berkeley both refer to his venerable appear- ance, and the latter, who esteemed him highly, said: "Before I saw Father Clap, I thought the bishop of Rome had the gravest appearance of any man I ever saw ; but really the minister of New- port has the most venerable appearance." He pub- lished "Advice to Children " (1691) and a sermon on " The Lord's Voice Crying to the People in some Extraordinary Dispensations " (1715).


CLAP, Roger, settler, b. in Salcomb, Devon- shire, England, 6 April, 1609 ; d. in Boston, Mass., 2 Feb., 1691. He came to America in 1630, in company with Maverick, Warham, and others, and settled in Dorchester. Great hardships were ex- perienced, and there was a lack of the necessaries of life. He held several military and civil offices, and was the representative of the town from 1652 till 1666. In August, 1665, he was appointed cap- tain of Castle William, and continued in command until he resigned in 1686, after which he made Boston his residence. His manuscript memoirs, a memorial of the New England worthies, prepared for the benefit of his children, among whom were sons named Preserved, Hopestill, and Desire, and a daughter Wait, to whom he gives excellent ad- vice, were originally published by Rev. Thomas Prince in 1731, and have been republished by the Dorchester historical society.


CLAP, Thomas, educator, b. in Scituate, Mass., 26 June, 1703; d. in New Haven, Conn., 7 Jan., 1767. He was a descendant in the third genera- tion from Thomas Clap (1597-1684), who came to New England in 1630, settling in Scituate ten years later. The young man was fitted for college principally under the Rev. James McSparran, a missionary to Narragansett, and was graduated at flarvard in 1722. While in college he was in- duced, from the reading of a treatise on conversion, to unite with the church, and then decided to study for the ministry. In 1725 he began to preach at Windham as a candidate, and in August, 1726, settled there as the successor of the Rev. Samuel Whiting, whose daughter he married in 1727. He continued in Windham until 1740, Mdien, having been chosen rector of Yale college at the commencement of 1739, he was inducted into office with appropriate ceremonies on 2 April, 1740. It was with great reluctance that his congregation parted with him, and only after the decision of an ecclesiastical convention advising his immediate acceptance was he allowed to take the new office. The legislature agreed to compensate the people of Windham for the loss of their pastor, and the amount to be given was left by the representatives of the college and of the parish to a committee of the general assembly, who reported that " inas- much as Mr. Clap had been in the ministry at Windham for fourteen years, which was about the half of the time ministers in general continue in their public work, the people ought to have half so much as they gave him for settlement, which, upon computation, was about fifty-three pounds ster- ling." This sum was paid. He went to the college with a high reputation for general scholarship, and especially a great knowledge of pure mathematics and astronomy ; and in the various departments of natural philosophy he had few equals. The first orrery or planetarium made in America was con- structed by him. His first great work in connec- tion with the college was the formation of a new code of laws, which, after adoption by the trustees, was in 1748 published in Latin, and was the first book printed in New Haven. Later he made important improvements in the college library, and caused catalogues to be prepared. He drafted a new and more liberal charter, which was granted by the legislature in 1745, incorporating the institution under the name of " The President and Fellows of Yale College in New Haven." In his capacity as president, he undoubtedly accomplished much good for the college, owing to his remarkable qualifica- tions for the transaction of business; but his religious views created ill feeling. He opposed the preaching of Whitefield, believing that his influence would re-