Clerk Information:
- Full Name: John Corker
- Served: 1645 - 1653
- Bio Information: JOHN CORKER was born about 1600 and may have come to Virginia as early as 1623. Corker represented the vicinity of Pasbehegh (a suburb of Jamestown near the confluence of the Chickahominy and James rivers) in the assemblies of 1632 and 1633. Records of assembly membership during the remainder of the 1630s are incomplete. Corker signed a 1640 document using the title “Clerk of the Assembly,” and he attested an order issued “by the Grand Assembly” on 29 June 1642, but the latter instance no title is found on the extant copy. In February 1645 Corker was one of seven James City County burgesses in the assembly of 1645. That autumn he used the title “Clerk to the Burgesses” in the assembly of 1645-1646, but he followed an English model by adopting the Latin style “Cl[ericus] Dom[us] Com[munis],” in the 1650s. Corker, who was described as “the general accountant” in a 1633 act of assembly, had maintained a residence at Jamestown as early as 1640, although his main plantation during the 1650s lay south of the river, opposite the capital. In 1656 Corker was named a justice of the peace for Surry County. He served as a vestryman of Southwark Parish, in Surry County, as late as 1661, but by November 1665 he had moved to Jamestown, where he evidently resided when he died after April 1670.
*The information within this interactive and searchable application has been researched extensively by the House Clerk’s Office. As with any historical records of this age and breadth, there may be discrepancies and/or inconsistencies within records obtained from a variety of credible sources. Any feedback is encouraged at history@house.virginia.gov.