Heir to American properties acquired by his great-grandfather, the colonial Lieutenant Governor of New York, Englishman George Clarke emigrated to the United States in 1806 to take personal charge of his estate.

As a British citizen, he was the target of numerous challenges to his right to claim lands in post-Revolutionary America. Clarke successfully defended his position, most notably in the case of Jackson v. Clarke, heard before the United States Supreme Court in 1818.

In 1817 he began construction of his country house, Hyde Hall, a project that would consume much of his time and fortune until his death at the great house in 1835; he had at last become a U.S. citizen in 1830.

Unlike many speculators in American lands, Clarke rarely sold any properties, preferring in the English tradition to rent to tenant farmers. Thus upon his death a huge estate, including Hyde Hall, passed to his son, also named George Clarke.