Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/681

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CLAY
CLAYTON
645

in 1835-’7. He went to the Mexican war in June, 1846, as lieutenant-colonel of the 2d Kentucky volunteers, became extra aide-de-camp to Gen. Taylor, 5 Oct., 1846, and was killed with a lance while gallantly leading a charge of his regiment. — Another son, James Brown, b. in Washington, D. C., 9 Nov., 1817; d. in Montreal, Canada, 26 Jan., 1864, was educated at Transylvania university, was two years in a counting-house in Boston, 1835-’6, emigrated to St. Louis, Mo., which then contained only 8,000 inhabitants, settled on a farm, then engaged in manufacturing for two years in Kentucky, and afterward studied law in the Lexington law-school, and practised in partnership with his father till 1849, when he was appointed chargé d'affaires at Lisbon by President Taylor. In 1851-’3 he resided in Missouri, but returned to Kentucky upon becoming the proprietor of Ashland, after his father's death. In 1857 he was elected to represent his father's old district in congress. He was a member of the peace convention of 1861, but afterward embraced the secessionist cause, and died in exile.


CLAY, Joseph, soldier and statesman, b. in Beverly, Yorkshire, England, 16 Oct., 1741 ; d. in Savannah, Ga., 15 Nov., 1804. He was a member of the revolutionary committee of 1774-'5, a colo- nel in the army, and paymaster-general of the southern department. He was a member of the Continental congress from 1778 till 1780, when he resigned, and was afterward a county judge. — His son, Joseph, clergyman, b. in Savannah, Ga., 16 Aug., 1764; d. in Boston, Mass., 11 Jan., 1811. He was graduated at Princeton in 1784 with the high- est honor in his class. Returning to Savannah, he studied law, and, having been admitted to the bar, soon became eminent in his profession. In 1796 he was appointed U. S. district judge for Georgia, holding that office until 1801, when he resigned. In 1808 he made a profession of religion, uniting with the Baptist church in Savannah. In 1804 he was ordained to the ministry as assistant pastor of Dr. Holcombe, and in 1807 was invited to the pas- torate of the 1st Baptist church in Boston, just vacated by the death of Dr. Stillman. His health beginning to decline, he resigned his charge in 1809, and died soon afterward. Mr. Clay was a member of the Georgia convention of 1798, and was very influential in framing the constitution of that state. He was eminent as a lawyer and a judge, and was among the most eloquent preachers of his day. He was one of eleven children.


CLAYPOLE, Edward Waller, educator, b. in Ross, Herefordshire, England, 1 June, 1835. He received his education in England, taking his de- grees at the University of London in 1862 and 1864. Later he came to the United States, and in 1873-'81 was professor of natural sciences in Antioch col- lege, Yellow Springs, Ohio ; in 1881-'3 paleontolo- gist with the geological survey of Pennsylvania ; and in 1883-'6 professor of natural sciences in Buchtel college, Akron, Ohio. Prof. Claypole is a fellow of the Geological society of London and of the American association for the advancement of science, and has published numerous papers on geological subjects in technical journals.


CLAYPOOLE, James, pioneer, b. in 1634; d. in August, 1686. He was the fifth son of John Clay- poole, and his wife Mary, daughter of William Angel 1, of London. His brother John married the daughter of Oliver Cromwell. James became a Quaker, and was an intimate friend of William Penn. Pie was a merchant in London, and wit- nessed the signing of the Charter of Privileges granted by Penn to the settlers in 1682. He was the treasurer of the Free society of traders, which was formed to assist in the settlement of Pennsyl- vania, and, after attending to its affairs in England, he emigrated with his family, in 1683, to Pennsyl- vania, where he held important offices.


CLAYTON, Augustine Smith, jurist, b. in Fredericksburg, Va., 27 Nov., 1783 ; d. in Athens, Ga., 21 June, 1839. Soon after his birth his parents removed to Georgia, and he was graduated at the University of Georgia in 1804. He was admitted to the bar, was elected to the state legislature, and in 1810 appointed to compile the statutes of Georgia from 1800. In 1819 he was elected judge of the superior court of the western circuit, an office which he retained until 1825, and again from 1828 till 1831. During his last term those difficulties began between the state of Georgia and the Cherokee Indi- ans which ultimately resulted in the expatriation of the latter. In 1829 the legislature brought the territory occupied by the Cherokee nation within the jurisdiction of the laws of Georgia. This action of the state authorities was sustained by Judge Clayton, though eventually the U. S. su- preme court decided against its legality, and ruled that the Cherokee nation was sovereign and not subject to the state laws that had been imposed upon it. Judge Clayton, however, was not in per- fect accord with the legislature on the question of Indian rights, as he held that they were entitled to dig gold on lands to which their stipulated title had not been extinguished ; and for thus opposing the policy of the state he was removed from his judicial office. In 1831 he was elected to congress, where he took a leading part in debates on the tariff and the United States bank, both of which he opposed. He served two terms in congress, and after his retirement in 1835 held no public office excepting the trusteeship of the University of Georgia. He was a presidential elector in 1829. His attitude toward Christianity for many years was one of doubt, but at the time of his death he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was reputed to be the author of the political pamphlet called "Crockett's Life of Van Buren."


CLAYTON, John, botanist, b. in Fulham, Eng- land, in 1686; d. in Virginia, 15 Dec, 1773. In 1705 he emigrated to Virginia with his father, who was afterward attorney-general of Virginia, and resided twenty miles from the city of Will- iamsburg. When quite young he entered the of- fice of Peter Beverly, who was clerk for Gloucester CO., and, succeeding him in office, filled it for fifty- one years. He was educated as a physician, but became an enthusiastic botanist, and passed a long life in exploring and describing the plants of the country. His letters to the Royal society, giving an account of several new species of plants ob- served in Virginia, was embodied in Force's "Tracts" (vol. iii.). His essays on the natural history of Virginia were published in the "Philosophical Transactions " of the Royal society of London. He also sent dried specimens of the flora of Virginia to Gronovius, who with Linnteus published an account of a portion of them (2 parts, Leyden, 1739-43). After the death of Gronovius the remainder were described in a third part by his son (1762), who named a genus of herbaceous plant- Claytonia in his honor. He was a member of sev- eral learned societies in Europe. He left two vol- umes of manuscript almost ready for the press and a hortus siccus of folio size, with marginal notes and directions for the engraver in preparing the plates for the proposed work. At the beginning of the revolutionary war this work, which had been placed in the hands of William Clayton, clerk of New Kent, was burned along with the records of