Born near Carlisle, Kentucky, January 10, 1839. His father, William Clayton, was born in Paris, Kentucky, in 1788, of Virginian extraction. His third wife was nee Mary Adair, German extraction and the mother of our sketch. When a lad Mr. Clayton was left practicality alone in the World and as an orphan boy thrown upon his own resources he went to work beside the slaves on the farm at meager wages and becoming disgusted with slavery and with slave aristocracy he left his native state for the glad free north, stopping in Decatur county, Indiana. In 1862 he was married to Miss Priscilla Martin, who died in 1868 and in 1869 Mr. Clayton was again married to Miss Nannie M. Hamilton. Becoming infatuated with the reports from the west, Mr. Clayton went to Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Mr. Clayton has taken a great interest in politics since before he became voter. For three years he served as the youngest member ever elected to the board of county supervisors of his own county in Indiana, and while in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, he was elected a member of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Twentieth General Assemblies; twice served as chairman the committee on agriculture and one term as speaker pro tem of the House of Representatives. He served three years a chairman of the of trustees of the deaf and dumb institution at Council Bluffs. He was a Christian man and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Born near Carlisle, Kentucky, January 10, 1839. His father, William Clayton, was born in Paris, Kentucky, in 1788, of Virginian extraction. His third wife was nee Mary Adair, German extraction and the mother of our sketch. When a lad Mr. Clayton was left practicality alone in the World and as an orphan boy thrown upon his own resources he went to work beside the slaves on the farm at meager wages and becoming disgusted with slavery and with slave aristocracy he left his native state for the glad free north, stopping in Decatur county, Indiana. In 1862 he was married to Miss Priscilla Martin, who died in 1868 and in 1869 Mr. Clayton was again married to Miss Nannie M. Hamilton. Becoming infatuated with the reports from the west, Mr. Clayton went to Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Mr. Clayton has taken a great interest in politics since before he became voter. For three years he served as the youngest member ever elected to the board of county supervisors of his own county in Indiana, and while in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, he was elected a member of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Twentieth General Assemblies; twice served as chairman the committee on agriculture and one term as speaker pro tem of the House of Representatives. He served three years a chairman of the of trustees of the deaf and dumb institution at Council Bluffs. He was a Christian man and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Born near Carlisle, Kentucky, January 10, 1839. His father, William Clayton, was born in Paris, Kentucky, in 1788, of Virginian extraction. His third wife was nee Mary Adair, German extraction and the mother of our sketch. When a lad Mr. Clayton was left practicality alone in the World and as an orphan boy thrown upon his own resources he went to work beside the slaves on the farm at meager wages and becoming disgusted with slavery and with slave aristocracy he left his native state for the glad free north, stopping in Decatur county, Indiana. In 1862 he was married to Miss Priscilla Martin, who died in 1868 and in 1869 Mr. Clayton was again married to Miss Nannie M. Hamilton. Becoming infatuated with the reports from the west, Mr. Clayton went to Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Mr. Clayton has taken a great interest in politics since before he became voter. For three years he served as the youngest member ever elected to the board of county supervisors of his own county in Indiana, and while in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, he was elected a member of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Twentieth General Assemblies; twice served as chairman the committee on agriculture and one term as speaker pro tem of the House of Representatives. He served three years a chairman of the of trustees of the deaf and dumb institution at Council Bluffs. He was a Christian man and a member of the Methodist Episcopal-Church.