Representative Benjamin F. Clayton View All Years

BENJAMIN F. CLAYTON was born near Carlisle, Kentucky, January 10, 1839, and died at Indianola, Iowa, March 16, 1922. He was the son of William M. and Mary (Adair) Clayton. His parents having died, he removed before reaching manhood to Decatur County, Indiana. In 1873 he came to near Macedonia, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, where he engaged in farming. In 1877 he was elected representative and was re-elected two years later, serving in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth general assemblies. He was elected again in 1883 and served in the Twentieth General Assembly. In 1884, 1885 and 1886 he was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Iowa School for the Deaf at Council Bluffs. In 1884 Governor Sherman appointed him a delegate to the Farmers’ National Congress, at Nashville, Tennessee. At that meeting he was elected secretary, which position he held eight years, when he was elected president, which office he held four years. He was also on the executive committee for nine years. For twenty years he never missed a meeting of the congress. He was a candidate for the nomination of governor at the Republican State Convention at Cedar Rapids, July 1, 1891, and made a creditable run, but the nomination went to H. C. Wheeler. In the same year he removed to Indianola. For four years he served as mayor of that city. He was a trustee of Simpson College for over twenty years and was president of the board a considerable time.