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 1817 - 1873 (55 years) Submit Photo / Document
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| Name |
Joseph Alvey Clayton |
| Born |
30 Dec 1817 |
Cornersville, Marshall Co., TN  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
1 Aug 1873 |
Navarro Co., TX |
| Buried |
Old Chatfield Cemetery, Chatfield, Navarro Co., TX |
| Notes |
- Joseph A. Clayton first came to Texas in 1835, as a youth of seventeen years, and it was his to live up to the full tension of life on the frontier. He soon became a member of General Sam Houston's army, organized for the purpose of gaining independence to Texas, which became a republic as a result.
As a private soldier he took part in the historic battle of San Jacinto, and for his services as a soldier he was given a grant of land, but when he made a permanent settlement it was not on this land but in the vicinity of the old town of Washington, about 1847. He did some service for the United States in the Mexican war, and also did much scouting in the early Indian service, besides working effectively with surveying parties during the formative period of statehood in Texas.
He finally returned to Tennessee, where he wedded Amanda Poole, an orphan girl, and he then came again to Texas and located near old Washington, where they resided until 1852, when they settled near Kerens, Navarro county. Both died at Chatfield, this county, in the year 1873, the father passing away August 1, and the mother July 31. At the outbreak of the Civil war Joseph A. Clayton enlisted in the Confederate army in Texas.
He was reared in Marshall county, Tennessee, and received but limited educational advantages in his youth. His alert mentality enabled him to overcome this early handicap and he became a man of broad information and mature judgment. He was a close student of the Bible and while not formally identified with any religious body his faith was in accord with the tenets of the Baptist church.
He was both a Mason and an Odd Fellow and he assisted in the organization of some of the early lodges of these fraternities in Navarro county, including the first of the latter order in the county, the same having been established at Chatfield. Of the children the eldest was Ida C., who became the wife of James P. [T.] Fortson and who died at Rice, Navarro county; Mary E., who became the wife of William H. Bachman, died in Dallas county; Joseph H. and Hervey A. are still residents of Navarro county; J. Roger is at Tamalipas, Mexico, where he is a farmer by vocation; Dixie B. is the wife of James M. Read and they likewise reside at Tamalipas, Mexico; Jennie P. became the wife of Dr. Edward Brown, and her death occurred at Merkel, Texas; and Mitchell S., of this review was the third in order of birth.
[2]
- http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Clayton&GScid=5740&GRid=8709016& [2]
- Joseph Alvey Clayton (pictured above), identified as Joseph Alvie Clayton in some sources,1 was born on December 30, 1817,1a,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 probably in the part of Giles County, Tennessee that later became Marshall County.10 He is believed to be one of four children (all sons) of Morgan Clayton and Mollie Steele.11,11a
He was reared in what is now Marshall County, Tennessee12 and had little schooling, but his "alert mentality enabled him to overcome this early handicap and he became a man of broad information and mature judgment."13
Joe came to Texas in early 1835,14,15,16 seventeen years old and unmarried, and about a year later, on April 21, 1836, fought in the Battle of San Jacinto, which effectively ended the Texas Revolution, as a member of Capt. Amasa Turner's infantry company but attached to the artillery under Lt. Col. James C. Neill.17,18,19 Today his name is inscribed on the monument at the San Jacinto battlefield, and the battlefield museum holds a shotgun and a bible that belonged to him.20
After Texas independence in 1836 he did some Indian scouting and worked as a surveyor.21 Family tradition is that he was a member of the surveying party wiped out by Indians in September or October 1838 in the "Surveyors' Fight" at Battle Creek near Spring Hill in Navarro County but that he was not with the party when attacked because he had returned to Franklin to retrieve forgotten equipment.22 He participated in the Mexican War, including the Battle of Chapultepec on September 13-14, 1847.23
During the Mexican War he had returned to Tennessee to marry Margaret Amanda Poole in Shelby County, Tennessee on June 24, 1847,24,25,26,27,28,30 probably at the Mississippi River plantation of his brother, John Steele Clayton.31
Amanda, as apparently she was known,32 was born on April 20, 1831 in Lincoln County, Tennessee to George Pool and Martha Mitchell.33
Joe and Amanda settled in 1847 near Washington-on-the-Brazos, in Washington County, Texas.34,35 In 1852 they and their two daughters, Ida (about four years old) and Mollie (one year old), moved to Navarro County, Texas, where they settled at Wadeville, near present-day Kerens.36,37,37a A few years later the family moved northward to settle near the Trinity River and the town of Mesquite (now known as Chatfield) in northeast Navarro County.38 There he settled into raising sheep and horses.39 He was an Odd Fellow40 and a Mason41,42 and helped establish some of the early Odd Fellow and Masonic lodges in Navarro County.43
J. A. Clayton's signature
J. A. Clayton's signature on the 1861 Ordinance of Secession
Joe owned slaves. He was taxed in Texas for eight slaves in 1852 (valued at $3,500), six in 1853 (valued at $3,500), three in 1854 (valued at $2,500) and five in 1855 (valued at $3,000)43a and owned an interest in slaves in Tennessee or Mississippi.43b There is no doubt about his feelings on the issues that led to the Civil War. In January 1860 he was a member of a group that met in Corsicana and passed a resolution stating, "We are heart and soul with our Democratic friends of the 'Old Dominion' in their determination to resist the encroachments of the enemies of the institution of slavery."44 In December 1860 he presided over a "mass meeting" in Corsicana that passed resolutions including one that "the doctrine of negro equality is abhorrent to every feeling of our nature."45 The December meeting also declared by unanimous voice that he was the choice of the group to seek election to the secession convention to be held early the next year.46 Joe was a trustee of the Masonic and Odd Fellows Male and Female High School at Chatfield,46a whose teachers the Corsicana paper described as "sound on the slave question."47 While running for election to the secession convention, Joe published a "circular" that set out his views on Texas secession.48 In the election he and J. P. Weir were chosen to represent a district composed of Navarro and Hill Counties at the secession convention in Austin January 28 to February 4, 1861,49,50 and he was one of the signers of the resulting Ordinance of Secession.51 He joined the Joseph Clayton's grave markerConfederate army on September 15, 1861 in a reserve company of the 19th Infantry Brigade of the Texas Militia.52,53,54 He also was active in the Navarro County Democratic Party55 and in 1860 was a county commissioner.56
To read the resolutions on Texas secession passed at the December 15, 1860 public meeting in Corsicana, click here. To read Joe Clayton's "circular" giving his views on Texas secession, click here. To read the Ordinance of Secession (signed by Joe), click here.
Joe and Amanda died three days apart. She had been ill in July 1873 when his arm was mangled or torn off by a threshing machine.57,57a This hastened her death, which came on July 29,58,59 and he died the day she was buried, August 1, 1873.60,61,62 He was fifty-five, and she was forty-two. They are buried in the Old Cemetery at Chatfield, Navarro County, Texas.63 Click here to read Joe's obituary and here to read Amanda's. (The photo of Joseph A. Clayton's grave marker in the Old Chatfield Cemetery at left is courtesy of Dana Subbs.)
Joe and Amanda had eight children,64 listed below. Click on a name to go to a page about that person and his or her descendants.
Ida Carolyn Clayton, who was born on 24 May 1848 in Washington County, Texas, married James Thomas Fortson on 20 Jun 1867 in Navarro County, Texas, and died on 30 Aug 1910 in Rice, Navarro County, Texas
Mary E. ('Mollie') Clayton, also known as Margaret, who was born on 20 Feb 1851 in Washington County, Texas, married William Fletcher Bachman on 20 Jan 1874 in Navarro County, Texas, and died on 20 Jul 1889 in Dallas County, Texas
Mitchell Steele Clayton, who was born on 18 Sep 1854 in Navarro County, Texas, married Georgia ('Georgie') Pannill on 13 Aug 1885 in Navarro County, Texas, and died on 31 Jan 1920 in Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas
Joseph Henry Clayton, who was born on 6 Nov 1856 in Navarro County, Texas, married Anna ('Annie') May Lisman on 17 Jan 1883 in Navarro County, Texas, and died on 9 Mar 1923 in Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas
Albert Hervey Clayton, who was born on 2 Aug 1861 in Navarro County, Texas, married Mattie Williamson, and died on 20 Jul 1923 in Bexar County, Texas
Dixie Rena Clayton, who was born on 4 Apr 1863 in Navarro County, Texas and married James M. Reid on 16 Dec 1880 in Navarro County, Texas
James Roger Clayton, who was born on 1 Jul 1865, did not marry, and died on 11 Sep 1932 in La Cruz, Tamilipas, Mexico
Janette Poole ('Jennie') Clayton, who was born on 2 Jul 1868 in Navarro County, Texas, married Dr. W. Edward Brown, and died circa Aug 191 in Merkel, Taylor County, Texas [3]
- Died on Friday the 1st day of August 1873 Joseph Alvie [sic] Clayton aged 55 years seven months. He was born in Giles County Tenn., moved to Texas in 1835, was actively engaged in the Texas revolution. His tragic death has envolved [sic] the county in the saddest gloom. He lived 16 days after the fatal accident.2 We may truthfully say that in him "there was no guile." He belonged to no church; had honesty without policy, principle and not expediency characterized his life, and endeared him to all who loved truth and virtue. He had strong family ties, [was] an effectionate [sic] husband and kind father, a fast friend and brave soldier. Just past the meridian of life, he has been cut down in his usefulness in an unusual and unlooked for manner. We sympathize in common with his many friends, with the orphanage he has left, and cordially promise comfort and support. Oh blindness to the future kindly given, that each may fill the place marked by heaven, who sees with equal eye as Good of all, a hero perish or a sparrow fall.
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| Person ID |
I3936 |
Extended Families of Childress |
| Last Modified |
8 Jun 2020 |
| Family |
Margaret Amanda Poole, b. 20 Dec 1831, TN , d. 31 Jul 1873, Navarro Co., TX (Age 41 years) |
| Children |
| | 1. Ida Carolyn Clayton, b. 24 May 1848, Washington Co., TX , d. 30 Aug 1910, Rice, Navarro Co., TX (Age 62 years) |
| | 2. Mary E "Mollie" Clayton, b. 20 Feb 1851, Washington Co., TX , d. 20 Jul 1889, Dallas, Dallas Co., TX (Age 38 years) |
| | 3. Mitchell Steele Clayton, b. 18 Sep 1854, Near Kerens, Navarro Co., TX , d. 31 Jan 1920, Corsicana, Navarro Co., TX (Age 65 years) |
| | 4. Joseph Henry Clayton, b. 6 Nov 1856, Chatfield, Navarro Co., TX , d. 9 Mar 1923, Corsicana, Navarro Co., TX (Age 66 years) |
| | 5. Albert Hervey Clayton, b. 2 Aug 1861, Navarro Co., TX , d. 20 Jul 1923, Somerset, Bexar Co., TX (Age 61 years) |
| | 6. Dixie Rena Clayton, b. 4 Apr 1863, Navarro County, Texas , d. Aft 1938 (Age > 76 years) |
| | 7. James Roger Clayton, b. 1 Jul 1864, d. 11 Sep 1932, La Cruz, Tamilipas, Mexico (Age 68 years) |
| | 8. Janette "Jennie" Poole Clayton, b. 2 Aug 1868, Navarro County, Texas , d. Abt Aug 1910, Merkel, Taylor County, Texas (Age 42 years) |
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| Last Modified |
8 Jun 2020 |
| Family ID |
F1410 |
Group Sheet |
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