CLAY
CLAY
government for his capture, and he surrendered
his person and was incarcerated in Fort Monroe
from May, 1865, to April, 1866. Upon his release
he returned to the practice of law at Huntsville,
Ala. He was married in 1843 to Virginia, daugh-
ter of Dr. Payton R. Tunstall, of Baldwin county,
Ala. He died in Huntsville, Ala., Jan. 3, 1882.
CLAY, Clement Comer, senator, was born in Halifax county, Va., Dec. 17, 1789; son of Wil- liam Clay, a revolutionary soldier. His mother was a Miss Comer, whose mother was a Claiborne. He was graduated at the East Tennessee univer- sit}" in 1807, was admitted to the bar in 1809, and in 1811 settled at Huntsville, Ala., where he prac- tised his profession. He served as a volunteer in the Creek war in 181 3, gaining promotion to the rank of adjutant. He was a member of the ter- ritorial council, 1817-18, and of the constitutional convention in 1819. He was circuit judge and chief justice, 1819-23. He returned to the prac- tice of the law in 1823, was elected to the state legislature and served as its speaker in 1828. He was a Democratic representative in the 21st, 22d and 23d congresses, 1829-35. In 1835 he was elected governor of Alabama, and in 1837 was chosen to the United States senate to fill the un- expired term of John McKinley, appointed to the supreme bench. He resigned in 1841 and devoted his time to the codification of the laws of Ala- bama, which he published in 1842^3. In June, 1843, he was appointed a justice of the supreme court. He was married to a sister of Gen. Jonas M. Withers of Mobile, Ala. He died at Hunts- ville, Ala., Sept. 7, 1866.
CLAY, Green, soldier, was born in Powhatan county, Va., Aug. 14, 1757; son of Charles, grand- son of Henry and great-grandson of Charles ClaJ^ who, with his brothers Henry and Thomas, immi- grated to America with Sir Walter Raleigh and settled in Virginia. He was educated as a sur- veyor, went to Kentucky about 1777 and engaged in locating lands, thereby acquiring an extensive estate. He was a delegate to the Virginia legis- lature, and a member of the convention that rati- fied the Federal constitution in 1789. He was a conspicuous political factor in the state constitu- tional convention of 1799, and was a member of the state legislature from its first session, serv- ing as president of the state senate. He was a member of both branches of the Kentucky legis- lature, serving at one time as speaker of the lower house. As major-general of militia he marched in 1813 with 3000 state troops, to the relief of General Harrison at Fort Meigs, and afterward defended the fort against an assault by Tecumseh and General Proctor. At the close of the war he returned to his home and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He died on his plantation in Madison county, Ky., Oct. 31, 1826.
CLAY, Henry, statesman, was born in Hanover
county, Va., April 12, 1777; son of the Rev. John
and Elizabeth (Hudson) Clay, and fourth in
descent from Thomas Clay, who, with his broth-
ers Charles and Henry, immigrated to America
with Sir Walter Raleigh and settled on the James
river. His father was a Baptist preacher who
died in 1781. His mother was a daughter of George
Hudson, a man of considerable repvite in Vir-
ginia, and when she was left a widow with no
income, save what could be earned from the cul-
tivation of a small farm, she set out to support
and educate her son, sending him to the district
school and encouraging him to industry in labor-
ing on the farm and contributing as he could to
their support. The neighborhood in which they
lived was known as " The Slashes," and the boy's
journeying to and from the mill on horseback
w^ith corn to be ground into flour, gave him his
subsequent sobriquet, "The millboy of the
Slashes." His mother was married to Cai^tain
Henry Watkins of Richmond and removed to
Kent Vicky about 1792. The stepfather had pre-
viously secured for Henry a situation in a store
in Richmond, Va., but before leaving the boy
dependent upon his own resources found for him
more congenial employment in the office of the
clerk of the high court of chancery, then filled
by Peter Tinsley. The attention of Chancellor
Wythe was attracted to the boy and he made
liim his i^rivate secretary and directed his efforts
toward improving his education. His jjrogress
was rapid and in 1796 he entered, as a law stu-
dent, the office of Robert Bi-ooke, attorney-general
of Virginia. Upon being admitted to practice in
1797, by the Virginia court of appeals, he removed
to Lexington; Ky., in November, where he opened
a law office and continued a practice of debating,
begun in Riclunond, by joining a class of the
young barristers of Lexington, of which club he
soon became the acknowledged leader. His law
practice included capital criminal cases and nu-
merous land claim suits. His eloquence directed
public attention to him as an available political
leader, and his advocacy of gradual emancipation
as a feature of the proposed state constitution,
and his denunciation of the alien and sedition
laws commanded immediate attention. He was
married in April, 1799, to Lucretia, daughter of
Col. Thomas Hart, a prominent Kentuckian, and
made for himself a home on 600 acres of land near
Lexington, thereafter known as "Ashland."
His fortune grew with his popularity as a lawyer
and advocate, and in 1803 he was elected a mem-
ber of the lower house of the state legislature,
where his eloquence attracted general attention,
it being said that when Clay spoke in the house
the senate became empty. He further distin-
guished himself by fighting a duel with Colonel
