Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber, Dec. 2022
John Calvin Clayton, [Thomas, Thomas, Zebulon, John, Edmund, Henry] was born 24 March 1773. Some say he was born in Hampshire County [W] Virginia When John was 77 years old he told the 1850 census taker he was born in New Jersey. He was one of eight known children of Thomas and Mary Clayton.
His father, Thomas Clayton first appears on the Personal Property Tax of Hampshire County, Virginia in 1791.
John Calvin Clayton married Mary Brown about 1799 possibly in Hampshire or Frederick County, Virginia No marriage record as been located at this writing. He purchased lot #33 in the town of Springfield, Hampshire County, Virginia on 16 December 1799. A copy of the deed was carefully preserved and saved between the pages of his great grand daughter Dessie Clayton Feyler’s family bible. Springfield had been established in 1790. The lots were ½ acre each. Purchasers were to build a dwelling house at least 16 feet square with a brick or stone chimney and must be finished and fit for habitation within 5 years after the purchase. Failure to build on a lot would be cause for the town trustees to sell the lot over again and use the money for the benefit of the inhabitants of the town.
John and Mary Brown Clayton sold the property in May 1804. This deed was also preserved by the Clayton family and handed down in Dessie’s bible. It must be assumed that the family did build and live under the restrictions required to have sold and made a profit from the property.
The Clayton’s migrated to Muskingum County, Ohio to a portion that would be set apart a few years later as Perry County. The township would be named for these early Clayton pioneers. John and Mary traveled with both sets of parents and two toddlers. Thomas had been born 17 February 1800 and our ancestor, Alexander, was born 17 June 1802.
John’s father, Thomas, died in August 1813 leaving his estate to be equally divided among his children. His father’s dwelling house and personal effects were advertised for sale in the Zanesville Express in September and the estate finalized soon after.
John’s land holdings were growing. He is listed as an entryman in Perry County which included 156.26 acres of land. In 1825 John and Mary Brown Clayton sold property in Clayton Township to Moses Goodin. It is thought by this compiler, that Moses Goodin’s 2nd wife Mary Clayton, is the widowed mother of John. In 1827 John sold an acre of land to the directors of school lands in Clayton township. The Claytons were paid $4.00 for the property. Historians have been unable to pinpoint when the original log school house was built.
John and his wife appear on the rolls of the Unity Presbyterian Church. In 1837 they obtained permission to remove themselves to the church at New Lexington. John died 5 May 1854 at the age of 81 years and was buried in Unity Presbyterian Church Yard, Clayton Township, Perry County, Ohio. Mary his widow held the estate until her death. A Petition to sell the land of the estate of John Clayton was filed in 1859. The Inventory of the accounts included two tombstones from McMitchel for $20.00 and Gruber and Son for coffins and service $16.00. In 1993 John’s tombstone was found by the compiler and her husband on the ground. The stone was repaired by the Klaiber's.
Reviewing on-line trees at places like Ancestry show newer researchers making an egregious error. They show John Calvin Clayton with a marriage in Perry County, Ohio to Mary Ann Carroll in 1834. This John C. Clayton was born 16 May 1812 and is the son of Joseph Clayton and his wife Mary. John C. Clayton was/is a nephew of John Calvin Clayton that married Mary Brown.
