Green Clay

Green Clay (August 14, 1757 – October 31, 1828) was an American businessman, planter, military officer and politician in Virginia and Kentucky. Clay served in the American Revolutionary War and helped form the new state of Kentucky after representing its Madison County in the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788 and in the Virginia House of Delegates which ultimately authorized creation of the new state of Kentucky. He also served in Kentucky's constitutional convention and in both houses of the Kentucky General Assembly, which would name a county for him in 1807. During the War of 1812 Clay was commissioned as a general and led the Kentucky militia in the relief of Fort Meigs in Ohio. He was believed to be one of the wealthiest men of the state, owning tens of thousands of acres of land, many slaves, several distilleries, a tavern, and ferries, although one of his sons, Cassius Marcellus Clay would become a prominent abolitionist.

Early life and education Clay was born in 1757 to Charles and Martha Clay, in then-vast Cumberland County in the Colony of Virginia, probably in the eastern part which Virginia's legislature split off from Cumberland in 1777 to become Powhatan County. His elder brothers included Rev. Charles Clay (1745–1820) and Matthew Clay who later became a U.S. Congressman. Meanwhile, Green Clay also won election as one of Madison County's two representatives in the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788 (with John Miller; and his elder brother Rev. Charles Clay represented Bedford County, Virginia). Both Clay brothers (and John Miller) voted for adoption of amendments to the proposed federal Constitution, and unsuccessfully voted against ratification without them. Over the next decades, Clay developed and owned several distilleries and a tavern in central Kentucky, where development occurred near Lexington. He also provided ferry service at several stops across the winding Kentucky River.

War of 1812 During the War of 1812, Clay was commissioned as a general in the Kentucky militia. In the spring of 1813, he was ordered to the aid of General William Henry Harrison, who was besieged by British forces led by Gen. Proctor at Fort Meigs, Ohio. Clay and the three thousand men he had brought fought their way into the fort; and the British and native forces ultimately withdrew. Their first child was Elizabeth Lewis Clay (1798–1887) and other daughters were Pauline, Sallie, and Sophia (b. 1813; d. 1814). Their sons were Sidney, Brutus J. Clay (b. 1808), Elijah (b. 1815), and Cassius Marcellus Clay (b. 1810). At age 17, Elizabeth married John Speed Smith, who became a politician in Kentucky and U.S. Congressman.

Later years After the war, Clay returned to his plantation. He also published a pamphlet 'To the People of Kentucky and of the United States' (1825) that concerned disputed title in the Tennessee River Valley. He also directed the labor of his many slaves in cultivating commodity crops of tobacco and hemp. He is thought to have been the wealthiest man in Kentucky of his time, as his many slaves were valuable as property.

Death and legacy

Green Clay suffered from face cancer in his final years. He died at his Richmond, Kentucky home in 1828 at the age of 73, and was buried in the nearby family cemetery. His widow Sally Lewis Clay married again, to Jeptha Dudley, a Baptist minister. She moved with him to Frankfort, Kentucky, living there for nearly 40 years before her death in 1867.

His grandson Green Clay Smith was named for his maternal grandfather. Like his father, and maternal uncles Brutus and Cassius, and several cousins, he also became a politician in Kentucky and the U.S. Congress. Clay County, Kentucky, was named in his honor in 1807, during his lifetime.