John Clayton

John Clayton (1694/5–1773) was an Anglican minister in and for decades clerk for Gloucester County in the Colony of Virginia who is today best known as a plant collector and botanist. He may be confused with several distant family members, including Rev. John Clayton who served as minister at Jamestown (1682-1684) and conducted various scientific experiments, before returning to England (although his papers and specimens were lost at sea during that voyage). Early and personal life This John Clayton was born in England and is believed to have moved to Virginia around 1715 with his father, also named John Clayton, who later served as one of the Attorneys General for colonial Virginia. Rev. Clayton married Elizabeth Whiting, granddaughter of Peter Beverley. His final will names three daughters (Mary, Catherine and Lucy) and five sons, as well as granddaughters and grandsons. The most distinguished of them was William Clayton, who served for decades as clerk of the New Kent County court as well as a burgess, the first session of the Virginia House of Delegates and on the Virginia Ratifying Convention. This man's daughter Mary married Patrick Henry and his son Jasper Clayton (d. 1779) died in the American Revolutionary War. His son Robert and another daughter Mary also died before their father. Other brothers were John Clayton (the eldest), and Thomas Clayton. James William Clayton served as the Hanover County clerk from 1720 to 1735. Career