William Clayton

William Clayton (c. 1717 – December 14, 1797) was Virginia planter, officer, patriot and politician who served as the clerk of New Kent County, Virginia for decades, and also represented the county in the House of Burgesses (1766-1771), in the final Virginia Revolutionary Convention and first session of the Virginia House of Delegates, and in the 1788 Virginia convention to ratify the United States Constitution. Early and family life The middle of five sons born to the former Elizabeth Whiting and her husband, Rev. John Clayton, his family also included several sisters. His birth date is uncertain because Gloucester County records were destroyed in several fires, Gloucester County was divided into several parishes in 1752, and his uncle Edward Clayton also lived in Gloucester County and used similar names for his children. In addition to his spiritual duties and operating his farm, his father also served as clerk of Gloucester County for more than five decades, was the president of the Virginia Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge, and was succeeded as clerk by this man's brother Jasper (who died in the American Revolutionary War and whose estate this man would supervise in 1779). Their grandfather, John Clayton emigrated from England and held important posts in the colony's government, as well as acquired and operated several plantations in Virginia's Tidewater region. Career