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Mary Jane Warfield Clay (January 20, 1815 – April 29, 1900) was an American socialite, suffragist, abolitionist, and political activist. An early leader in the suffrage movement in Kentucky, she began by forming a suffrage club at her home in 1879. Her experience and success as a farm manager included her acute business sense in the middle of the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, like selling supplies from her farm to both
Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
and
Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
forces when they each occupied the Commonwealth. Her most active work in the suffrage movement was to encourage and support her daughters who would become the most well known Kentucky suffragists of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.


Early life and family

Mary Jane Warfield Clay was the daughter of Maria Barr and Dr.
Elisha Warfield Elisha Warfield Jr. (February 5, 1781 – May 15, 1859) was an American physician and a Thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder whom ''Thoroughbred Heritage'' calls "one of the most important early figures in Kentucky racing and breeding." ...
. She grew up on a thoroughbred horse farm, The Meadows, on the northeast side of
Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...
and was part of an elite social scene based on slavery and the thoroughbred industry. Her family was socially and politically prominent in Kentucky and in Maryland. On February 26, 1833, she married the abolitionist orator and politician Cassius Marcellus Clay (1810–1903). According to her daughter,
Mary Barr Clay Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
, M.J. Warfield Clay became a strong advocate for emancipation of slaves after marriage, and supported her husband's political career even as he made many enemies and fell victim to pro-slavery mobs. They lived in Lexington from 1838 to 1850 in one of the most elegant residences in the state: the William "Lord" Morton house. In the course of her 45-year marriage, she had ten children,Mary Barr Clay Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
(aka Mrs. J. Frank Herrick) (1839–1924) *Sarah "Sallie" Lewis Clay Bennett (1841–1935) *Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. (1843–1843) *Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. (1845–1857) *Brutus Junius Clay (1847–1932) * Laura Clay (1849–1941) *Flora Clay (1851–1851) *Anne Clay Crenshaw (1859–1945)


Business career

Her husband was captured and taken prisoner during the Mexican War, and M.J. Warfield Clay moved her family from Lexington to live in Madison County at Clermont, Cassius Clay's family home. She began managing the farm in his absence. When President
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
appointed Clay as ambassador to Russia in 1861, she accompanied him there for a short while. She returned to Kentucky in early 1862, against her husband's wishes, living with her four daughters and family slaves on the farm. She was a Unionist while the rest of her family were pro-Confederacy. During the Civil War, a new source of income came from raising and breeding jennies and selling mules to the Union Army. Clay managed the plantation and slaves while her husband was in Russia. With the profits she gained, she enlarged the mansion Clermont. Originally built in the late 1700s by General
Green Clay Green Clay (August 14, 1757 – October 31, 1828) was an American businessman, planter, military officer and politician from Kentucky. Clay served in the American Revolutionary War and was commissioned as a general to lead the Kentucky militia ...
, she built an Italianate addition with central heating and indoor plumbing, renaming the house
White Hall White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
. M.J. Warfield Clay left the farm in 1868> soon after her husband finally returned from his ambassadorship in Russia (and a year long stay in New York). The Clays ended their marriage of 45 years with a divorce granted on February 7, 1878, on the grounds of abandonment and with a stipulation that she could not re-marry as long as Cassius Clay lived. Cassius Clay continued to live at the farm with an adopted son after his wife and her children left, and he entertained lavishly. M.J. Warfield Clay and her daughters would return to White Hall to host parties or other social engagements. The proceeds from the farm that his wife had earned also paid for his many debts incurred overseas. After the Civil War, M.J. Warfield Clay's sister, Anne Elizabeth Warfield Ryland, offered her shelter at her house in Lexington. She and her younger daughters, including Laura Clay who was attending school in Michigan, lived there until she purchased her own home on North Broadway in 1873.


Leadership in woman suffrage movement


Local petition for National Woman Suffrage Association campaign

Only a year after her divorce from Cassius M. Clay, Mary Jane Warfield Clay with her elder daughters --
Mary Barr Clay Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
(also divorced) and Sallie Clay Bennett -- gathered signatures in Lexington and Richmond for a suffrage petition to be sent to Washington, D.C. This petition was likely in support of the work being done by the
National Woman Suffrage Association The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed on May 15, 1869, to work for women's suffrage in the United States. Its main leaders were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was created after the women's rights movement spl ...
(NWSA) since Clay described in a letter to her daughters of her admiration of the work led by
Matilda Joslyn Gage Matilda Joslyn Gage (March 24, 1826 – March 18, 1898) was an American writer and activist. She is mainly known for her contributions to women's suffrage in the United States (i.e. the right to vote) but she also campaigned for Native Ameri ...
, editor of the suffrage journal ''The National Citizen and Ballot Box'' and former president of the NWSA.


Susan B. Anthony visit, 1879

In October 1879
Susan B. Anthony Susan B. Anthony (born Susan Anthony; February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to s ...
toured three cities in Kentucky upon the invitation of
Mary Barr Clay Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
. During her stay in Madison County, she visited White Hall. Anthony wrote a letter to
Mary Barr Clay Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
in 1900 about her memories of that visit
:"...to see your previous mother in her farm home – and then to the proud old mansion where I saw your father in the garden – and he said 'Mary, take Miss Anthony through the house and show it all to her' – which you did. I learned the wonderful heroism of your beautiful mother and also the heroic actions of her daughter Mary ... ever since that visit my love & respect for your dear mother and all of her girls have grown with the years.


First suffrage club in Lexington, Kentucky

On March 7, 1880, M.J. Warfield Clay and her youngest daughter Annie began regular suffrage club meetings in the parlor of their home on North Broadway in Lexington. Many of those who came to her first organizing meeting on March 7 went on to create the Fayette County Equal Rights Association on January 6, 1888. This also served as a launch also for Annie who struck out on her own, writing a regular column on women's rights in the ''Kentucky Gazette''. Annie married a wealthy Virginian, Spottswood Dabney Crenshaw, and in November 1909, she hosted the first meeting of the
Equal Suffrage League of Virginia The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia was founded in 1909 in Richmond, Virginia. Like many similar organizations in other states, the league's goal was to secure voting rights for women. When the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified ...
at her home in
Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...
.


Lucy Stone visit, 1888

In October 1888 Lucy Stone stayed with Mary Jane Warfield Clay in Lexington just before the AWSA convention that took place that year in Cincinnati. Stone invited Laura Clay to give a speech at the convention, and they worked on how the state suffrage association could be revitalized. Soon thereafter a group of activists formed the new Kentucky Equal Rights Association (KERA) on November 21, 1888, and M.J. Warfield Clay was a founding member and financial supporter.


Later life and death

Throughout her life as a divorced woman, she successfully managed her own 350-acre farm in Richmond while living in Lexington. In 1886, Cassius M. Clay published his memoirs which contained malicious descriptions of his former wife. She died April 29, 1900, at her home in Lexington. She is buried in Section J, Lot 6 of the
Lexington Cemetery Lexington Cemetery is a private, non-profit rural cemetery and arboretum located at 833 W. Main Street, Lexington, Kentucky. The Lexington Cemetery was established in 1848 as a place of beauty and a public cemetery, in part to deal ...
in
Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...
.


References


Further reading

* * * * *"The Meadows" p 105-109, Elizabeth Murphey Simpson, Blue Grass Houses and Their Traditions. Lexington, Ky.: Transylvania Press, 1932. * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clay, Mary Jane Warfield 1815 births 1900 deaths American suffragists People from Lexington, Kentucky American feminists American women's rights activists Women in Kentucky politics Activists from Kentucky American political activists
Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...