William Clayton (December 9, 1632 – 1689) was a settler of the Pennsylvania colony, one of the first councilors of Pennsylvania and a judge of the city of Philadelphia.

Early life

Clayton was baptized on December 9, 1632, in Boxgrove, England, the son of William Clayton and Joan Smith. His mother died before he was a teenager, and in 1653 he married Prudence Lanckford, a daughter of William Lanckford, in

St Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in north London. It was originally a medieval ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the area it covered now forms around ...

. Clayton became a carpenter by trade and a follower of the

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

religion."THE CLAYTON FAMILY: The Branch from England to America"
Bill Putnam. 2009

Pennsylvania

Clayton was a founder of the Pennsylvania colony, serving as an original commissioner for William Penn, as well as one of Philadelphia's first judges. He was appointed to the provincial Council in 3 Aug 1681, and later was elected to the council in 1683, serving until 30 Mar 1686. On 19 Aug 1684, he was commissioned as a JP in Philadelphia County.

Penn Company Commissioner

In 1677, Clayton set sail for America, arriving in New York after being selected by Penn to serve as a commissioner. He oversaw the clearance of Indian land titles acquired by Penn in the West Jersey colony near present day

Burlington, New Jersey Burlington is a city in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 9,743. Burlington was first incorporated on October 24, 1693, and was r ...

. In 1678, he purchased 1000 acres in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. In 1681, his family removed to Chichester, Pennsylvania, where Clayton had secured a 500-acre land patent.

Chester and Philadelphia judge

In 1681, he presided over the first

Upland Court Upland Court was the governing body of the New Sweden colony following Dutch West India Company annexation from Swedish colonial rule. In 1655, Peter Stuyvesant, governor of the Dutch colony, allowed the colonists to remain an independent Swedish ...

in Chester, Pennsylvania and eventually was one of the first judges of nearby Philadelphia."Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania"
John Fanning Watson. Parry and M'Millan, 1879. p. 49

Notable American relations

Notable descendants of Clayton are: *

Henry Armitt Brown Henry Armitt Brown (December 1, 1844 – August 21, 1878) was an American author and orator. Life Brown was born in Philadelphia, December 1, 1844, the second son of Frederick and Charlotte A. (Hoppin) Brown. Brown is a lineal descendant of Wil ...

, author and orator * John Middletown Clayton, Republican Congressman elect in Arkansas * Powell Clayton, 9th Governor of Arkansas *

Thomas J. Clayton Thomas Jefferson Clayton (July 20, 1826 – January 30, 1900) was an American lawyer from Pennsylvania who served as the first elected President Judge of the Thirty-Second Judicial District of Pennsylvania from 1874 to 1900. Clayton was an autho ...

, President Judge of the Thirty-Second Judicial District of Pennsylvania *

W.H.H. Clayton William Henry Harrison Clayton (October 13, 1840 – December 14, 1920), was an American lawyer and judge in post-Civil War Arkansas and Indian Territory Oklahoma. He served as the United States Attorney for the United States District Court for ...

, United States federal judge

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clayton, William 1632 births 1689 deaths Converts to Quakerism English Quakers English emigrants People of colonial Pennsylvania People from Boxgrove