William Clayton (December 9, 1632 – 1689) was a settler of the

Pennsylvania colony The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to Wi ...

, one of the first councilors of Pennsylvania and a judge of the city of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

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 William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

, 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 West Jersey and East Jersey were two distinct parts of the Province of New Jersey. The political division existed for 28 years, between 1674 and 1702. Determination of an exact location for a border between West Jersey and East Jersey was often ...

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 Chichester (), formerly New Chichester in reference to the English city, is a region in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It includes the townships of Upper Chichester and Lower Chichester, and the boroughs of Marcus Hook, and Trainer. Other co ...

, 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 ...

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, it is the only city in Delaware County and had a population of 32,605 as of the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1682, Chester is ...

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, author and orator * John Middletown Clayton, Republican Congressman elect in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

Powell Clayton Powell Foulk Clayton (August 7, 1833August 25, 1914) was an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served as the 9th governor of Arkansas from 1868 to 1871, as a Republican member of the U.S. Senate for Arkansas from 1871 to 1877 an ...

, 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,

United States federal judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. Cou ...

References

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