Background
Green Clay, the son of Charles Clay of Welsh descent and Martha Clay, was born on August 14, 1757 in Powhatan County, Viriginia, United States.
Green Clay, the son of Charles Clay of Welsh descent and Martha Clay, was born on August 14, 1757 in Powhatan County, Viriginia, United States.
Clay's opportunities for schooling were meager, but he obtained from experience an education of great practical value.
About 1777 Clay migrated to Kentucky because of a disagreement with his father. Having some knowledge of surveying, he entered the office of James Thompson, a surveyor, where he learned his subject well. In 1781 he was made a deputy surveyor for Lincoln County. Impressed by the ease with which good land might be obtained, he immediately began to make use of his opportunities. A system that permitted any number of surveys of the same tract brought about much confusion, and Clay, with his expert knowledge of former surveys and his unusual memory for markers, was in great demand. As was the custom of the day he exacted a half of the land called for by the warrants he surveyed.
When the lands in central Kentucky were largely taken up, he carried on surveys in the western part of the state, suffering great hardship and many dangers. As a result of his sagacity and good business sense he amassed a fortune. He settled in Madison County and built up an estate which he called “White Hall. ’’ In 1787 he was made one of the trustees for the town of Boonesborough.
Though not primarily interested in politics, he was elected to the Virginia legislature in 1788 and in 1789. When Kentucky became a state he represented Madison County in 1793 and in 1794 in the lower house of the legislature and was a member of the Senate from 1795 to 1798. In 1807 he was again a member of the Senate and was elected its speaker. When in 1799 a second constitution for Kentucky was to be made, he represented Madison County in the convention and took an active part in the proceedings.
Upon the outbreak of the second war with Great Britain he became a major-general in the state militia, and after Winchester’s defeat at Frenchtown he was placed at the head of 3, 000 Kentuckians and sent to the relief of the American forces at Fort Meigs. Cautious in his movements, on reaching the fort he constructed flatboats with side protections and floated down the Maumee. A detachment, through rashness, was cut to pieces by the Indians, but the main forces reached the fort and raised the siege. Clay was now in command of the fort, and a little later beat off an attack by Proctor and Tecumseh. As the enlistment of his troops expired within a short time he did not participate in the invasion of Canada. After going as far as Detroit, he returned to Kentucky. He was an able business man and an excellent farmer, using the best methods of his day.
Clay married Sally Lewis who bore him three sons and four daughters, the best-known of his children being Cassius Marcellus and Brutus J. Clay.