Joseph Clay was an American merchant, Revolutionary officer, and member of the Continental Congress, who was prominent among those young colonials of property and position who espoused the Revolutionary cause in Georgia.
Background
Joseph Clay was born on October 16, 1741 in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. His father, Ralph Clay, was a native of Yorkshire, England. His mother, Elizabeth Habersham, was a sister of James Habersham who emigrated to Georgia some five years before Joseph's birth, became a leading citizen, and served as royal governor during the absence in England of Sir James Wright.
Career
In 1760 Clay immigrated to the United States and settled in Savannah, Georgia. A few years after his arrival, Joseph was placed by his uncle in the general commission business in partnership with his cousin James Habersham, Jr. , and a little later, still in association with his Habersham relatives, he acquired interests in rice plantations. He prospered from the first, both as a merchant and as a planter.
At various times he was a member of the firms of Joseph Clay & Company, Seth John Cuthbert & Company, Clay, Telfair & Company, all of Savannah, and a co-partner in the house of William Fox & Company of Newport, Rhode Island, although he always lived in Savannah. He has been described as being prompt, energetic, and competent.
Although Clay’s fourteen years out of England had been spent for the most part in a loyal atmosphere under the tutelage of a royalist uncle, he threw himself actively into the conflict on the side of the revolutionists. From the time when as a member of a committee appointed by the Savannah republican massmeeting of July 27, 1774, he helped draft the resolutions expressing the determination of Georgia to associate herself with the sister colonies in opposition to the acts of the British Parliament and until the end of the war, he held positions of responsibility in the civil government and in the army. There is evidence that he was considered by his contemporaries to be a valuable member of the Council of Safety which took over the administration of the city of Savannah in 1775, and he was placed upon the important committees of the Provincial Congress of that year. He also participated in the secret raid upon the King’s powder magazine on the night of May 11, 1775, with a party which seems to have been restricted in its personnel to the corps d’elite of the revolutionary faction.
As paymaster-general of the Continental Army for the Southern Department—to which position he was appointed in 1777—he was both honest and efficient, and it appears that he had the confidence and esteem of General Nathanael Greene, his commanding officer. He was included among the twenty-five rebel leaders who were attainted for treason by the royalist Assembly of 1780 in retaliation for similar action taken by the republican Assembly of 1778.
He was a member of the Continental Congress in 1778, 1779, and 1780, but was not conspicuous there. At the cessation of hostilities he served for one year (1782) as state treasurer, and in the following year he was made a justice of his county. In 1785 he was made a member of the board created by the General Assembly to establish an institution of higher education, and thus became one of the fathers of the University of Georgia, the first state university to be chartered in America. Most of his time after the war, however, was devoted to his private business.
Achievements
Personality
He has been described as being prompt, energetic, and competent.
Connections
On January 2, 1763, Clay married Ann Legardère, and one of his sons, Joseph Clay, attained some distinction in his state.