John Clay, Ancient Planter

Parents unknown. Not the son of John Clay, Esq., of Crich & Mary Carlton

John Clay

• Birth: about 1587 in England
• Death: about 7 Apr 1655 at about age 68 in Charles City County, Virginia
• Spouse: Ann (unknown) - married 1623 in Virginia
• Spouse: Elizabeth (unknown) - married before 1645 in Virginia - or was she the wife of the 2nd John Clay?

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Family

From https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Clay-10 and then edited, 19 September 2024

The children of John Clay and Ann ______ are said to be:

1. Thomas Clay [8] Now believed to have been included as a child in error.
2. Francis Clay [8] Now believed to have been included as a child in error.
3. William Clay [8], born 1617 in Charles City County, d. 20 October 1675. Married Emlin.
4. Anne Clay, b, abt. 1610, m John Frame (1608-1655) [is this daughter certain?]
5. John Clay, b abt. 1624, born about 1624, died 1647. Married Mary Pead. [?]

The children of John Clay and Elizabeth ______ are said to be:

1. Charles Clay, Now believed to be the son of John Clay and (2nd) wife Elizabeth ____. b abt. 1638 [8], died 1 June 1686 in Henrico County, Virginia. Married Hannah Wilson.

Elizabeth married 2nd to John Wall and 3rd to John Tate.

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Biography

Clay Family Association "John Clay, Fact and Fiction"

Let’s now look at the few facts about John Clay that can be documented.

• He appears in the Muster of 21 January 1624/5 as a resident of Jordan’s Journey, south of James River in Charles City County. He states that he arrived in the “Treasurer” in February 1613, that his wife Ann arrived in the “Ann” in August 1623 and that his servant William Nicholls, ages 26, arrived in the “Dutie” in May 1619. He had as provisions, 30 bushels of corn, 1 hundred weight of fish (or 1 hundred fish, the record is not clear), 2 lbs powder, 20 lbs shot, 3 pieces, meaning guns, 1 armour, 1 stele coat, 2 neat cattle, 1 swine, 10 poultry and 1 house.
• In 1635, he patented 1200 acres on Ward’s Creek in what is now Prince George County, 100 acres due him as an “Ancient Planter” and 1100 acres for the transportation of twenty-two persons. The names of the headrights are not listed indicating that the patent was a renewal of an earlier patent of unknown date. He also had other lands south of the river and at least one tract near Westover on the north side of the river.
• Researchers seem now agreed that his marriage to Ann likely took place here rather than in England. She is assumed to be the mother of John’s son William. At some later date, John married a second wife, Elizabeth, whose surname is also unknown, who was the mother of Charles. After John Clay’s death, Elizabeth his widow married a close neighbour, Captain John Wall, and after Wall’s death, she married John Tate. That Elizabeth was the mother of Charles Clay is proven by a deed of gift of two ewe lambs from Captain Wall to his “sonne in law Charles Clay,” 3 October 1660. Elizabeth Clay Wall is the subject of several depositions in 1662 when the was involved in a brawl with an Indian servant who hit her, bit her and tried to force her head into an “oven then red hot & ready for bread to be set therein.” Our early ancestors were such were such a gentle lot!
• John Clay died at an unknown date. From the manner in which his property passed to his heir-at-law William Clay, it would appear that he died intestate. William lived north of the river and several records concerning him have survived in the Charles City County and Virginia Land Office records. His widow Emlin Clay was executrix of William’s will, no copy of which is known to have survived. There is no indication that they had children.
• It would appear from the few extant records that John Clay the immigrant had but one son who left issue, Charles Clay, who later moved into what is now Chesterfield County. He married Hannah Wilson, daughter of John Wilson, Sr., an Indian Trader who lived on the north side of the Appomattox River near the present Petersburg. Charles was also involved in the Indian trade as were several of his sons.

It seems unlikely that the few records that have survived will furnish further information about John Clay’s life. Unless new records are found one can only re-examine and re-appraise those that are known to exist. Have they been correctly used and interpreted? Has every scrap of data been thoroughly understood?

• The Muster of 1634/5 provides by far the most information about John and it documents his arrival in Virginia.
• The earliest known Clay family Bible record dates from the last years of the 18th century, but it contains as its earliest entry the birth of Henry Clay, a great-grandson of the immigrant, on 3 September 1711.
• The earliest genealogical compilation on the family is the so-called “Green Clay Manuscript,” which was owned by General Green Clay of Richmond, Kentucky. Green, a great-great grandson of John the Immigrant was born in what is now Powhatan County in 1757 and he is said to have had a keen interest in the history of his family from an early date. Whatever his family interest and knowledge may have been, the manuscript, which contains a chart and several pages of notes, appears to have been made up after 1844. It chiefly concerns the Green family and the Clay line as traced therein contains claims that can easily be proven incorrect.
• The records of the Virginia Land Office contain almost all that is known of John’s land dealings and proof of the descent of his land after his death. The earliest extant Charles City County records, dating from 1655, contain some few references to John’s family.
• The most intriguing records that have bearing on John’s life concern the boat on which he traveled when he came to Virginia and in these records there may well be room for further study.
• The “Treasurer” appears to have been owned by Samuel Argall and Sir Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick. Argall was later to become deputy governor of Virginia under Lord De La Ware and still later to have become Sir Samuel. He was from East Sutton, Kent and was brother to Elizabeth Argall Filmer, wife of Sir Edward Filmer and mother of Major Henry Filmer immigrant to Virginia. Elizabeth Argall Filmer was the great-great grandmother of William, Lucy, and Martha Green who were later to marry into the Clay family with such astounding genetic results. The “Treasurer” was not an ordinary immigrant boat. It was an armored man-of-war and sailed from England 23 July 1612 under command of Samuel Argall who held a royal warrant to remove French settlers from those areas claimed by Virginia. It carried sixty or sixty-two soldiers and a few settlers. Likely, with the strong but unprovable military tradition attached to John Clay, he was one of those soldiers.
• After a crossing of about seven weeks “fifty leagues north of the Azores,” they “Fell with the Coast of Virginia, in the Latitude of fortie degrees” on September 12. The City of Philadelphia lies at 40° latitude. Virginia, please remember, was a bit larger than now! On the 17th of September the “Treasurer” arrived at Point Comfort and proceeded to Jamestown Island where it stayed for a short time while the men repaired a damaged boat or boats found there and in pursuing the Indians with Sir Thomas Dale in an attempt to obtain corn. About the beginning of November, 1612, the “Treasurer” took Sir Thomas Gates to Smith’s Island to investigate the possibility of establishing settlers there. They returned to Point Comfort and on the 1st of December again left in search of corn. They returned after a successful voyage, arriving in Jamestown on the 1st of January and then going to Point Comfort where they arrived the 1st of February, 1612.
• Please remember that John Clay said he arrived in Virginia in February, 1613. Did he actually arrive in September, 1612, and remain with the ship until February, 1613? Was that the end of his enlistment and did he provide the 1613 date because he then became a settler?[ii]

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References

1. http://www.clayfamilysociety.org/ui38.htm Clay Family Association
2. Jamestowne Society, Qualifying Ancestor # A1706 < link > Clay, John - A1706; born 1587, died by 1664/5, Charles City Co.: (Ancient Planter).
3. Order of Descendants of Ancient Planters < link > John Clay (Claye, Cley)
4. WikiTree contributors, "John Clay (abt.1587-1655)," WikiTree: The Free Family Tree, (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Clay-10 : accessed 20 September 2024).
5. WikiTree contributors, "Ann (Nichols) Clay (abt.1590-bef.1660)," WikiTree: The Free Family Tree, (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nichols-18578 : accessed 20 September 2024).
6. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LRQM-Q91
7. "Absolutely nothing is known of John Clay before he began his trip to Virginia."
8. Separate fact from fiction by reading the Clay Family Society report at:

https://clayfamilysociety.net/potshards/john-claye-1613-fact-fiction/ The document is also in Memories.