by Ralph Barnes
Citizens Voice & Times
November 7, 1996
Estill County's first tycoon was noted entrepreneur and landowner Green Clay.
Clay was born on Aug. 14, 1757 in Powhatan County, Virginia to the same family
that produced his more famous distant cousin, Henry Clay. He had some formal
education but was pretty much self-taught. Clay was a man for all seasons and
excelled in several professions including: business, politics and the military.
The skill that enabled him to become wealthy was his adeptness at surveying and
locating land grants.
He served in the Revolutionary War and probably was awarded a land patent in
Kentucky for his military service. Clay arrived in Kentucky in the fall of
1780. His services as a surveyor were very much in demand due to the many
overlapping land claims that resulted from the inaccurate maps that existed at
the time. As a surveyor he received half of all of the land that he surveyed or
located. He was very skilled at deciphering survey plats and was able to
personally gain by capitalizing on the many mistakes that were made on the
original land patents. As a result he soon accumulated large amounts of acreage
in Estill and Madison Counties. He originally owned the land where Irvine is
located and very shrewdly deeded some of the town lots to the city to help
offset the cost of erecting public buildings. Of course, he really cleaned up
on the lots that remained in his possession. He owned one of Irvine's first
ferries. He also operated a more famous ferry on the Kentucky River near
Boonesborough known as Clay's Ferry. The old ferry crossing is now spanned by
twin bridges on I-75 but is still called Clay's Ferry.
Green Clay owned almost every type of business venture available at the time
including: whiskey distilleries, inns, Iron furnaces, brick kilns, lumber
mills, etc. He built and promoted the celebrated Estill Springs where his
famous cousin Henry came to vacation. Clay ran an advertisement in the Lexington
Reporter on Oct.1, 1814, for taverns(Inns) to rent at the Estill Court House
and the Sweet Spring (Estill Springs). The accommodations were described as
being new, large and well furnished. The ad went on say that a great number of
people visited the springs. The announcement pointed out that the spa was
located only a half mile from the CourtHouse where all the leading roads to the
upper country (eastern Kentucky) intersected, making these very valuable
locations for public housing. Information given in the advertisement is
revealing. The fact that Irvine was located on the major east-west road and
could support two inns indicate that the city must have been a boomtown in
1814.
In addition to being a skilled and ruthless entrepreneur, Green Clay was also a
politician. He served in the Virginia Legislature and, after Kentucky became a
state, he served in both the House and Senate of the Kentucky Legislature. He
was named Speaker of the Senate in 1795(a title no longer in common usage).
Clay was a powerful and influential man by the time the War Of 1812 began. He
was commissioned as a Major General by Isaac Shelby, Kentucky's first governor,
and ordered to form a regiment of Kentucky Militia to defend the western
frontier from the British and Indians. The commander of the American forces in
the western territories that ran to the Canadian line was William Henry
Harrison, a governor of Indiana and later President of the United States. After
Harrison was defeated in the battle of Raisin River, the British and their
Indian allies under famed Chief Tecumseh, lay siege to Fort Meigs. The isolated
fort was located on the Maumee River in upper Ohio. Clay and his 1200
Kentuckians were sent to relieve the besieged fort. Clay's forces arrived in
May by boat and, after suffering heavy losses, were able to get into the fort
and break the siege. A large number of the Kentucky troops were captured and
some forty of the captives were slaughtered by the Indians as the British
watched. As a result of his military duty, Clay added the title of General to
his honors and has been known ever since as General Clay.
One of his sons, Cassius Marcellus Clay, owner of White Hall mansion in Madison
County, achieved fame as an abolitionist and served a term as ambassador to
Imperial Russia. He also earned some notoriety when, as an old man, he married
a young orphan girl of only fifteen . His bizarre antics in defense of this
marriage earned him the epithet "Lion of White Hall." The mansion,
near the Boonesborough exit off I-75, has been restored and is open to the
public.
The General's primary residence was in Madison County, but he must have spent a
good deal of his time in Estill County. Early court documents are dominated by
Clay's business transactions, particularly his efforts to evict less well
connected residents from property that he claimed. Many poor, uneducated Estill
Countians lost their land to Clay without ever knowing what happened to them.
When Clay died in 1826, he owned thousands of acres of land and hundreds of slaves.
In an ironic twist of fate, a descendant of one of one of those held in
servitude would in the end eclipse all of the Clays in fame and fortune. The
old general must have turned in his grave when Cassius Marcellus Clay, a black
man, attained a level of international acclaim never achieved by other members
of this noted family. The only Clay to earn the adulation of the world so hated
his slavery connections to the Clay family that he changed his name to Mohammed
Ali. One can but wonder how the old General would have reacted to that
development. He probably would have shrugged it off and gone about his business
of acquiring more land and new commercial enterprises as was his normal
routine. He was the most practical of men.
The Will of General Green Clay
To my son Sidney Payne Clay, in the county of Bourbon where he lives 1207 and
1/2 acres, to my son Brutus Junias Clay, to be cut out of partership and to be
divided equally, to Sidney P. Clay the slaves: William, Sue, Bob, Arbell, Duke,
and Clark.
All the land in Estill County to Sidney and Brutus, except 200 acres on each
side of Drowning Creek in Estill and Madison Counties, where Phill S. Durbin
now lives.
To my son Sidney, as a trustee of the following slaves: Aaron and wife
Edy,Jourdan, Sealy, Margaret, Esther, Jr.?, Levin, Linda, Dick, Malvina, and
permit Brutus to use the labor of the slaves.
To Brutus the following slaves Hannah, Padd, Rancy, Warner, Tabb, Tom, Dicy and
her sister Sarah.
To my son Cassius Marcellius Clay all my land in Madison County East of Muddy
Creek to Red Lick except the 200 acres on Drowning Creek, the slaves: Sindy,
Mary Jr., Cassey, George, Zack, Fagle, Pomp, Martha, Mackland, trust that he
permit my daughter Betsy Lewis Smith to enjoy land, labor until during her
natural life.
To my son Cassius, the tract of 417 acres called the "William Rodes
Quarter", also the lots in the town of Richmond, numbers 55, 56, 57, 12
and 40., also the following slaves with their increase, Dean, Prise, Wesley,
Hensley, Parethens, Arey, Gabe, Delplia, Zaphariah, Phill and Jefferson,
also that he permit my daughter Pauline Green Rodes to hold said land and lots,
use said slaves for her natural life.
My friend William McClanahan, a merchant in Richmond as a trustee of the 200
acres on Drowning Creek and a tract of 9 acres adjoining Colonel John S. Smith,
on the East by R. Coldwell, West by Thomas C. Howard, and on the
South by my lot #6 in Richmond where my new biick building now stands, also
Lots #62 and #75, and the following slaves: Bowden, Minerva, Charles Gabrilla,
Scotty, Woodson, Simeon, Amy, George, Stephen, Mefiak, Lafayette, and Aprhelia,
that he permit my daughter Sally Ann Arvine the use of the lots, land and
slaves during her natural life.
My son Sidney as trustee of a tract of 2000 acres of land and the following
slaves: Racheal and her six children, Frank, Jim, Emily, Solomon, Milley,
Alsey, Lucy, Jackson, Hannah Jr., daughter of old Hannah, that he permit my son
Cassius to enjoy said land, also give Cassius dispose of two tracts, one
of 214 acres opposite the mouth of Jacks Creek in Madison County, the other 200
acres opposite the mouth of Silver Creek, and a 320 acre tract in the
State of Illinois, also the Following slaves: Mingo, Scott, Riley, Joe and his
wife Ester, John and his wife Usley and their three youngest children, John
Jr., Huldie and Nancy Jr., also David Matt, Adarn, Nead.
My silver plates, table, household and kitchen furniture be divided among my 6
oldest children.
My library books be divided among my three sons.
I emancipate the following slaves-. Henry and his wife old Harmah, Confort,
Fanny, Kitty, Nancy Jr., and her children Isreal, Ellen, Jane and Belinda.
At some time my executors to sell at the best price, after my death, the
following slaves: Peter, Squire, Sarah, son Daniel and his wife Winney, Grace,
Isabella and Mary Sr.
My sister Martha Lewis, sister Priscilla, I give to each emancipated, to old
Hannah her granddaughter Siney forever to Kitty her granddaughter Caroline
forever.
To my wife Sally my dwelling house, the West or half of my dwelling house and
farm where I live by a line running through the house, yard and two gates to
the place called "Shakertown" the plantation called
"Hockadays", half of the meadows, half of the apple mill and mill
house, the wooden smoke house and stone kitchen, my riding carriage, horse and
Jack. If she refuses, the carriage house and Jack is to be taken to Natchez to
be sold.
My land on the Tennessee River, about 40 or 50 thousands acres to be divided
among my six children.
To my daughter Sophia Green, one acre shall be free as a burying ground
forever.
Dated 14 August 1828, Green Clay age 71 declared the foregoing will and
testament. Proven 3 November 1828.
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