My Genealogy Hound

JOHN GILLEM CLAY, M. D., is a son of the late Judge Thomas J. and Sarah A. (Green) Clay, and was born at Madison, Ala., May 3, 1859. Thomas Jefferson Clay was a Virginian by birth, born in Petersburg, January 12, 1819. His father was Thomas Clay, a native of Virginia, whose ancestry were prominent among the most wealthy families of that period. He was married to Miss Nancy Webb and resided many years in Petersburg, and subsequently lived in Nottaway County five years. At that time Thomas Jefferson moved to Madison County, Ala., and while a youth came to Williamson County, Tenn., and entered Arrington Academy. He was there a classmate of Gen. W. C. Whitthorne and others who have become eminent in the history of Tennessee. His education was completed at Burnsville, Ala. Being educated as a teacher, he taught school at Nolensville, Tenn., after which he returned to north Alabama, where on January 29, 1850, he wedded Miss Sarah Armistead Green, daughter of Dr. William B. Green, of Madison County, Ala., who was from Newbern, N. C., where he was born and married to Sarah Bass. After Mr. Clay’s marriage he engaged in the mercantile business and in 1856 moved to the town of Madison on the Memphis & Clarksville Railroad, being one of the first settlers of the place and one of its most successful business men. He served as mayor of the town for a number of years and also as district judge. In 1883 he moved to the city of Montgomery, remaining there two years, when he moved to his home at Madison, and there died April 25, 1886. He was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church and was noted for his Christian virtue. John G. Clay, M. D., our subject, was reared in Madison, Ala., and there received his academic education. He spent two years at Salado College, in Texas, and graduated in the commercial department of that institution. He returned to Alabama in 1879 and in the autumn of the same year entered the medical department of Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tenn., from which institution he graduated in the spring of 1882, and in 1883 also graduated at the University of Nashville. At the former date he began practicing medicine at Thompson’s Station, Tenn., and at a later date he also engaged in the drug business at the same place. He carries a stock of $1,500 and does a business from $2,000 to $3,000 per year. He is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church and is an honest dealer with his fellow-man.