Obituary of William Clayton
From December 1885, Free Trader
The recent death of William Clayton, of Deer Park,
has taken from us one of the few remaining early settlers of LaSalle
county, and removed a prominent connection between the rugged, toiling,
heroic period of pioneer life and the almost marvelous developments and
achievements which surround us today. Actors in the same scenes,
sharing the same toils and privations, hopes and fears, a fraternal feeling
provides and binds together the few who have seen under their hands the
wild and naked prairies become the homes of intelligent and happy thousands.
The memory of those who by years of toil have made this change deserve
a hearty recognition from those who enjoy the fruition prepared for their
use.
The writer of this has known Mr. Clayton intimately for
full half a century, in all the vicissitudes of frontier life, and those
scenes where the actors leave their impress on the institutions they form
for all the future. In age his senior by five days only, I deem this
sketch a fitting tribute to the memory of a valued friend and worthy man.
William Clayton was born in Philadelphia, March 13, 1806.
His family moved to West Virginia, near Wellsbury [sic., should be Wellsburg],
where he grew to manhood, married and lived till 1834, when he moved to
Illinois and settled in what is now the town of Deer Park, on the farm
where he spent most of his life. The famed curiosity of Deer Park
is on the farm he occupied. Of a good physical organization, of strictly
temperate and regular habits, he lived to within a few weeks of 80 years
of age.
Fond of music, of a genial and cheerful temperament,
he encouraged his family to indulge in rational and satisfying amusements
at home, in which he joined with a zest unusual with the old. The
sterling integrity, pure lives and temperate habits of his children prove
the wisdom of his course.
He was a copious reader and good thinker. Of a
sound, practical mind, he filled a quiet, but important, place in the locality
where he lived and where he accumulated a large property. He had
no ambition for political preferment, though few knew better the movements
on the political chessboard.
In an early day he was elected a justice of the peace,
but the duties were distasteful, and he soon resigned. He was the
first supervisor for the town of Deer Park, and a sound, practical and
safe official.
He was a Republican in politics. In religion he
believed with Pope, "That: His faith can ne'er be wrong, Whose life
is in the right."
A few years since he purchased a tract of unimproved
land in Iroquois county, Illinois, enclosed it, got a railroad to cross
it, with a station, which will perpetuate his name, and where he spent
the last few years of his life. This business venture, like all his
previous ones, was very successful.
Several months since he was attacked with that dread
disease, a cancerous tumor, which forced him to surrender his business
to this son. He has resided for some time with his youngest daughter
in Platt county. On Saturday, Nov. 28th, he was removed to the residence
of his son, John S. Clayton, near his old home in Deer Park, where,
on Thursday morning, December 3, he painlessly and quietly passed to his
final sleep.
He was buried on Sunday, the 6th, services being held
in the old church at Vermillionville, Rev. J. M. Day, of Marseilles,
officiating. The pall bearers were D. F. Hitt, of Ottawa,
James Clark, of Utica, Esquires Arthur and Wood and
William Ellsworth, of Deer Park, and Elmer Baldwin, of Farm
Ridge. We laid him to rest by the side of his excellent wife, who
preceded him about twelve years. Her obsequies were attended at the
same place and by the same minister. The world is better for their
having lived.
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