Letters of Administration.

R. A. Clayton and Samuel P. Clayton on the estate of Samuel Clayton.

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July 12, 1877
Page 3.

Obituary.

Dr. SAMUEL CLAYTON was born July 3rd, 1808, in Culpepper county, Virginia, and died in Cartersville, Georgia, June 30th 1 o’clock A. M., 1877.

At the early age of sixteen he began life teaching school in the Shenandoah Valley, and two years thereafter came to Hillsboro, Georgia, where he read medicine, with his brother Richard, in the meanwhile so occupying his time as to make sufficient money to defray his expenses while attending medical lectures in the city of Charleston.  After graduating in his medical course he immediately settled in southwestern Georgia, where he at once entered into a very large and lucrative practice which he pursued with remarkable success until 1840, at which time he laid aside his profession and turned his attention to the cultivation of the soil, proving himself in this, as in his former career, eminently successful.  In 1849 he removed to the beautiful town of Cuthbert in order to educate his children, where he remained until the close of the war, after which selling all his property in southwestern Georgia, he removed to Acworth, where he resided for one year and finally made his home in Cartersville, where he lived until the day of his death.  Dr. Clayton was married twice.  His first wife was Miss Susan B. Mercer, by whom he had seven children, five of whom survive him.   After her death which occurred Nov. 26, 1851, he married Miss Jane Lemon, of Acworth on the 19th of December, 1855, who together with her only child, also died in the year 1857.  From that time until he ceased to live he devoted himself to the care and converse of his family and an unwearied systematic attention to his domestic and business concerns.

Cautious and prudent in the conduct of affairs, slow in coming to conclusions, sagacious in his estimation of men, his deliberate purposes always carried out with determined will, success rarely failed to crown his efforts, and few mistakes marked a long and prosperous life.  Always observant of his own interests, he was prompt, faithful, just and honest in all the transactions of life.  Always regardful of the advice and opinions of others his own independent resolves and self reliant will was perhaps the secret of his success in life.

Never enjoying vigorous health he was uniformly cheerful, and bore with a philosophy not often surpassed, the infirmities of an impaired constitution ever strongly calling upon his suffering patience.  The poor always met a gracious answer at his door, and while he demanded his just rights at the hands of others, his purse was opened with a charitable hand to all who needed his aid.  Living for years emphatically in the bosom of his family, surrounded by the faces of his orphan children, never was father more idolized or more justly so by them, than he.  For more than a year prior to his death, it was apparent to his friends, that his race was nearly run.  Confident himself of his coming hour he calmly awaited its approach, and with unalterable confidence expressed time and again, his uncompromising faith in God.  Without a fear, without a pang, though suffering long, departing in the membership of the Baptist church, he left the world to mingle in the wondrous disclosures of that unknown life which lies before us all.  He has left sweet memories behind him in his quiet home, memories which in the hearts which there mourn his loss, will always stamp him a true father and friend.