GEORGE PERRY CLAYTON
Jackson County Heritage Vol I article 431
George Perry Clayton came to Jackson County in 1865 at the invitation of his commanding officer in the Civil War, Captain David Hugh Rogers of Cullowhee. George P. had entered the Civil War at the age of 14, starting as a bugle boy. He served in the South Carolina Rifles, attacking Sherman's troops as they made their famous march to the sea. At age 21, he married Mary Timoxenia Hooper, the daughter of James Mack Hooper and Margaret Minerva Rogers. Miss Rogers was a member of Captain David Rogers' family. George P. and his family lived in Cullowhee for the next 13 years, before moving to the "gap" of the mountain between Cope Creek and Beta communities. Descendants of George Perry Clayton have lived in the Beta community for 110 years.
They had five children. John Harrison Clayton was born November 27, 1867, and on March 15, 1895 he married Nancy Arizona Mashburn of Macon County. Maggie M. Clayton was born in November 1871, and later married Thomas Mitchell and moved to Clayton, Georgia. My grandfather Thomas Lee Clayton was born May 25, 1876, and married Ethel Dona Hooper. David Clayton was born January 19,1881, and never married. The last of the children, Anna Laura Clayton, was born in August 1885, and married Robert Crawford.
George Perry Clayton's family has special ties to what is now Western Carolina University. George P. and his sons dismantled the Liberty School building at Mull Creek and moved it by wagon to a site in front of the Cullowhee Baptist Church. It was to become part of the Cullowhee Academy. His son, John Harrison Clayton was valedictorian of the first graduating class of the Cullowhee Academy. George Perry Clayton died on October 27, 1922 and was buried in the Old Field Cemetery overlooking the family farm.

Submitted by Mike Clayton