Clayton

For many years after the war, C. P. Clayton lived under the stigma of unforgiving prejudice and aversion heaped upon him for leaving the South and siding with the Damn YANKEES. He was un- affected by the scorn and disapproval of his neighbors, and was always outspoken for the way of life in which he believed. His everyday life, his moral integrity, his exemplary conduct from which he never wavered, left his descendents a heritage, which makes them proud that his blood flows in their veins.

Cyrus Putnam Clayton married Nancy McClusky of Tennessee. Reneau (Reno)Russel was their first born.He was born 15 DEC 1849 in Summerville, GA. When Reno was 6 years old, his parents moved to Fort Payne, AL.
On 13 OCT 1870 he married Debora Clementine SAMPLEY in Fort Payne, DeKalb County, AL. By the early 1900's they went by train to Weatherford, TX and from their by wagon to Bryson, Jack County, TX. A number of relatives moved at the same time.
Reneau was a farmer. He planted 3 kinds of cane. One was for syrup. He ALWAYS had a big garden. His cellar was ALWAYS full. His home was the only home in the area, which had screens on all windows around the house. He put it on the lower 1/2 of the window, reasoning that the lower part was the only part where flies could come in. He had separate root cellars: one for sweet potatoes and turnips which he covered with sand and planks; the other was a big cellar for vegetables, fruits, and room for the family during a storm.

His main crops were cotton and corn. He raised maize, and kiffri corn. He had pecan trees by the creek. Reno had a smoke house. He killed his own hogs. The family made soap. He sold the cotton in Weatherford, TX. He brought back clothing...sometimes shoes, a barrel of flour or a barrel of sugar. He got 1/2 barrel of brown sugar and some salt. He bought material for clothes.

One day Grandmother Debora fed 30 people, who had come to church and couldn't get back across the creek because of the rain. Wells got wiggle tails in them. They purified the water with charcoal.

One of their daughters, Melvina Clayton Moore, was living in Addington, OK when the top of her house was blown off during a storm. They dug a cellar for her. For several weeks her hearing was impaired.

On a cold Friday, some of the family was sitting around the fire eating pecans. Louella swept the hulls up. An un-noticed coal of fire got caught in the broom. Louella stood the broom behind the curtains. When her mother, who was cooking dinner in the kitchen, opened the door, the draft of air started the fire. About that time Uncle Cy, who had been out milking, came in with a bucket of milk. He threw it on the fire and put it out.

Reneau Russel CLAYTON chewed tobacco. He would say to his grand daughter, Mary Stafford, "Come here! I want to give you something." She would come and hold out her hand. Reno would put his chewed plug in her hand.

Reneau CLAYTON was a Steward in the Methodist Church for 32 years. He never let any minister go away from the church without full pay. No one in the family played a musical instrument. They did have a piano. Eventually, Crickett, a grand daughter, learned to play it. She was shy. One day she was asked to play for some visitors. She did not like how they looked, so she would not play. Her grandparents said nothing, but the next time she came to the parlour to play, she found the piano locked. It stayed that way for a week.

The family played croquet WHEN ALL WORK WAS DONE. Debora sat reading her Bible in a cane bottomed chair. As the girls got older, Reno made them do all of the work in the house. He figured that Deborah was frail from having so many children. Deborah was blind the last 10 years of her life.

At home they had a long bench on either side of the table. Reno built them. Debora sat at one end of the table and Reno sat at the other end. The family made a ring and prayed together each night. Cyrus Putnam CLAYTON II prayed one hour in a service where he was preaching once. Tim, one of Reno's sons, prayed so long at a meal that his neice and her husband, Maude and David Blalock, didn't have time left to eat before catching their train. The railroad went right through Costen place which Reneau had bought. Reno made syrup. He stripped, cut them and took them to a mill. He would find bees in a pasture....HONEY! They had a double-rigged buggy. (2 horses).

Louella and Othella, his daughters, were washing on a rub board. Guy, their nephew, would come by and flip water on them. He would not quit. Othella slapped him. She was sorry.

Reno had migraine headaches. He once spanked Othella and Louella for fighting over the water dipper.

When Joe and Cy, two of his sons, put in the hardware store in Bryson in 1904, Reneau would go help them. He helped build a school, church, bank and gave free right-of-way on his property. In 1904 he gave each Clayton girl a cake plate for Christmas. Othella still had hers, when she was in her 80's.

Reneau went back to AL to visit when Othella was about 12 years old. At that time he cemented and covered his mother's grave. It is in the OLD part of the Cemetery at Fort Payne. It is a large raised slab covering 7 - 9 graves. By 1985 the stone had broken and was lying on top of the slab.

Melvina CLAYTON Moore and her husband owned part of a store in OK. She owned one dress, which she washed every night. She did not, however, wash her petticoat nitely. Her brother, Jesse, and her son, Guy, had a cafe in Addington, OK. Jesse cooked; Guy served. Guy later had a store there.

Another son, Joe, and his wife, Florence, had 3 sets of twins. They were very poor. Their daughter, Nellie B., had twins, Joey and Jerry. Othella had twins: John O and Billy Joe.Jesse fathered twins: Lavon and Lavera. A grand-daughter, Mary, had twins: Jack Anthony, and Joan Lynn. Eventually Joe and Florence got money from oil. They got so rich from the oil money that Florence went crazy and died from worrying about how to spend so much money.

Debora's grandparents had slaves. She used to go out to eat with them because they were so clean. Her grandparents killed meat. Usually they hung it from windmills to keep the animals away. Because of the war, they built a trap door and hid the meat under their house. The Army found it and took it.

Reno had 3 brands on his calves. He made a "V" notch in the left ear; he put a "7" on it; and the initials "NC" for his mother, Nancy Clayton.

Jesse Clayton was working on a farm for an old couple, when he had to go to the Army. He told them that he knew just the man, who would do a good job for them. He sent his nephew, Guy Moore, to them. They decided that Guy would not be able to please them. As it was late, they asked him to spend the night. When they awakened the next morning, Guy had milked the cows. They decided to keep him. This was shortly before Guy got married.

On the Railroad, Jesse was in charge of a work crew. He called them the IWW CREW. (I WON'T WORK). He got in a fight with one man. Thinking that he had seriously wounded or killed the man, Jesse left before they could do anything. The man recovered and was fined for fighting.

Irene and Crickette, grand-daughters of Reneau and Debora, went down to his garden when they were small. They wanted a watermelon. Crickette, being older, had to decide which one was ripest. Irene was put on guard to see that no one stopped them before they got the melon. Had they asked, they would have been given a melon. They were not the kind of children who took things that did not belong to them. Crickette's first choice wasn't a wise one. The melon was green. It had to be disposed of in the brook. Now they were real desperadoes. They expected the worst, if they should get caught. The second one was a bit riper, and they enjoyed it even if they did have a guilty conscience.

Reno's son, Tim, was NEVER ready for Sunday School on time. All of the children would be in the car with Louella just fuming. Finally they were off. Crickette's biggest treat of the day was walking home with Tim down the railroad tracks. Holding his hand she said, "Oh, I like to fell." She was about 10 years old. "You mean you came near falling." That lesson in grammar stayed with her for a lifetime. She never made that mistake again.

Louella and Othella decided to fix Crickette's hair. Othella had gotten a box of chocolates from Tom Oliver that had the loveliest pink satin ribbon on it. She placed it in Crickette's hair. This made Crickette feel like a Princess! Grandpa Reneau, sitting quietly nearby, said nothing until her coiffure was completed. Then he said rather dryly, "Pretty hard to make her beautiful when you don't have much to start with." It was said in fun, and according to Crickette, did not hurt her feelings one bit. Had she been older, it might have.

One time Roy, another son, was plowing over in a field by the railroad. Lunch time came, and Louella told Crickette to go and tell Roy that lunch was ready. There was no way but to cross THAT bridge. Crickette never had crossed it. She thought it was like walking into a lion's den. It was a railroad bridge with no place to step except on the ties. Crickette could look down between them and see a tiny stream flowing. To her, it looked like a mighty torrent. She KNEW a train would come when she was in the middle of that bridge. She got to the first tie, and looked with fear and trembling at the water way down below. She went back and told Louella that she was scared. Louella made Crickette go back. Crickette knew that Louella would switch her, if she didn't go on. Back she went, a martyr if ever there was one. Down on hands and knees she CRAWLED across the bridge. There was no color in her face when she got to her Uncle Roy. (But there wasn't anyway. She didn't have any.) His hand holding hers were like Heaven crossing that bridge on the way back.