Marker #1079 “Home of Thomas Clay”

Historical Marker #1079, “Home of Thomas Clay,” is dedicated to the cousin of John Clay, who was the father of Henry Clay.

During the Revolutionary War, Thomas Clay served in the Virginia Continental line as an artillery company commander under Colonel Thomas Marshall and Lieutenant Colonel Elias Edmonds. On January 23, 1784, he was granted four thousand acres in Kentucky for serving as a captain for three years.

Clay’s grant was located along the Cumberland River. However, Clay was part of Kentucky’s first constitutional convention in 1792 as a delegate from Madison County. Therefore, he probably lived in Madison County while waiting for his survey to be deemed legal.

He was also a delegate from Madison County for the second Kentucky constitutional convention in 1799.

Kentucky surveys and land grant records show that Clay owned one thousand acres near the Cumberland River that was surveyed October 4, 1786. The land was patented in 1799.

In 1812, Clay also used three thousand acres of his land grant to survey and patent land for his family near Owensboro.

Clay served two terms in the state House of Representatives and one term in the state senate.

Clay was married to Polly Callahan and had three children, Nestor, Tacitus, and Cynthia Green Clay.