SCOTT COUNTY ARKANSAS BIOGRAPHIES
Contributed by Patty (Jamerson) Archer

CLAY JAMERSON
(c. 1815 - 1867)

Clay Jameson was born in about 1815 in Kentucky. His parents were George Walden Jameson (b. 1793 prob. Madison Co., KY, d. Jan. 1861 Foley, Lincoln Co., MO) and Mary Ida Clay (b. 1795 Lincoln Co.,NC d.c. 1855 Lincoln Co., MO). George was the son of Major Robert Jameson (b. 1762 Augusta Co.,VA d. 1845 Ralls Co.,MO) and Isabelle Mahan (b. 1762 PA or VA d. before 1829 prob. Ralls Co., MO). Mary (Clay) Jameson was the daughter of Abraham Clay and Mary Jones (dau. of Joseph Jones). Robert and Isabelle Jameson married in Lincoln County, KY on Jan. 10, 1785, they lived in Madison County, KY for some years and then moved to Lincoln County, MO. Again, they were in Lincoln County, MO for about 10 years before moving to Ralls County, MO where Robert died in 1845.

Abraham Clay and Mary (Jones) Clay moved from Lincoln County, NC to Fayette Co., KY. Fayette County, KY is where Clay's parents, George W. Jameson and Mary Ida Clay, married on Oct. 12,1814. By 1817 George moved his wife and several young children to Lincoln County, MO. George and Mary's children were: Clay, Robert, Albert Gallatin, Thomas Mahan, George Walden, Paulina Ann, Green Henry Clay, and John J.

Clay was the oldest child. It is thought he married three times. First he married Cyntha Ware Aug 8, 1844 Lincoln Co., MO. Clay and his wife appear several doors away from his parents on the 1850 census. But for whatever reason, the censustaker does not have the name of their children listed correctly. The census shows them to be Robert, Jane and Nancy. Clay and Cyntha�s children were: Thomas J. b. Dec. 1845., Jessamine Z. b. March 1848, and Nancy must�ve been a child that died in infancy. Cyntha must�ve died shortly after the census was taken.

By early 1851 Clay married his second wife, Mary Ann McGuire (b. c. 1818 d. c. 1857) about 1851 (probably in MO). No marriage record has been found for them, but their son Willis� death certificate shows his mother�s name as McGuire, and her name Mary Ann McGuire was passed down through the generations. It may be that they married in Montgomery Co., MO where the courthouse burned and all records prior to 1902 were lost. Or perhaps they married somewhere else. But their son Willis Franklin "Dock" was b. Aug. 1852 in Lincoln Co., MO.

Clay then moved his family to Scott County, Arkansas about 1856 where there his son John Reed was born in that year. Mary Ann must�ve died after giving birth to John, or shortly thereafter. Family stories always said she died after childbirth. Clay married shortly thereafter his third wife, Mary A. _____ (b. c. 1838 VA).

This Mary is the wife that appears on the 1860 Scott County, Arkansas census with Clay (he is listed as Clay Jimmerson in Hickman Twp). Clay's children with his third wife were: Julia, Robert G., Louella C. "Lucy", and Malinda. Clay died in 1868 in Scott County, Arkansas. We do not know where he is buried.

Clay's 3rd wife Mary remarried to Jesse Evatt and appears on the 1870 Scott County, Arkansas census with him and the younger Jamerson children, Julia, Robert, Lucy, and Malinda "Jemmerson". At some point an "r" was added to the name Jameson to make it Jamerson. Part of the family spells it Jameson, part Jamerson, some even Jimison.

Of Clay's children, Tom married Minerva Jones Feb. 1867 in Scott Co.,Ark. and moved from Arkansas to Missouri, back to Arkansas, and then to Muskogee Co., OK finally settling in Briartown, OK. His children were: Ruth, Allen Fletcher, Laura J., Joseph M., Mary Jane, Alice R., Julia Isabelle, and James W.

Clay's daughter Jessamine (b. 1848 MO d. 1907 OK) married twice. First to James Jones (brother of Minerva) c. 1868 Ark. Their children were: Thomas, John A., Susan A., William J., and Charles. Jessamine and James Jones lived in Scott County, Ark. Perhaps they moved to Briartown before he passed away. Jessamine married a ____ Stow by about 1900 and she is living in Briartown, OK.

Clay's son, Willis Franklin "Dock" (b. Aug. 22, 1852 d. July 27,1916 Lincoln County, MO) married Flora Ann Pierce (dau. of Morgan and Martha Jane Pierce, b. 1858 MO d. 1921 MO) Feb. 11,1875 in Lincoln County, MO. After his father died, Willis after a few years headed to Lincoln County, MO where his father had come from. He still had many uncles and cousins in that county. Willis lived there the remainder of his life, except for a time when he headed back to Arkansas to try to farm and lost everything, he then headed back to Lincoln County, MO. Willis and Flora's children were: Green Montgomery, Mary Lula Jane, Jessamine �Jessie�, John Morgan, Ira Russell, Lenora Maybell, and James Presley.

Clay's son John Reed Jamerson (b. c. 1856-58 d. June 7,1943 Yell Co.,Ark.) married three times. He first married Ann Yandell c. 1878 Scott Co.,Ark. They had one son, Walter. He then married Sarah Victoria Daley c. 1881. Their children were: Dona, J.C. (male), Daniel Franklin (twin), Jane (Jenny, twin), Edna, Donnie, and Cora. John lived in Yell County, Arkansas and is buried in the Egypt cemetery. His third wife was Ada Johnson and they lived in Sebastian Co., AR for a time.

We know nothing of Clay's daughter Julia (b. 1860).

Clay's son Robert (b. 1862 d. 1888/89) married Julia Smith Sept. 24,1884 in Scott Co.,Ark. Their children were: Mary Jane "Mollie", and Burnie. Robert died young, at about 26 or 27 years of age. His wife Julia then remarried to J.P. Reynolds. Julia died when Mollie was about 10 years old. Mollie and Burnie in later years lived in California.

Clay's daughter Louella "Lucy" (b. 1864 d. ?) married twice. First to Reuben Smith c. 1879 in Scott County, Ark. They appear on the 1880 Scott County census. Their children were: William A., Cora E., Ella E., Reuben T., Edna E., and Lela. Lucy is listed as a widow on the 1900 census, she then marries Samuel N. Pennington in Logan County, Ark in 1901. She has another son named Harry on the 1910 census in Logan County, Ark. I know that she lived at or near Booneville, Logan County about 1910. They then moved to Hughes Co., OK and lived out the remaineder of their lives there.

Clay's daughter Malinda (b. 1868 d. c. 1942) married John H. Hall Apr. 12,1884 in Scott Co.,Ark. They moved to Sebastian County and lived there the rest of their lives. Their children were: Myrtle, Charles William, Oscar (twin), Edgar (twin), Bass Little, Maude, Hubud, Grace, Bonnie, and Hazel. I'm told by a great grandson of Malinda's that she had 14 children. These are the only names I have for her children.

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