Yolo County CA Archives Biographies.....Clanton, Ethelbert J. 1832 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 22, 2006, 9:36 pm

Author: Tom Gregory (1913)

ETHELBERT J. CLANTON

    Of English descent, Ethelbert J. Clanton is one of Yolo county's pioneers,
having come to California with his parents in 1853. He was born in Quincy, Adams
county, Ill., May 1, 1832. His great-grandfather was the first representative of
the Clantons to leave English soil and cast his fortunes with struggling young
America. With many other families from his native land he located in Virginia,
where his son Drewry was born and reared. Fate decreed that the young man should
meet and wed Jemima Warpool, whose grandfather was the well known Lord Warpool,
thus forming from two of the best families of England a new genealogical branch.
Their son John M. was born near Nashville, Tenn., and when a young man went to
Missouri, where he subsequently married Mary, daughter of Samuel Griggs, who
belonged to the Griggs family of historical renown. Removing to a farm near
Quincy, Ill., Mr. and Mrs. Clanton there remained until 1853, when they joined
their son Drewry, who had in 1850 come to Yolo county, Cal. Upon land which
their son had acquired they took up their residence, Mr. Clanton later
purchasing a tract of land about two miles west of Woodland, which he farmed up
to the time of his retirement in that city. His death occurred at the age of
eighty-four.

    Ethelbert J. Clanton crossed the plains to California, driving a three-yoke
ox-team, the journey beginning April 1 and ending September 17, he having walked
the twenty-five hundred miles. Upon his arrival in the state he took up land
near Woodland, which he began cultivating with a will. Later, upon disposing of
his land to his brother Drewry, he followed carpentering for many years. In 1881
he bought forty acres of land which he planted to grapes, apricots, plums, figs,
almonds, pears, peaches and apples. For his fine specimens he received several
medals. The entire venture proved most successful and in July, 1903, John Duncan
purchased the ranch, whereupon Mr. Clanton erected in Woodland, at North and
Second streets, a comfortable and commodious residence which ranks among the
best dwellings of the city, and there he is now living retired from active labor.

    Mr. Clanton's first wife, Margaret Angeline Kelsay, daughter of Larkin
Kelsay, was born in Missouri in 1842 and died in Lake county in 1872. Two
daughters were born to them, Josephine, Mrs. James England, whose five children
are Boy, Elma, Nita, Edward and Irene; and Janet, Mrs. D. Gr. Hartman, who has
three children, Leta, Marguerita and Ethelbert. In 1874 Mary D. Kettle, of
Indiana, became Mr. Clanton's second wife. Before her marriage she had taught
school for ten years in Missouri. Mr. Clanton is past grand and past chief
patriarch of Woodland Lodge No. Ill, I. O. O. F., Woodland Encampment No. 71,
and he also belongs to the Rebekahs, his wife being past noble grand of Rebekah
Lodge No. 249. Both himself and wife are active members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church and politically he was originally a Whig, and upon the
organization of the Republican party identified with it.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]


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