Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Clayes, Charles 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 5, 2007, 9:31 pm

Author: Biographical Publishing Company

CHARLES CLAYES, deceased, still lives in the hearts and memories of his 
friends and neighbors in Frankfort Township. As one of the men who by personal 
sacrifice and persevering industry reclaimed a farm from the raw prairie land, 
and who, at the same time, assisted in the development of local industries, he 
will be long remembered by those among whom he made his home. He was a 
representative of the best class of pioneers. Coming here in his youth, when 
the county was unsettled, he bore his part in the development of the land and 
assisted in all worthy enterprises. For many years he was active in 
agricultural circles, but ill health forced him to relinquish all active 
pursuits, and for fifteen years before his death he was an invalid, suffering 
constantly and greatly from rheumatism; in the midst of his sufferings, 
however, he was always very patient, and no one ever heard a complaint from 
his lips. When death finally brought him release from pain, he entered the 
great unknown eternity "as one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him 
and lies down to pleasant slumber."
 
The Clayes family originated in Wales, but was represented in New Hampshire in 
a very early day. Our subject's father, Peter, was a native of New Hampshire, 
but about 1815 removed to Monroe County, N. Y., and twenty years later came to 
Illinois, taking up a claim near Lockport. After spending four years on that 
place, in 1839 he came to Frankfort Township, which had not yet been surveyed. 
Here he bought school and government land and settled down to farm life. In 
earlier years he had followed the cabinet-maker's trade, but after coming west 
devoted his attention to farming. His last days were spent with his son 
Charles. He died in May, 1849, when seventy-five years of age. He married 
Louise Metcalf, a native of Massachusetts. She died in December, 1849. They 
had ten children, the eldest of whom, Caroline, was born on the 4th of July, 
1799, and the youngest, Charles, was born on the 4th of July, 1819.

When almost fifteen years of age our subject came with the family to this 
county, and he was about twenty when they settled in Frankfort Township. 
Afterward he took charge of the homestead and cared for his parents as long as 
they lived. As the years passed by he met with increasing success and often 
added to his possessions by the purchase of additional farm land, becoming in 
time the owner of more than three hundred acres, on which he engaged in stock-
raising and general farming. His specialty was the raising of cattle and 
sheep. At the time of his death he owned two hundred and seventy-two acres. In 
1890 he rented his farm and took up his residence in Frankfort Station, where 
he died June 16, 1894, at the age of seventy-five years. He was always deeply 
interested in local affairs and voted the Republican ticket. He was the first 
town clerk of Frankfort, and for some years served on the school board. 
Fraternal organizations did not appeal to him, as he was a man of domestic 
tastes and preferred to spend his leisure hours with his family rather than in 
a lodge. While he did not belong to any church, he attended and supported the 
Methodist Episcopal Church.

March 26, 1846, Mr. Clayes married Eliza A., daughter of Luther Williams, who 
had settled in Yankee Settlement in Homer Township in 1835. Mr. and Mrs. 
Clayes became the parents of six children, namely: Amelia L., who married W. 
H. Mettler, and lives in Bureau County, Ill.; Emma S., wife of J. S. Claus, of 
Englewood; Mary J., who married L. M. Mettler, also of Englewood; Charles W., 
a hardware merchant in Minneapolis, Minn.; Mattie  H., who died July 5, 1894; 
and Adeline E., wife of Dr. R. H. Henry, of Peotone, Ill.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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