HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

CAPTAIN THOMAS M. ROBERTSON, the venerable citizen who is now
spending an honorable retirement at Brazil, Clay county earned his
military title by three years of hard and efficient fighting in some of the
bloodiest battles of the war. For nearly thirty years be was success—
fully engaged in mercantile pursuits in that city, has seen long years of
fine public service, and both in the fields of battle and the province of
civic administration has upheld the family name for generations back.
His great grandfather was a native of the city of Edinburgh, where as
in other portions of Scotland the Robertsons have always stood shoulder
to shoulder with the most ancient and honorable families of the mother
land. The American branch of the family was established in Maryland 
in 1731 by William Robertson, who came to America at the age of ten 
years and died March 25, 1773. It is known that the grandfather of
Captain Robertson was valiant upholder of the Patriots' cause
the father served under General Harrison in the war of 1812, there is
conclusive evidence thay in the transplanting of the Robertson family 
to America it lost none of its virile and patriotic virtues.
    Thomas M. Robertson is thc fourth son of William and Catherine
(Shively) Robertson, and was born in Ross county, Ohio, on the 30th of
December, 1833. The father was born in Charles county, Maryland, on
the 6th Of January, 1783, and died in Clay county, Indiana, June 8,
1853. The mother was a native of Londoun county, Virginia, born in the
30th of March, 1799, and died January 24, 1874. In his younger days
William Robertson was a slave overseer in his native state. Upon his
removal to Harrison county, Ohio he conformed to the new order of
agricultural labor northwest of the Ohio river, and by individual work
and good management became a prosperous farmer. In 1812 he enlisted
under General Harrison and followed him through several campaigns,
returning then to his farm and its duties. In 1820 he removed to Ross
county, where he was married and engaged in farming for seventeen
years, the family removing to Logan county in 1837 and to Clay county
in 1851. The homestead on which he passed his last years, in the county
named, was located on Birch Creek, Jackson township. He had been
twice married, his first wife being Sarah Fernandez, a native of Loudoun
county, Virginia, and seven children were born to this union. The
deceased died several years before the formation of the Republican party
of today, and during his lifetime he was what was known as a Jeffer—
sonian and a Jacksonian Democrat.