Greenbrier County, West Virginia    Biography: John CLAYPOOL

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Transcribed and submitted by Valerie Crook, <vfcrook @earthlink.net>, 1998.
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JOHN CLAYPOOL - was born in Tazewell County, Virginia, in 1797, but his parents 
came to this section of country when he was quite young, and
he was reared in Greenbrier County. In 1821 he married Rebecca SHAVER, 
and located in Rich Hollow. They had five children: Levi, George S.,
Elizabeth, William and Robert S. John CLAYPOOL bought land in Fayette 
County, (then) Virginia, in 1837, and located near Fayette C. H. In 
1840 he bought a farm in Logan County, where he died October 23, 1877. 
His widow died February 20, 1879. Both were members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Levi, oldest son of John and Rebecca (SHAVER) CLAYPOOL, 
was born in Greenbrier County, July 12, 1822. In 1844 he returned to that 
county, having gone to Fayette and Logan Counties with his father, and in 
1850 he went to Wyoming County, and engaged in clerking a little more than
a year. He then returned to Greenbrier County, where he still resides. 
In 1853 he married Susan COFFMAN. He is a farmer by occupation, and 
a member of the patrons of husbandry. He was a justice of the peace, 
1866-72, in Irish Corner district, Greenbrier County. He became a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1849, and is a class leader
of the church. All his family are in its membership. John Wesley CLAYPOOL, 
oldest son of Levi and Susan (COFFMAN) CLAYPOOL, was born in Greenbrier 
County, January 6, 1854. They have another son, Christopher Columbus, 
who was born in 1856. John W. received his education in the primary 
schools of his neighborhood, and was a teacher of the Greenbrier
County public schools, 1876-82. He is recording steward of the Monroe 
Methodist Episcopal circuit. He was the first person in West Virginia 
to take the obligation of the "Band of Hope," a society pledging its 
members against intoxicating drinks, tobacco and profane language. 
He moved to Monroe County in 1882, and is Grange Co-operative Salesman 
for the Patrons of Husbandry, with address at Sinks Grove, 
Monroe County, West Virginia.

Source:  Hardesty, Henry H.  Hardesty's Historical and Geographical
Encyclopedia.  New York: H.H. Hardesty and Company, 1884.
Rpt. in West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia.  Ed. Jim Comstock.
Richwood: Comstock, 1974.