Article on James Perry Clay, 1950

"James Perry Clay, One Of The Early Merchants, Built Store Here In 1900"
Article Published 26 Aug. 1950 in the 1950 Centennial Edition of the
Beckley Post-Herald.  Reprinted by permission.

One of Beckley's early merchants, James Perry Clay, was born Nov. 4, 1867,
on Snuffer's Branch, Trap Hill District, a son of Jackson and Aletha 
McMillion Daniel Clay.  Jackson Clay served in Captain Turner's Regiment,
Union Army, during the Civil War.  He was mustered out at the age of 18.

J. P. Clay married Sarah Clementine Godby on March 12, 1890, and the 
couple had five children, Reggie Jackson Clay (deceased), Howard Seth Clay
(deceased), Lida Clay Price, Lura Clay, and Golden Clay Price (deceased).

Mr. Clay began merchandising by buying up country produce and waggoning it
up to the mining towns of MacDonald and Glen Jean about 1892.  The Clays
lived in his father's old home on Snuffer's Branch until 1895, when he 
built a white frame house on a part of the Godby farm which he had bought 
from his father-in-law, Anderson F. Godby, on the old Eccles road.  Mr. Clay 
opened a store at the home, with counters and shelves for the convenience 
of his neighbors.  He continued driving his team of mules carrying the 
county produce to Fayette mining towns until he opened his store in Beckley 
in 1900.

In 1905 he moved his family to a new house on Heber Street which was razed
in 1949 to make way for the Elks Club Building.

While still living in the country he became a member of the Oak Grove 
Christian Church and was a charter member of the Christian Church of 
Beckley, which was organized in the home of the late David Robertson on 
South Kanawha Street.  The first Christian Church building was a white frame
building on Church Street.

Mr. Clay was a merchant all his life, concentrating on feed and flour
wholesale business in his later years in his stone building on the corner of
Virginia Street and Central Avenue.  He built two store buildings which are
still in use for business and five dwellings, only one of which has been
torn down to make room for another building.

Mr. Clay prided himself on being forward-looking.  In talking about voting,
he told his daughter, Lura Clay, that he always voted for any levy or bond 
issue, because any attempt to build roads, school buildings, or other public
improvements would eventually help the public.

He died on Feb. 19, 1938.


Submitted by Melissa Bailey Duggins <mduggins@lexcominc.net>

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