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Henry Clay was my 2nd cousin, six times removed. His father, Rev. John Clay was son to John Clay, son of Henry Clay and wife Mary Mitchell; my 7th great-grandparents.

Henry Clay, defeated five times in his bid for the presidency, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1810 and soon was chosen its speaker. He refused to serve in the Cabinet of President James Madison. As the leader of the aggressive, midwestern "War Hawks," a young group including John C. Calhoun, Clay helped push President Madison into war with Great Britain in 1812. In 1814, Clay resigned from Congress after Madison chose him to be one of the American delegates to the peace conference to negotiate an end to the War of 1812.

As a member of Congress during the administration of President James Monroe, Clay resolved the struggle over slavery through the Missouri Compromise, "...pairing Missouri as a slave state with Maine, a free state, and providing that territory north and west of the southern boundry of Missouri should enter the Union as free sates, Monroe sighned the measure."

See: Freidel, Frank B. "The Presidency and How it Grew, Profiles of the President: Part I," National Geographic, Vol. 126, No. 5, November 1964, pp. 642-687.

In the Electoral College election of 1824, Clay agreed to support John Quincy Adams, another delegate and Chief American Commissioner, and with the combined efforts of Andrew Jackson and Clay, Adams won the majority within the House. Henry Clay became Secretary of State to President John Quincy Adams.

"...Henry Clay was one of the great orators of the 19th Century United States, and one of Abraham Lincoln's personal heroes. Mary Lincoln lived near Mr. Clay's home in Lexington, KY and the family was very close to him...."

Abraham Lincoln's Eulogy on Henry Clay July 6, 1852 is at the Web site of the Office of the Speaker Dennis Hastert.

"...Clay was the first American to lie in state in the capital rotunda, and over the next two weeks his body was carried from city to city in a grand procession that was a precursor of Lincoln's funeral."

In 1926 the Smithsonian added Clay's straw hat to its growing collection of artifacts associated with distinguished political figures.

His portrait was in "Treasures of Congress," an exhibit in the National Archives Rotunda, Washington, DC, January 21, 2000�February 19, 2001.

His statue is in National Statuary Hall, also known as the old House Chamber. His statue was sculpted by Charles H. Niehaus.

"...[Clay's] words and ideas were a major influence on Lincoln who would later often quote Clay on the subject [of slavery...." "...In 1957 a Senate committee, head by John F. Kennedy and charged with the task of honoring it's most distinguished past members, named Clay the greatest Senator in the country's history...."

Henry Clay's early career was spent as a Kentucky lawyer. His most notable case was as counsel for fomer Vice President Aaron Burr in his trial for attempting to establish his own empire in the American Southwest. The proclamation calling for the arrest of was issued by President Thomas Jefferson. He was arraigned before Chief Justice John Marshall, and he was later indicted for treason. He was acquitted, after Marshall ruled that acts of treason must be attested by two witnesses. Burr is also remembered for duelling with Alexander Hamilton while Vice President, which resulted in the latter's death.

As an aside, "Burr began his military service as a volunteer around 1775. He served as a volunteer during Benedict Arnold's "March to Quebec" [September 13 - November 9, 1775]. He is actually credited with trying to evacuate the body of General Richard Montgomery after he was killed in action during the invasion. He joined the staff of George Washington in 1776 when he was sent to New York City. He and General Washington apparently did not get along and he left a few weeks later. On June 22 he became an aide-de-camp to General Putnam eventually seeing action in the Battle of Long Island and the evacuation of New York City. He was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of Malcolm's Regiment on January 4, 1777. He was stationed at Orange County, New York, essentially the commander of the Regiment at the age of 21!

He spent the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge where he was almost involved with the Conway Cabal. After evacuating with the army on June 19, 1778, he commanded a brigade during Monmouth. After the action there, he openly supported General Charles Lee � whom Washington had reprimanded upon finding him retreating from battle. Burr commanded his regiment following the Monmouth Campaign in Westchester County, New York."

Benedict Arnold was an infamous resident of Saint John, New Brunswick.

Chieh Justice John Marshall was appointed from the state of Virginia by President John Adams.

Chief Justice Marshall and John Clay were both students of George Wythe, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His other students included Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. George Wythe, "...the man who could never gain a degree for want of the money to do it with, became America's first Professor of Law."

On October 4, 1996, the Honorable Sandra Day O'Connor, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, received the Henry Clay Medallion from the Henry Clay Memorial Foundation in Lexington. Previous recipients are former Speaker of the House Thomas S. Foley and historian Thomas D. Clark. Justice O'Connor remarks at the Governor's Mansion in Frankfort are at the home page of Ashland: The Clay Estate, Lexington, KY.

In 1983, Vice-President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne Cheney co-aurhored, according to Bob Woodward in The Commanders, an affectionate 226-page book about House Speakers from Henry Clay to Sam Rayburn , entitled Kings of the Hill.

A well known descendant of Henry Clay was GENERAL LUCIUS DUBIGNON CLAY (1897 - 1978) - FATHER OF THE BERLIN AIRLIFT IN 1948 - 1949

General Nathaniel Watkins"...was born January 28, 1796 in Woodford County, Kentucky, the son of Capt. Henry Watkins, who married the widow of Rev. John Clay, the father of Henry Clay, the famous statesman and U. S. Senator from Kentucky, the author of the 'Missouri Compromise.' Gen. Watkins was the half-brother of Henry Clay and resembled him a good deal, it is said."

"His headstone inscription reads:

SOLDIER OF THE WAR OF 1812 MEMBER OF THE MO. STATE SENATE SPEAKER OF THE MO. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MEMBER OF STATE CONVENTIONS OF '61, '75 A LAWYER OF 60 YEARS ACTIVE PRACTICE AS SOLDIER, STATESMAN, CITIZEN SANS PEUR ET SANS REPROCHE"

Cassius Marcellus Clay was the son of Green Clay and Sally Lewis. Green Clay: "served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War; member of Virginia state legislature, 1788-89; member of Kentucky state legislature, 1793-94; member of Kentucky state senate, 1795-98, 1807; delegate to Kentucky state constitutional convention, 1799; general in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812." See: the Political Graveyard.

Cassius Marcellus Clay was my 2nd cousin, six times removed. His father, Green Clay was son to Charles Clay, son of Henry Clay and wife Mary Mitchell; my 7th great-grandparents. The lineage between Cassius Clay and Henry Clay is at Who was Martha, the wife of Ralph Blankinship.

Cassius Clay is on the List of Politicians Who Survived Assassination Attempts at the the Political Graveyard. He was shot point-blank during a speech in 1843. He used a Bowie knife to cut off the attacker's ear and nose and cut out one eye.

"Clay fought for the abolishment of slavery, becoming one of Kentucky's greatest anti-slavery crusaders in the years before the Civil War."

"Clay served three terms in the Kentucky Legislature, from 1835-1840. He helped found the Republican Party in 1854, and gave his support to its' Presidential tickets in 1856 and 1860. He was named Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia in 1861, during the Lincoln Administration, returning home for a brief period when he received a commission from the Lincoln Administration to serve as a Major General for the Union Army. Clay returned to St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1863, to continue his diplomatic service as Minister to Russia until 1869."

There is a lovely picture of him as a young man at Elms and Magnolias: The 19th Century, "The Catalogue of Members of the Calliopean Society, a Yale literary society, formed in 1819. The society was formed when a "Southern" party within the Linonia Society broke away because of the election of a Northern president within the society. Until its dissolution in 1853, the Calliopean Society was composed of students from the Southern States."

"...Mary Todd (Lincoln) had a schoolgirl crush on him and, "If Mary Jane Warfield hadn't of married him before I grew up," (she said), "I would have!""

"Consider . . .

He set his own slaves free long before the Civil War was even considered.
He helped to establish the first interracial college in the nation.
Published "The True American" to stir the ire, conscience and vote of the white working class.
Was nominated for President by acclamation at the Convention and deferred to Lincoln.
He drew record crowds to speak on Lincoln's behalf.
He gave Lincoln critically needed financial support.
Through Mary Todd was Lincoln's most trusted advisor.
Helped Lincoln draft the Emancipation Proclamation.
Should have been Vice President or Secretary of War, but instead became our Ambassador to Russia.
Initiated and consummated the purchase of Alaska, no money down and interest only.
For this he got the Russian Navy to anchor ships in our harbors warning Europe to stay out of our war!"
Source: Cassius Clay...Madman or Prophet by Richard Kiel.
In Kentucky, Clay is known as The Lion of White Hall. The Lion of White Hall certainly makes for entertaining reading.
""When the Lincolns saw John Wilkes Booth in "The Marble Heart" at Ford's Theatre on November 9, 1863, they were accompanied by several people. Among these people was Mary B. Clay, a daughter of Cassius Clay, U.S. minister to Russia. Mary Clay reminisced about the evening as follows: "In the theater President and Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Sallie Clay and I, Mr. Nicolay and Mr. Hay, occupied the same box which the year after saw Mr. Lincoln slain by Booth. I do not recall the play, but Wilkes Booth played the part of villain. The box was right on the stage, with a railing around it. Mr. Lincoln sat next to the rail, I next to Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Sallie Clay and the other gentlemen farther around. Twice Booth in uttering disagreeable threats in the play came very near and put his finger close to Mr. Lincoln's face; when he came a third time I was impressed by it, and said, 'Mr. Lincoln, he looks as if he meant that for you.' 'Well,' he said, 'he does look pretty sharp at me, doesn't he?' At the same theater, the next April, Wilkes Booth shot our dear President. Mr. Lincoln looked to me the personification of honesty, and when animated was much better looking than his pictures represent him." Mary Clay, in her reminiscence, was off by a year when she said the President was shot "the next April."
SOURCE: p. 243 of "Mary, Wife of Lincoln" by her niece Katherine Helm (Harper and Brothers, New York, 1928)."
A well known descendant of Cassius Clay was a member of the Sons of the Revolution in the District of Columbia 1920:
The name Cassius Clay lives on today. "Cassius Clay, the six-foot, three-inch, two-hundred and thirty pound, white man that Muhammed Ali and his father were named after, because he freed Muhammed Ali's Great-Great Grandfather...and because he did so much to put an end to slavery."
Ali's ancestry is availble through Genealogy.com: Ancestry of Muhammed Ali: Second Generation.

Henry CLAY and Mary MITCHELL have many colorful descendants. One of those was Victor C. Vaughan, M.D., LL.D.

"Victor Clarence Vaughan was a physician, Dean of the University of Michigan Medical School, and President of the American Medical Association. He was born on 27 October 1851 in Randolph Co., MO. He married Dora Catherine Taylor on 16 August 1877 in Randolph Co., MO. He died on 21 November 1929 in Richmond, (Henrico Co.), VA, at age 78."

Henry Clay and wife Mary Mitchell, my 7th great-grandparents, were his 5th great-grandparents, which would make me his 6th cousin, 3 times removed.

"BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS BEFORE THE CLASS OF 1910[, Central College Fayette, Missouri,] by Victor C. Vaughan, M.D., LL.D." was aptly title "Old Missouri." It contains a vivid description of his childhood in Missouri.

In his address, he spoke about an interesting fact. Dr. Vaughan, a distant cousin of both Cassius Clay and Henry Clay was black.

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