was one of the pioneers of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Middle and. West Tennessee, uniting with the Tennessee Conference soon after its. organization in 1866. He labored in Wayne, Lawrence, and Giles counties, and, completely broken down by labors, exposure, and disease, accepted a supernumerary relation, with an appointment to Summertown. He died in Giles County, Tenn., March 15, 1880, aged forty-five. Mr. Clayton combined strength, gentleness, firmness, courage, generosity, and possessed remarkable influence in his native county. He was a popular preacher alike in town and. backwoods. See Minutes of Annual Conferences, 1880, p. 315.