[2] The county was formed in 1835 and named for DeWitt Clinton, the seventh Governor of New York.

It was named for DeWitt Clinton, governor of New York and driving force behind the Erie Canal.

28.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

Counties in the Appalachian Mountains were less conducive to large-scale plantation farming that utilized slave labor and thus were more resistant to secession from the Union.

Relative to population, Clinton County was a leader in providing soldiers for the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War, seeing 12.54% of its white population volunteer for Union service, exceeded only by the now-similarly Republican Owsley, Estill and Clay counties.

Nor has any Republican in this time span – even William Howard Taft during the divided 1912 election – fallen short of 60 percent.