In addition to his spiritual duties and operating his farm, his father also served as clerk of Gloucester County for more than five decades, was the president of the Virginia Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge, and was succeeded as clerk by this man's brother Jasper (who died in the American Revolutionary War and whose estate this man would supervise in 1779).
Their grandfather, John Clayton emigrated from England and held important posts in the colony's government, as well as acquired and operated several plantations in Virginia's Tidewater region.
[5] As relations with Britain grew strained over the mother country's attempt to levy taxes, Clayton joined nonimportation associations in 1769, 1770 and 1774.
During the American Revolutionary War, he was the county lieutenant and responsible for securing men and materials for the patriot forces.
However, considerable controversy exists concerning his death date, sources varying between June or July or December in that year.