CIVIL ORGANIZATION
The town of Clayton, which embraces two-fifths of
Penet’s Square from the west side, with a small tract north and a triangular gore
west of that patent, was detached from Orleans and Lyme and organized into a separate town
by an act of the State legislature, approved April 27, 1833. The first town-meeting was
held at the house of Isaac L. Carter on the 4th of June following. The name was
given in honor of Hon. John M. Clayton, United States Senator from Delaware.
At the first town-meeting the following were elected: |
| Hubbell Fox |
supervisor |
| B. F. Faxton, Clerk; Gordon
Caswell and Stephen Martin |
justices of the peace |
| Jesse Noyes, Abram Burdick, Bariah
Carpenter, Jr. |
assessors |
| Caleb Closson, James Barney |
overseers of the poor |
| Samuel P. Payne, Lloyd B. Farrar,
and Elkanah Corlin |
commissioners of highways |
| Alfred Fox, John Consard, Jr., and
Joseph Mason |
commissioners of common schools |
| Josiah Farrar, David Baker, and B.
F. Faxton |
inspectors of common schools |
| Erastus Warner |
collector |
| Erastus Monroe, T. Haskill, Sydney
Spencer, and Eldridge G. Tilson |
constables |
SUPERVISORS |
| 1833-34 |
Hubbell Fox |
| 1835 |
C. Bancroft |
| 1836-38 |
Eldridge G. Merrick |
| 1839 |
Henry D. Van Camp |
| 1840-41 |
E. G. Merrick |
| 1842 |
Woodbridge C. George |
| 1843-44 |
Alfred D. Fox |
| 1845 |
E. G. Merrick |
| 1846 |
Alfred Fox |
| 1847 |
Erastus Warner |
| 1848 |
James Plumb |
| 1849-52 |
Alfred Fox |
| 1853--- |
Alfred Fox, Luke E. Frame, elected
at a special meeting to fill vacancy. |
| 1854-58 |
Luke E. Frame |
| 1859-61 |
John W. Ingalls |
| 1862-64 |
Elijah McCarn |
| 1864-66 |
James Johnson |
| 1867-71 |
John Johnston |
| 1872 |
Richard M. Esselstyn |
| 1873-76 |
John Johnston |
| 1877 |
Richard M. Esselstyn |
The
present town officers are: |
| Supervisor |
R. M. Esselstyn |
| Clerk |
Richard Terry |
| Justices of the Peace |
Michael Cantwell, Alfred Fox,
Richard M. Esselstyn, Eli J. Geeber |
| Assessor |
Levi C. Otis |
| Collector |
Thomas Walt |
| Town Auditors |
G. A. Diefendorf, Joseph Putnam,
Perry Caswell, |
| Commissioners of Highways |
Enos G. Otis, Lewis Lingenfelter,
Stephen Butts, Sr. |
| Constables |
Sullivan Smith, Lewis W. Eddy, and
Sidney McCarn |
| Game Constable |
Abram w. Hollenback |
| Excise Commissioner |
Elijah McCarn |
| Inspectors of Elections-Dist. #1 |
George Haas, Jr., Amasa E. Dodge,
Francis Forbes, |
| Inspectors of Elections-Dist. #2 |
Horatio N. Estes, Seeber McCarn,
Solon H. Johnson |
*Jefferson County History, by
L. H. Everts, 1878
|
