Grace Clayton was born October 4, 1875 in Barboursville, West Virginia, the last of eight children born to her father, the Reverend Fletcher Golden and his second wife, Maria L. Scott. She came to Marion County that same year when her father was appointed to the Rivesville circuit. She died March 29, 1958.

We know very little about Mrs. Grace Golden Clayton’s life between 1875 and 1900. She probably moved with her mother and father to Farmington as he served the Marion Circuit in 1878. She probably returned to Rivesville in 1882. After Reverend Golden was appointed as Presiding Elder in the Fayette District of the Methodist Episcopal Church South later of that year, Grace may have accompanied him there. In 1885 Reverend Golden went to Prestonburg, Kentucky as Presiding Elder where he served until his death May, 1890. At that time, Grace would have been only 15. Again, we have no record of her life between then and 1900.

But we assume she came back to Rivesville in 1890 for that was really the only place she knew. There is no mention of her mother during this time as well. Somewhere between this time and 1896 she married Charles Little Clayton. A local clipping in the Fairmont Times reports that a Baxter Church in the community of Stafford was started and completed in 1896 and the first organist was Mrs. Grace Clayton. We have no record of the date or place of her marriage.

We do know her husband Charles was born September 8, 1897 and died October 10, 1934. His father was Marshall Nay Clayton (November 15, 1834- October 31, 1911. His mother was Mary C. Boggess, (October 9, 1839 - July 28, 1921.) He had 2 brothers: Will R. and Frank B. Clayton.

Grace and Charles Clayton had 4 children:

Carol Jennings Clayton Sr., born on Sunday, February 13, 1900 at Baxter; He died in 1962; He was married twice.

Robert Lewis Clayton, born on Monday, May 30, 1904 at 240 Spring Street. He died October 15, 1975. He married Pauline Marra. They had one daughter, Patty Ann Holt, who died in 1989.

Joseph Edwin Clayton, born June 15, 1910 and died January 10, 1912;

Unknown child who died at an early age.

Carroll Clayton, Sr., the oldest child, was married twice.

His first wife was Thelma Olive Bower who was born in 1905, married in 1925 and died in 1938. They had 4 children: (1) Colleen — died in infancy; (2) Carroll Jennings Clayton, Jr. who was born July 30, 1926 and died 2000. He is survived by wife, Eleanor Thralls Clayton of Fairmont and one son, Brian Jennings Clayton, in Pleasant Valley; (3) Vera Jean Kennedy , deceased. She has 2 children: Dwight Gladden in Morgantown and Charlene Kennedy Cress of Rivesville (4) Ray Philip Clayton, survived by wife Dallas in Parkersburg. They have two children: Mrs. Rick (Cindy) Zickefoose in Parkersburg and oldest daughter, Pauline in South Bend, Indiana.

Carroll Clayton, Sr.’s second wife was Marion Hess Clayton O’Dell, who died in 2005. They had two children: (1) Judy Joe Clayton Moran in Denver, Colorado and Thomas Edwin Clayton of Fairmont, West Virginia.