James Harrison Claybourn (1843-1920)

James Harrison Claybourn, the third child and oldest son of William Divine Claybourn, was born on 27 April 1843, in a log cabin on the Claybourn farm in Jefferson County, Illinois. He grew up on that farm and received his schooling near there. He and all the Claybourns loved to sing, and he told of how they would sing after they ate the noon meal while resting before returning to work in the fields. They would drive miles at night to gather a group to enjoy singing.

By his own statement we know he was named for his Uncle James who lived in Tennessee, and the "Harrison" probably for his mother's brother, Harrison Hawker. He was called "Uncle Jim" by his nieces and nephews.

Civil War Service

Early in May of 1861, when James ("Jim") was barely 18 years old, the call for volunteers for the Northern army came to Rome (now called Dix), Illinois. Jim was very patriotic and felt it was his duty to help preserve the Union. Indeed, his sense of duty was so strong that when the call for volunteers came to Rome, he went off to enlist, leaving his plow standing in the field [1]. Jim first enlisted in Company "C" of the 22nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with this group for sixty days. Following his stint with the 22nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, he returned home to enlist in a different group with his father. In a letter written to his nephew Verner Claybourn in 1906, Jim wrote:

"Your grandfather (William Divine Claybourn) and I enlisted in Company 'H' First Illinois Cavalry about July 15, 1861; was first rendezvoused at Cairo, Illinois, but soon were transferred to Bird's Point, Missouri, from which place we scouted through southeastern Missouri and western Kentucky during the winter of 1861-62 and when, with Pope's command, we marched on New Madrid, Missouri.

"You can get a much better account of that from the history of the Civil War than I could give you, but suffice it to say that after the fall of Island No. 10 and Tiptonville, Kentucky, we proceeded down the Mississippi River, and sometime in June 1862 we landed from the transports, and Co. H First Illinois Cavalry were the first U.S. troops to enter the city of Memphis, but on July 1st were ordered to St. Louis to be mustered out of service, and about July 7th we received our discharges and went immediately to our homes." [2]

The letter goes on, "In August 1862, the 18th day I think it was, your Uncle Bill and I enlisted in Co. H. 80th Illinois Infantry and served in that organization until the close of the war in 1865, and served in what was known as the Army of the Cumberland under Generals Thomas, Hooker, Howard, Sherman, and Grant, serving in several different brigades, divisions, and army corps, and were with Colonel Streigh on his raid to Alabama in the spring of 1863; was captured and sent as prisoner to Richmond, Virginia" [4]. Jim's army record shows he joined August 12th and was actually mustered in as a Corporal on 25 August 1862, at Walnut Hill, Illinois (Co. H. INF.) for a period of three years. His description as it appears on his record is: Age: 19; Height: 5 ft. 7 in.; Hair: Black; Eyes: Hazel; Complexion: Dark [5].

The letter concludes, "During our term of service, I do not know how many battles we were in, but the most severist were when we were in Sherman's campaign from Chattanooga, Tenn., to Atlanta, Ga., when we were constantly exposed to the enemy's fire for about three months. We engaged in all the heavy battles of that campaign up to July 4, 1864, when I was wounded and sent to the hospital" [6].

Jim was wounded by a Minnie ball, a kind of conical rifle bullet, which passed through his leg. He told Verner this happened on Nickajack Creek during the battle of Marietta, Georgia. On 1 October 1864, he was promoted to sergeant and transferred to Co. C. 8th Veteran Reserve Corps with headquarters in Chicago where he remained on duty until 10 June 1865, when he was mustered out at Camp Harker, Tennessee.

This wood engraving of the Battle of Lookout Mtn. was published in Harper's Weekly on 30 November 1867.

1st Duty Sergeant D. F. Strattan furnished this list of the battles in which the 80th Illinois Volunteers participated. John Riley Cunningham was Captain of Co. H.

1. Perryville, Kentucky - 8 October 1862
2. Milton, Tennessee - 20 March 1863
3. Hog Mountain, Alabama - 30 April 1863
4. Sand Mountain, Alabama - 1 May 1863
5. Turkey Creek, Alabama - 2 May 1863
6. Lookout Mountain, Tennessee - 28 October 1863
7. Mission Ridge, Tennessee - 23rd and 24th of November, 1863
8. Buzzard Roost, Georgia - 25 February 1864
9. Dalton, Georgia - May 1864
10. Resaca, Georgia - May 1864
11. Dalton, Georgia - 25 May 1864
12. Pine Mountain, Georgia - 10 June 1864
13. Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia - 27 June 1864
14. Marietta, Ga. - 4 July 1864 - Battle in which James was wounded.

A Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) reunion in the early 1900's held in Centralia, Illinois. James can be seen toward the back, near the center, with a bow tie.

15. Chattahoochie River - 6 July 1864
16. Peach Tree Creek, Georgia - 20 July 1864
17. Atlanta, Georgia - 22 July 1864
18. Jonesboro, Georgia - 1 August 1864
19. Lovejoy, Georgia - 2 August 1864
20. Franklin, Tennessee - 30 November 1864
21. Nashville, Tennessee - 15th and 16th of December, 1864

On 8 October 1914, James attended the 25th annual reunion of the 80th Illinois Regiment - held at Sparta, Illinois - on the 52nd anniversary of the battle of Perryville, the first engagement in which they participated. Twenty nine members of the regiment were present. When Harriette Threlkeld was a child, "Uncle Jim" took her to a Civil War reunion (possibly the one in October of 1914) where she was made the "adopted daughter" of Company H.

Marriage to Polly

Shortly after he returned home, Jim married Polly Ann Snyder of Shiloh township. She was 17 years old and was by all accounts a beautiful girl. Some sources indicate that she was the daughter of James Yandell, but her marriage certificate gives Snyder, so it is not clear if she was married before [7]. Inis was born to them on 14 November 1866, but Polly died when Inis was about three months old. Jim's sister Sally took care of the baby until he married again six months later.

Marriage to Harriet and remaining life

James and Harriet soon after their marriage.

James and Harriet. This was the last picture made of Harriet.

On 18 August 1867, Jim married 22 year old Harriet Ann Maxey. Harriett was born on 27 December 1845 in Jefferson County, Illinois. On her mother's side she was the granddaughter of Isaac N. Smith who came to Illinois from North Carolina prior to 1806. He laid out the town of Walnut Hill, Illinois, having bought 1800 acres of land. He helped organize Covenenter Church there and is buried in that cemetery. His daughter Rachel married Elihu King Maxey. The Maxey's came from Jefferson County in 1818 and Harriett's grandfather, Henry Burchett Maxey, who had been born in a blockhouse fort near Gallatin, Tenn., in 1795, built a log cabin about one half block off the present square in Mt. Vernon on the west side of N. 10th St. In 1823 he bought the lot on the corner of (now) 10th and Main and built the first building on the public square.

Jim and Harriet were the parents of nine children, seven living to maturity. The couple first lived at Snow's Mill, four miles west of Dix, Illinois. Jim engaged in saw and grist milling for several years, living in various parts of Jefferson County and for about two years in Franklin County. With his Maxey brother-in-law he bought one of the first portable steam engines in the county. It used wood for fuel and was moved to an area that had wood to saw into lumber. In the summer was used for the power thresh grain.

Harriet's nephew, Frank Maxey, said that Jim was truly expert at running the sawmill, and that he was the best hand sawyer Frank had ever seen. He could run 15,000 feet of lumber a day if the other workers would get it to him fast enough. He was known a fine machinist and carpenter. As Frank expressed it, Jim was "a genius with mechanics." The Maxeys eventually sold out, and Jim then parterned with James V. Bruce (who was a brother-in-law by the first marriage) at Woodlawn with the mill.

In about 1885-1886 Jim and his family moved to Mt. Vernon. There he worked for the Varnell Tie Company, later the Moss Railroad Tie Preserving Company. When the Mt. Vernon Car Manufacturing Co. (which made box cars) came to Mt. Vernon, he worked for them as a lumber inspector and buyer, traveling all over the South and Missouri.

Since this often took him away from home, he gave it up and worked for the Jefferson Milling Company, which used to stand at Broadway and the L&N Railroad in Mt. Vernon. He worked first in the mill and later "traveled" with a horse and buggy to the small towns in Jefferson County selling flour to the country stores. Harriette writes: "My most vivid remembrance of him is those days for he loved to take his children when they came home on visits or his grandchildren with him on these day long trips" [8]. This was his occupation until his health began to fail. As he began to fall ill he spent several winters in Florida with his sister Candace, the last one being in 1919.

The Mt. Vernon Register-News described Jim this way: "He was very successful as a business man and was very efficient and industrious. He allowed nothing to interfere with duty and his long term of service is eloquent proof of his worth" [9].

The family of James H. Claybourn at about 1889. Front row (left to right): Lena, Birtie, Libbie. Back row (left to right): Alma, Jas. H. Claybourn, Norah, Orley, Harriet Maxey, Eva.

Jim sawed the lumber for he and Harriet's "board and batten" house at Snow's Mill, and he personally selected the lumber to ensure it contained no knots or bad places. The address for that house, completed in 1890, was South 15th Street in Mt. Vernon. In that house the children were all married, and the younger ones went to school there as well. It was razed in 1957 and the lumber was sold off.

The last home Jim owned was a large two story house at 2100 West Broadway, Mt. Vernon, Illinois. There on five acres of land he kept a horse, a cow, chickens, raised a large garden and had fruit trees, including a peach orchard where he raised and sold large peaches. Jim and Harriet's last years were spent on this place with their daughters, Eva and Libbie, and Harriette Threlkeld.

Harriette Threlkeld writes, "Harriet Maxey Claybourn was a high minded woman who would never allow her children to use slang or vulgar words and who was a wonderful example to them of right living. She had fair skin, gray eyes and light brown hair. Her sister-in-law, Mary Williams Claybourn, said of her that 'she never saw her without a broom or a wash cloth in her hand'" [10]. Ms. Threlkeld adds, "I wonder how many of us today could cook on a coal or wood burning stove, holding a baby in one arm and bake pies for the day for a large family while making biscuits and getting breakfast" [11].

She goes on, "Grandfather was a small, alert, quick moving man with a white Van Dyke beard but very little hair on his head as I remember him. He was a Methodist and led the choir or the Sunday School singing at various places they lived. He was a member of the I.O.O.F. (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) and held all of the offices of that lodge at Dix, Ill. He bought an organ when they lived in Woodlaw, bringing it home in a wagon from Mt. Vernon one time as a surprise. Later they owned a piano and several of the girls learned to play and they all loved to sing" [12].

Top: A note to J.I. Case implement company, signed by partners J.V. Bruce and J.H. Claybourn. Bottom: A warranty certificate on the organ J.H.C. bought in 1884.

James in 1916. HPT writes, "An excellent likeness. This is the way I remember him."

Harriet died on 26 April 1916 in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. Her funeral services were held at the family residence, with the burial not far away at the Oakwood Cemetery. Her obituary ends with these words:

"Faithful in her service to her church and devoted in her efforts towards her family were the outstanding features of her life. Mrs. Claybourn was a woman of rare Christian attainment and with it was a love to do service for her Master.

"Her illness lasted over two weeks, and from the very first her condition was very serious. On last Sunday she lapsed into unconsciousness and from that condition never rallied. Her life's work is over, and she has gone to the home beyond to claim the reward of the faithful."

"Mr. Claybourn had been in bad health almost a year and a half and retired from active business life the 24th day of December, 1919 . . . Mr. Claybourn was held in the highest esteem by the citizens of Mt. Vernon and Jefferson county and news of his death has been received with expressions of deepest regret . . . Mr. Claybourn had long been a member of the First M.E. church and was a faithful Christian, an honorable and upright citizen, and his influence was ever on the side of right and justice." [14]

Pedigree Chart

						Joshua Claybourn (Clibborn) 1758 - 1799
				Ephraim Claybourn 1788 - 1850
						Sarah
		William Divine Claybourn 1819 - 1896
				Mary "Polly" Browning 1792 - 1874
						Sally Browning
James Harrison Claybourn 1843 - 1920
				Reuben Hawker b. 1794
		Frances Alla Hawker 1820 - 1863
				Nancy Hawker b. 1796

Descendants

James Harrison's children at about 1899. Back row (left to right): Norah, Libbie, Birtie, Alma. Front row (left to right): Lena, Eva, Orley, Inis (half sister)

1. Ada Viola Inis Claybourn ("Inis") was born on 14 November 1866 at Driver's Mill, which is near Walnut Hill, Illinois. She married (1st) on 12 October 1882 at the age of 15, against her parents' wishes, to Fremont Lacey who was 20. They separated after a year and then divorced. She married (2nd) on June 5, 1886 at the age of 19 to Amos Tate, aged 34, who was a widower with five children. He died of tuberculosis. Finally, she married (3rd) to Ben Doolen, who was 16 years her senior and who had two grown daughters, Hattie and Icie. Inis died on March 19, 1901 in Kinmundy, Illinois and is buried in Doolen private cemetery. Ben died in 1926 at the age of 83, outliving Inis by 25 years. Inis died having never beared any children.

2. Minni Claybourn was born on 1 July 1868 but died months later on 26 September 1868.

3. Eva Maud Claybourn was born on June 19, 1869 at Snow's Mill, west of Dix, Illinois. She married on October 23, 1902 to Wilbur Ayers of Mt. Vernon, Illinois. Wilbur was Chief Engineer of Mt. Vernon City Water Filtering Plant. They lived in a house furnished by the plant near Mt. Vernon reservoir. They had two children:
   1. James Wilbur Ayers was born 15 January 1904 and died on 22 May 1904
   2. Edwin Hall Ayers was born 15 November 1905 and died 26 January 1906. He is buried on Ayers lot, Oakwood Cemetery.
   She was apprenticed to a milliner and learned the trade. She had a millinery shop in Mt. Vernon before she was married and in which all the sisters worked at one time or another. The first shop was where the First National Bank is now. Later it was in a building by Stump's Confectionery just off the square on W. Broadway. Eva and Wilbur divorced in 1911. After her unhappy marriage, she returned home to keep house for her parents and helped rear Harriette Threlkeld, her niece. Ater the death of both parents, she, her sister Libbie and her niece Harriette lived together until her death. She was interested in church work and held offices inthe missionary societies. She helped organize the Mt. Vernon Mother's Club, was a member of the G.A.R. Ladies Auxiliary, the Eastern Star and White Shrine. She was a wonderful cook and was devoted to her family.

4. Alma Blanche Claybourn (click name for separate biographical sketch)

5. Norah Elsie Claybourn (click name for separate biographical sketch)

6. Orley Frank Claybourn (click name for separate biographical sketch)

7. Birtie May Claybourn (click name for separate biographical sketch)

8. Libbie Frances Claybourn (click name for separate biographical sketch)

9. Lena Grace Claybourn (click name for separate biographical sketch)

10. Addie Claybourn was born on March 21, 1886 and died shortly after on June 9, 1886.

References and Notes