Clayton family.

Prominent residents of Kent County, Del. Family of Thomas Clayton (1777-1854), lawyer and U.S. representative and senator; and John M. Clayton (1796-1856), lawyer and Yale graduate with law practice in Dover, Del., elected to U.S. Senate in 1828 and again in 1834, resigning in 1836 to become chief justice of Delaware, after which he gave up the post and devoted himself to farming outside New Castle; in 1845, he returned to the U.S. Senate but resigned to become secretary of State under Zachary Taylor; author of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty with England which provided for a neutral international canal across Central America; again elected to the U.S. Senate in 1852 where he defended the treaty.