The Clay Family
Original By Bea Clay Stanley

Revised by Thelma Kay Kiser 6/16/2015 with corrections and additions

Joseph Leonard Clay was born January 18, 1887 to William Jiles and Lurania Bentley Clay at Beefhide, Kentucky. Jiles, “Grandpa,” was born May 7, 1852 to Maston and Nancy Anderson Clay near Myra, Kentucky. Greatgrandpa, Maston, left for Civil War duties after the birth of his second son, Joseph Leonard Clay, Sr. His family now resides in Ohio.

Jiles and Lurania’s children:
Rosa, married Sam Mullins, Their children were Lillie Logan, Pressley, Cotella, Andeline, William, Nora, Pearlie and Nila.
Nancy married Ben Wright; children were Pearlie, Lee, Delphia and Vina.
Annie married Alfred Stanley; children were Dacie, William, Corbett, Sally, Ferbie, Woodrum, Dorsey, Opal and Edith.
Vina married James Mathew Stanley; children were Versie, Everette, Annette and Joseph Clyde, “JC.”
Liza married Von Christian; their children were Bethel, Mae, Leonard, Rae, Hazel, Cordella and Pearl.
Leonard, the only son, married Linda Stanley; children were Cecile, Norman, Greathel, Arnold, Beatrice, “Bea,” Sally Lurania, “Lura,” Emma Orleana, Vergie, Leonard Jr., Leo, Eddie, Darrell and Linda Lucille, (who died in infancy).
Vergie, “Dolly,” married A. B. Yates; children were Renie, Grayson, Carl, Morris, Cova, George, “Kip,” Rhea and Henry, Kenneth Giles.

Lurania, “Grandma,” Clay was the daughter of Simeon and Nancy Hall Bentley. Her sisters were Lovina Bentley Austin and Nora Bentley Crigger and her brothers were Joe, Pharoah, Ulysses and Hiram.

We knew more about Uncle Dave and Aunt Vina Austin’s family because they lived at Pound, Virginia and their daughter Nancy married Peter Whitaker and moved to Dickenson County with their family.

Grandma Lurania died in childbirth and Grandpa married Annie Mullins and came to Dickenson County. They first settled at Darwin, Virginia, then they moved to Caney Ridge and lived in the house nearest Lebanon Old Regular Baptist Church. We always called Grandpa’s Church. After Grandma Annie died, Grandpa came to live with us and was a loved member of our family until his death, October 16, 1938.

On August 31, 1907 Leonard Clay married Linda Stanley, the daughter of Jonathan and Sally Reedy Stanley. Grandpa Stanley’s brothers and sisters were
Larkin married Jane Hill; their children were Elcanab, Lydia, Jennie, J. Roley, Sally Ann and Carolyn.
Betty Stanley married Flat John Mullins
Waitzel married Mary Mullins; their children were Margaret, Love, Bell, Polly, Fayette, Waltz, Dock and Ellen. Later Waitzel married Mira Counts; their children were Nannie, Etta, Phoebe, Ed, Shirley, Frank, Charley and Barton.
Frank Stanley married Linda White; their children were Melvina, Elvira, Lee and Wiley. Lee was clerk of Dickenson County for many years.
Lovel Stanley’s children were Riley, Ollie, Sally, Calvin, Kelly, Vina, Cynthia, Ritta and Orlena.

The children of Jonathan and Sally Reedy Stanley (Mama’s family) were Polly Ann Elmira Yates, Nancy Elizabeth Louvina, Jane Ball, Orella Sylvania Allifair Adkins, Sara Catherine Sofronia Frances Pucket, Aley Labelia Victoria Ellen Yates, Bethana Lour Emma Eve Yates, Malinda Lavoda Cordella Josephine Clay, Joseph William Larkin Stanley, Isaac Edward Lovel Peter Stanely, Mary Magdeline. “Maggie,” Hale.

Grandma Stanley was the daughter of Peter and Nancy Jane Adams Reedy. Her brothers and sisters were Wilburn, Linville, Granville, Hezekiah, William Mary Ann, “Polly,” Wright, Amanda Mullins, Thomas Lee and James Michael. Many of them lived on Reedy Ridge, part of Caney Ridge named for them. There is not a single Reedy living there now.

Grandpa Stanely’s parents were Lovel and Vina Wright Stanley.
The son of Hezekiah, “Uncle Carr,” was Emory Reedy and his son Clyde Reedy both lived on Reedy Ridge and each was pastor of Peuther Chapel Church. They had a great influence on the whole community. Claude Reedy, another son, married Versie Stanley. Beuna Reedy married Everett Stanley, son of uncle James Matthew and Aunt Vina Clay Stanely.

Leonard and Linda Stanley Clay Family

Joseph Leonard Clay and Linda Stanley were Married August 31, 1907. They lived most of their lives on Caney Ridge in Dickenson County, Virginia. They moved from place to place for timber jobs for a few years. Their first son died at birth. Soon after the birth of Cecile and Norman they bought a place on Caney Ridge at Omaha, Virginia. Greathel and Arnold were born in the original house located in a beautiful orchard with many large Black Hart Cherry trees. They build a new house more convenient to the road, muddy and rutty as they all were then. Beatrice (Bea) was the first child born in this house with Lura, Orlena, Vergie and Leonard, Jr. following.

The Yates school ground and our yard joined which gave us an early taste of school life. Alpha Kerr Smith and Lessie Daugherty started many of us in school. We would slip off from Mama and join the children at recess and the noon hour. Each of us would go with a sibling quite often.

Our parents were doing quite well in the timber business but is was dangerous. I can remember Papa lying front of the fireplace to thaw the frozen and stiff legs of his overalls. We had a grist mill to grind corn into meal in a little mill house. One day Norman and Greathel didn’t go to school but played in the woods. They were afraid to come home, so the whole neighborhood was out looking for them. They were behind a log behind the school house and every time Greathel tried to yell “Here we are Mama,” Norman would put his hand over his mouth. Part of the punishment was locking Norman in the mill house. I remember standing at the door crying for Papa to let him out.
Papa went into the road contracting business and did right well. I am told he helped build the Birchfield Road and the old road to Haysi using teams of horses and mules with big had scrapers. I saw that being done in 1938 on Caney Ridge near Rugby School wher I taught.
Later Papa was elected the Commissioner of the Revenue and bought Mama’s old home place, three miles down the road at millard, Virginia near Bise School and Peuther Chapel Church. Grandpa Stanley had given everything to Uncle Larkin Stanley and lived with him and they wanted to move to Florida. One day Papa came home and told Mama her home place was already sold and she cried and cried. I a few days they learned Grandpa wouldn’t sign the deed because a daughter wanted it. Now there were many level acres for farming and Grandpa Clay had come to live with us, making fifteen people around the wall to wall table for meals. He, Mama and the children kept the farm going while Papa worked. He attended every School Board and Board of Supervisors meeting. He deeded contracts and several children needed teaching jobs. Mama had taught before marriage and encouraged each of us. She would read the Bible to us at night. We were a very happy family.
Leo was the first child born at the new home. Then followed Eddie, Darrell and Linda Lucille who died at thirteen months. Mama was an invalid the last twenty years of her life. They sold the farm to De Sote Rose and move to Florida for her health. She died in April, 1951.
Twelve children lived to have homes and families of their own. Eight of them finished the first two years of collage at Hiwassee College Madisonville, Tennessee. Each child helped the next one in line. The other two years were finished at East Tennessee State University, Emory and Henry College, Pikeville College and Tennessee Technical Institute. The first one started to Hiwassee College when Martin Reedy, a relative, was President there.