Sacramento County
Biographies
DR. MARION F. & MRS. SARAH E.
CLAYTON
The city of Sacramento and indeed the
entire surrounding country owes so much to the ability and influence of Dr.
Marion F. Clayton and his estimable wife, Mrs. Sarah E., that it would be
difficult to enumerate their wonderful accomplishments here for the benefit of
the residents and especially the children of this part of the country.
Their benevolence, their charitable, unselfish labors to secure better
conditions in the homes and hospitals, their untiring effort toward furthering
the interests of all hygienic movements, were the means of bringing about a
wonderful improvement, and their memories shall be ever held in high regard by
all who were recipients of these benefactions. A suitable monument has
been erected by their loving children to their memory, but it was not necessary
that this material thing should be done to hold them dearly, for their work and
its excellent results, is one of the most fitting monuments they could
have.
The life of Dr. Clayton is filled with
interesting events, for his experiences were many, and his coming to a new
country opened up a newer and larger field of work than one of his profession
is accustomed to handle. Born in Knox county,
Ohio, in 1826, he spent his early days in Crawford county, that state,
receiving his elementary education there. He matriculated at the Eclectic
Medical College, in Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he graduated in 1855, and
began active practice in northeastern Indiana, where he remained for about four
years. Reports were constantly being brought from the west, and eager to
see a new country, equipped with his professional knowledge to aid him in
securing a position in the working world there, he came overland with ox and
horse teams in 1859. It was a hard, long trip, and during his travels he
had many opportunities to practice his profession, as there was much sickness
and necessity for his services. He suffered many trials, not the least of
which was the death of his horse when he was two hundred miles from human
habitation, thus being forced to tramp the remainder of the journey, and on
September 15, 1859, he arrived at Placerville, barefoot, almost naked and
nearly starved.
Dr. Clayton immediately found a great deal
of work to do. His first patient was a man suffering from a gunshot
wound, whom he found in a very precarious condition,
but through his skill as a surgeon he saved his life, and this was the
foundation of his wide and most successful career in this section of the country.
After eight laborious years at Placerville, Dr. Clayton removed to Sacramento
and opened an office on J street between Fifth and
Sixth streets, which place he occupied for two years, rendering valuable
service to the citizens there. In January, 1870, Mrs. Clayton and their
four children came from the east, and the doctor about this time purchased the
Pacific Water Cure and Health Institute, which was situated at the corner of
Seventh and L streets and was at that time a beautiful home, surrounded by shade
trees, and fitted in every way for the care of the sick. This
establishment was most excellently equipped with every modern appliance for the
purpose, being arranged for the giving of Turkish, Russian, electric and
medicated water and vapor baths. This institute the doctor operated for
many years, until his death, and he met with gratifying success, as he had the
benefit if his many years' professional experience, and the exceptional natural
power to administer to the sick.
When the state Eclectic Medical Society
was organized Dr. Clayton was one of the promoters, and served as its president
and vice-president several terms. For three years he was a member of the
State Eclectic Board of Medical Examiners, being its chairman for two years.
He was a strong prohibitionist, and during the campaign of 1888 was a member of
the state executive committee of the Prohibition party.
He owned considerable land in Eldorado county, which proved a good investment.
Mrs. Sarah E. Clayton, wife of Dr. M. F.,
was a most suitable wife and helpmeet for such a worthy man. Her career
has been quite as full of experiences which tended toward the welfare of the
sick and unfortunate as was his, and there are many of her achievements which
are today the material evidences of her unfailing effort to give of the best
that was in her, and her unselfishness and thoughtfulness will never be
forgotten by many who received from her generous heart and hand. Born
December 7, 1826, in Delaware, she was of Welsh and English extraction, her
parents being Rev. John T. and Harriette Davis.
Rev. John T. Davis was born in Wales, and was a Methodist minister in Ohio, his
service in the ministry covering a period of fifty years. Mrs. Clayton's
family removed from Delaware to Ohio in 1830, finally settling in Bucyrus,
Crawford county. From 1846 to 1851 she taught
school, at which time she was married to Dr. Marion F. Clayton, and they were
the parents of four children: Hattie C., wife of A. J. Gardiner, of Sacramento;
Mrs. Clara M. Crawford; Frank W., of Seattle; and Willis M., deceased.
The last named, Willis M., was accidentally killed while in London, England, in
1881.
During the Civil war Dr. W. H. Davis,
brother of Mrs. Clayton, went to the front as surgeon
in an Iowa regiment, and his death occurred at Pittsburgh Landing in
1862. Mrs. Clayton was the secretary of the Sanitary Commission at
Fostoria, Ohio, for five years, and she considers that period the most
important and possibly the most useful of her life, as the duty then of a
sanitary commissioner was as constant and arduous as that of the soldier on the
battlefield. Soon after her arrival in Sacramento, in 1870, she found the old
county hospital at the corner of Tenth and L streets to be a very unsanitary
place, poorly supplied with conveniences of any sort for the inmates, and badly
in need of attention in many ways. She persuaded the supervisors with the
influence of the press to build a new hospital three miles east of the city,
and upon its completion Dr. G. A. White was made its
superintendent. She then appealed to the citizens of the city for reading
matter, and so generous was the response that in a short time the institution
had a large and valuable library for their new hospital. Among the books
donated was a Greek Bible two centuries old, and this rare volume was probably
the most valuable book given. It is a most unfortunate fact to relate
that the new building was burned soon after completion, and the entire contents
destroyed.
This was, however, only one of the many
invaluable accomplishments of Mrs. Clayton. As one of the managers of the
Protestant Orphan Asylum of Sacramento, in 1873, it was her duty to look after
the children who had been taken out of the home on trial, pending
adoption. She served as director of the board of this asylum for fifteen
years, and in her capacity as manager had many difficulties to encounter, but
she was thoroughly capable of handling the matter at hand, and going before the
legislature, procured several laws governing this work. By her earnest
endeavor she soon had an almost perfect system established, by which the
homeless wards were found comfortable and permanent homes with worthy people,
and the law of the land assisted in the work. With others she afterward
founded the Sacramento Foundlings Home, now the Sacramento Children's Home, of
which she was a director at the time of her death, on October 28, 1911.
Too much cannot be said in praise of such a woman whose entire life had been
given to help others, and whose every thought had been to comfort the sick and
help the needy. No problem too hard for her to solve, no task too hard to
undertake, if it was to benefit deserving ones she was ready to make the
attempt. It may well be said of her: Well done, thou faithful servant!
Mrs. Clayton was an ardent worker in the
First M. E. Church, on Sixth street, and it was from
this religious home that she was conveyed to her last resting place. Her
husband had preceded her to the grave, having passed away April 28, 1892, mourned
by many friends. In 1910 their daughter, Mrs. Hattie C. Gardiner,
erected in Sacramento on the site of their old home, the Hotel Clayton, in
honor of her mother and father. It is a five-story reinforced concrete
and brick structure, with steel frame, and built on concrete pile foundation,
and is elaborately finished in every detail. It is considered by
builders the best building in the city and one of the most artistically
constructed.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento County,
California, Pages 803-806. Historic
Record Company,
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.