Brutus Junius Clay II (February 20, 1847 – June 2, 1932) was an American businessman, political figure and diplomat.
Biography The son of Cassius M. Clay and Mary Jane Warfield Clay, Brutus Junius Clay II was born in Madison County, Kentucky, on February 20, 1847.Lashé D. Mullins, Charles K. Mullins, A History of White Hall: House of Clay, 2012, page 43 He received a civil engineering degree from the University of Michigan in 1868,University of Michigan, The Michigan University, Books 1844-1880, 1880, page 103 and worked as a wholesale and retail grocer. He lived at a Richmond, Kentucky home he called Linwood,Zachary F. Smith, Mary Rogers Clay, The Clay Family, Issue 14, 1899, pages 174-175 and was also the owner and operator of lumber mills, stone, kaolin and potters clay quarries, gas and oil wells, and other businesses. In addition, he owned farms in Illinois and Kentucky, and a Mississippi cotton plantation.H. L. Motter, editor, Who's Who in the World, 1912, 1911, page 285
Active in politics as a Republican, In 1897 he was offered appointment as Minister to Argentina by President William McKinley, but declined.University of Michigan Alumni Association, The Michigan Alumnus, Volume 20, 1914, page 479 In 1900 he was a U.S. Commissioner at the Paris Exposition.American Chamber of Commerce in Paris, Yearbook, 1901, page 104 In 1904 he was a Delegate to the Republican National Convention.Republican National Committee, Official Proceedings of the Thirteenth Republican National Convention, 1904, page 90
In 1905 he was appointed Minister to Switzerland, serving until 1910.New York Times, To Be Minister at Berne: Brutus J. Clay of Kentucky Appointed by the President, March 3, 1905Thomas William Herringshaw, American Statesman, 1907, page 157United States Department of State, Register of the Department of State, 1918, page 83Christian Science Monitor, Ex-Minister is on Way Home, March 15, 1910
Clay died in Richmond, Kentucky, on June 2, 1932.University of Michigan Alumni Association, The Michigan Alumnus, Volume 41, 1935, page 372New York Times, Brutus J. Clay Dead: A Former Diplomat; Appointed Envoy to Switzerland by Roosevelt, Honored Also by McKinley, June 2, 1932
Family Brutus J. Clay II was married twice. On February 20, 1872, he married Pattie Amelia Field (1848–1891). On January 15, 1895, he married Lalla R. Fish Marsteller (1860–1942).L. R. Hamersly & Company, Men and Women of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries, 1910, pages 354-355
With his first wife, Clay's surviving children included:
Belle Lyman Clay, b. November 4, 1872
Christopher Field Clay, b. December 19, 1874
Orville Martin Clay, b. May 7, 1879
Mary Warfield Clay, b. September 26, 1882
Charlotte Elizabeth Clay, b. May 31, 1889James T. White & Company, The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume XIV Supplement 1, 1910, pages 442-443
He had no children with his second wife, but treated his Stepson as his own.
William Fish Marsteller, b. December 11, 1885
His other family relationships included: nephew of Brutus Junius Clay; grandson of Green Clay; grandnephew of Matthew Clay (1754–1815); second cousin once removed of Henry Clay; third cousin of James Brown Clay; third cousin once removed of Clement Comer Clay; and fourth cousin of Clement Claiborne Clay.
Other In 1892 Clay donated a home in memory of his wife to be used in founding Richmond's first hospital. The Pattie A. Clay Infirmary, later the Pattie A. Clay Hospital, relocated several times and is now part of Baptist Health Richmond.Baptist Health Richmond, History of Baptist Health Richmond, 2013
Clay's home, now known as the Brutus and Pattie Field Clay House, is on the National Register of Historic Places.Go Historic.com, , retrieved October 1, 2013
References
External links Brutus Junius Clay II at Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State Brutus Junius Clay II at Political Graveyard