Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/672

638 He afterward instructed and baptized the negroes, and formed them into congregations. In 1628 an epidemic of small-pox of a virulent character bi'oko out among the negroes of Carthagena, and Father Claver was unremitting in his attention to the victims. His favorite resort was the lepers' hospi- tal in Carthagena, which was shunned even Vy the doctors. His constitution was enfeebled by his labors, penances, and mortifications, and he never recovered from an attack of the plague, while his end was hastened by the harshness and neglect of a young negro appointed to attend him. He was declared venerable by Benedict XIV. in 1747, and beatified by, Pins IX. in 1850.

CLAVIERE, Etienne, Swiss financier, b. in Geneva, 27 Jan., 17:^5 ; d. in Paris. 8 Dec, 1793. He engaged in banking in Paris before the i-evolu- tion, and became acquainted with Brissot, and other popular leadei's. Mirabeau used Claviere's assistance in composing his speeches and essays. It is asserted that he and Brissot de Warville (q. v.) were the authors of almost all of Mirabeau's works on finance. He was chosen deputy to the national assembly in 1791, was Girondist minister of finance from March till June, 1792. and a member of the executive council after 10 Aug., 1792. He was ar- rested on 2 June, 1793, and killed hiiuself to escape the guillotine. Claviere accompanied Brissot in his tour in the United States in 1788, and published, in conjunction with him, " De la France et des Etats- Unis"' (Paris, 1787; English translation, London, 1788), and "Nouveau Voyage dans les Etats-Unis de l'Amerique Septentrionale " (Paris, 1791, 3 vols.).

CLAVIJERO, or CLAYIGERO, Francisco Xavier (ciah-vee-hay'-ro), Mexican historian, b. in Vera Cruz, 9 Sept., 1721 ; d. in Bologna, Italy. 2 April, 1787. After studyiiig in the colleges of St. Jerome and St. Ignatius, Puebla, he entered the novitiate of the Jesuits in Tepotzotlan in 1748. He devoted himself at first to the study of natural philosophy, but the great collection of documents and antiquities bearing on the history of the Az- tecs in the library of the College of St. Peter and St. Paul turned his attention to Mexican history. He taught rhetoric in Mexico, and philosophy in Valladolid, in the mean time publishing works and tx'anslations that were the fruit of his special studies. Owing to the dissolution of the Jesuit so- ciety, he was Ijanished from Mexico in 1767, and retired to Ferrara, and then to Bologna, Italy. The fruit of his researches was the " Storia Antica del Messico " (4 vols., 1780-83 ; English translation by C. CuUen, 2 vols., 1787). It was also translated in- to German and Spanish. This work, compiled from the best Spanish histories and from the-^ ancient picture-writings and manuscripts of the Indians, is the soui"ce from which modern writers on Mexico have drawn their materials. Its greatest merit is its impartiality, especially in relating the story of the conquest by Cortes. The principal purpose of Clavijero in writing the book was to refute many absurd assertions made by Parr, the Prussian au- thor, Robertson, and Raynal. It was highly com- mended by historians and critics of that time, and afterward by Preseott. Clavijero also published the "Storia della California" (Venice, 1789).

CLAXTON, Alexander, naval officer, b. in Maryland, about 1790 ; d. in Talcahuana, Chili, 7 March, 1841. He entered the navy as midshipman, 20 June, 1806, served in the sloop-of-war " Wasp " in her action with the " Frolic," 18 Oct., 1812, and became lieutenant, 8 Jan., 1813. He was made commander, 28 March, 1820, and captain, 21 Feb., 1831. At the time of his death he was in com- mand of the Pacific squadron. — His son, Thomas, entered the navy as midshipman, 17 Dec, 1810, was mortally wounded in the battle of Lake Erie, 10 Sept., 1813, and died in October. — Another son, F. S., invented the mitrailleuse that was introduced in the French service.

CLAXTON, Kate, actress, b. in New York city in 1848. She is the granddaughter of Rev. Spencer H. Cone, noticed elsewhere, and her father. Col. Spencer W. Cone, commanded the 61st New York regiment in the civil war. She first appeared with Lotta in Chicago, soon afterward became a mem- ber of Daly's Fifth Avenue company, and then o- the Union Square company, but attracted no atten- tion till the production of " Led Astray " in 1873, in which she won great popularity as Mathilde. Soon afterward she made a reputation in the char- acter of Louise in " The Two Orphans," with which she has become identified. She played it first at the Union Square theatre, and was acting the part at the Brooklyn theatre when that building was destroyed by fire, 5 Dec, 1876. She became widely known by her coolness on that occasion, and by her efforts to calm the audience and prevent the rush for the doors, in which so many were killed. Soon afterward Miss Claxton was in the Southern hotel in St. Louis when it was burned, and again dis- played great coolness and energy, saving her own and her brother's life, and escaping by a Inirning stairway that fell just after her foot had left the last step. After this, many superstitious people, regarding her as specially imlucky, avoided the theatres where she played. She has more recently played in Charles Reade's " Double Marriage " and in the " Sea of Ice." Miss Claxton married Isidor Lyon, a New York merchant, but was subsequently divorced, and in 1876 married Charles Stevenson, a member of her company.

CLAY, Clement Comer, statesman, b. in Hali- fax county, Va., 17 Dec, 1789 ; d. in Huntsville, Ala., 9 Sept., 1806, His father, William Clay, was an officer of the Revolutionary army, who removed to Granger county. Tenn., after the war. Young Clay was graduated at East Tennessee university, Knoxville, admitted to the bar in 1809, and in 1811 removed to Huntsville, Ala. At the beginning of the Creek war, in 1813, he volunteered as a pri- vate in a Madison county battalion, and was after- ward made adjutant. He was elected to the terri- torial council in 1817, and in 1819 was a delegate to the constitutional convention, and chairman of the committee to report a plan of state organiza- tion. He was chosen one of the circuit judges by the first state legislature in 1820, and elected chief justice by his colleagues, holding the office till 1823, when he resigned and resumed his law-prac- tice. He was speaker of the legislature in 1828, and in the same year elected to congress as a democrat, serving from 1829 till 1835. He op- posed the effort to recharter the U. S. bank, and conspicuously advocated the measures of Jackson's administration. He was elected governor in 1835, and in 1837, before the expiration of his term, chosen to the U. S. Senate to fill the vacancy made by the appointment of John McKinley to the su- preme bench. He took his seat at the extra ses- sion called by President Van Buren in September, 1837. and served, supporting the administration, till 1841, when sickness in his family caused him to resign. In 1842 and 1843 he codified the laws of his state, and after that devoted himself to his profession. During the war he remained quietly at home. — His son, Clement Claiborne, b. in Huntsville, Ala., in 1819; d. there, 3 Jan., 1882, was graduated at the University of Alabama in 1835. When the elder Clay was elected governor,