Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/296

 CLINTON

CLINTON

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9th and 10th congresses. Mr. Clinton died while in office, at Washington, D.C., April 20. 1812.

CLINTON, George Wiley, A.M.E. Zion bishop, was born at Lancaster, S.C, March 28, 1859. He was educated in the i^ublic schools of South Carolina, spent three years at the University of South Carolina, completed his school training at Brainard institute, Chester, S.C, and studied theology at Livingstone college, Salisbury, N.C. He was licensed to preach in 1879; was pastor in his native state. 1881- 88 ; in Pittsburg. Pa. , 1888-92: and was en- gaged in teacliing in public schools while conducting his pas- toral work in South Carolina. He estab- lished at Pittsburg the A.21.E. Zion Quarterly Brrieic, and edited it for two years, when its publication was assumed by the general conference of his church. He was editor of the Star of Zion. the official organ of his denomination, selected by the general conference of 1892, and during the next four years travelled extensively in its interest and largely increased its circulation. He was chosen a lecturer at the Phelps HaU Bible training school connected with Tuskegee normal and industrial institute; a trustee of Livingstone college, N.C. ; of Green- ville college, Tenn. ; of Atkinson college, Ky. ; and of Clinton institute. Rock Hill, S.C. He was elected in 1896. by the largest vote ever given a candidate in his church, bishop of the 7th Epis- copal district, embracing Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi and California. He received the degree of A.M. from Livingstone college in 1894 and that of D.D. from Wilberforce university in 1895. He was married in 1894 to Annie L. Kim- ball of Mobile, Ala., a graduate of Livingstone college, and thej* made their home in Charlotte, N.C.

CLINTON, George William, jurist, was born at Newtown, N.Y., April 13, 1807; son of DeWitt and Maria (Franklin) Clinton; and grandson of Gen. James and Mary (DeWitt) Clinton. He was graduated at Hamilton college in 1825 and was admitted to the bar, practising his profession in Buffalo, N.Y. He was district attorney for Ontario county, 1885-36; was elected mayor of Buffalo in 1842 ; served as U.S. district attorney, 1847-50 ; as judge of the superior court of Buffalo, 1854-78; and as chief justice of the same, 1873-78. He was a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1867 ; regent of the University of

the state of New York from 1856 until his death, and vice-chancellor 1880-85. Hamilton gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1864. He died in Albany, N.Y., Sept. 7. 1885.

CLINTON, James, soldier, was born in New Britain. N.Y., Aug. 9. 1736: third son of Col. Charles and Elizabeth (Denniston) Clinton; and grandson of James Clinton and of Alexander Denniston, both natives of Ireland. His great- grandfather, "William Clinton, was born in Eng- land and was the grandson of Henry, 2d earl of Lincoln. He received a good education and at an early age was appointed an ensign in the 2d regiment, Ulster county militia, succeeding his father as lieutenant-colonel in 1773. He was a captain at the siege of Fort Frontenac, and captured a French sloop-of-war on Lake Ontario. In June, 1775, he accompanied Montgomery to Quebec as the colonel of the 3d New York regi- ment. In 1776 he was made a brigadier-general, and in the following year held command of Fort Clinton, one of the two forts which had been erected a few miles below West Point to dispute the advance of the British into the Highlands. George Clinton, his brother, afterward governor of the state, commanded Fort Montgomery, where 600 men could do but little in resisting 3000, the flower of the English army. They were soon surrounded and but few of the more daring es- caped. General Clinton received a bayonet wound, fled on horseback to a precipice which he slid down and in the valley captured a stray horse and rode to his home at New Britain. In 1779, at the head of 1600 men, he took part with General Sullivan in the expedition against the Six Nations. Proceeding up the Mohawk to Otsego lake in bateaux, he fought a decisive battle at Newtown, on the present site of Elmira, inflicting upon the Indians terrible loss, destroy- ing their villages and forcing the survivors to take refuge with the British at Fort Niagara. For his service he was made a major-general in the Continental army, and during much of the remainder of the war held chief command of the northern department at Albanj", N.Y. He took part in the siege of Yorktown and witnessed the evacuation of New York by the British. He was subsequently a member of the state legislature, 1788-92; of the convention that ratified the Federal constitution in 1788; and of the New York constitutional convention in 1801. He was twice married: first, in 1764, to Mary, daughter of Egbert De Witt ; and secondly, to Mrs. Mary Gray. He died at his home in Little Britain, N.Y., Dec. 22, 1812.

CLINTON, Joseph Jackson, A. M. E. Ziou bishop, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 3, 1823. He was given a liberal education for one of his race at that time, and in 1839 was an ac-