Henry D. Clayton Jr.

Henry De Lamar Clayton Jr. (1857 to 1929) was a United States representative from Alabama and a federal district judge. Born near Clayton in Barbour County, Alabama, he took a Bachelor of Arts in 1877 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1878 at the University of Alabama and practised law at Clayton and then at Eufaula from 1880 to 1914. He was register in chancery for Barbour County from 1880 to 1884, a member of the Alabama House of Representatives in 1890 and 1891 and United States Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama from 1893 to 1896. Elected to Congress in 1896, he served until 1914 and chaired the House Judiciary Committee in the 62nd and 63rd Congresses; he sponsored the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 and was one of the House managers in the impeachments of Judge Charles Swayne and Judge Robert Archbald. In 1914 President Wilson nominated him to a joint seat on the federal district courts for the Middle and Northern Districts of Alabama, where he served until his death.