Dudley-Clay Family Photographic Collection,

Title

Dudley-Clay Family Photographic Collection,

Date

ca. 1875 (inclusive)

Creator

Unknown

Extent

.25 cu. ft. (1 box): 75 items

Subjects

Clay Family

Clay, Henry, 1779-1863

Clay, Henry, 1798-1890

Clay, Mary C., 1840-1876

Dudley Family

Dudley, Eldred Simpkins, 1811-1891

Dudley, Henrietta Rebecca, 1845-

Dudley, Henry Clay, 1840-

Dudley, James Ambrose, 1847-1920

Dudley, John J., 1817-1878

Dudley, Letitia, 1842-

Dudley, Mary, 1814-1881

Dudley, Maurice Jeptha, 1823-1888

Dudley, Nancy, 1842 -

Dudley, Nancy Ferguson, 1804-1874

Dudley, William Ambrose, 1824-1870

McClellan, George Brinton, 1825-1885

Finding Aid Author

Processed by: Jason Flahardy; machine-readable finding aid created by: Christian Trombetta

Repository

University of Kentucky

Biography / History

Eldred Simpkins Dudley (1811-1881), prominent Reverend and farmer in Bourbon County, Kentucky was the son of General James Dudley (1777-1870) and was born in Fayette County, Kentucky. E. S. Dudley (as he was commonly known) was ordained a minister in the mid-1850s and served as the Reverend of Stony Point Church (Baptist) in Bourbon County, Kentucky.

In 1835, E. S. Dudley married Mary Ann Clay (1816-1839) and they had two children, Thomas Dudley (1836- ) and Mary E. Dudley (1838-). After his wife's death in November of 1839, E. S. Dudley married his wife's older sister, Henrietta Clay (1811?-1860?) in February of 1840. E. S. and Henrietta Dudley had at least five children, including Henry Clay Dudley (1840 - ), Nancy Dudley (1842 - ), Letitia Dudley (1843 - ), Henrietta Rebecca Dudley (1845 - ), and James Ambrose Dudley (1847 - 1920).

Mary Ann and Henrietta Clay were daughters of Henry Clay (1779-1863) and natives of Bourbon County, Kentucky. Henry Clay (1779-1863), commonly known as "Colonel Henry Clay," was the 2nd cousin of U.S. Senator Henry Clay (1777-1852). In 1861, a widower for a second time, E. S. Dudley married Hattie Bassett. The couple had no known children.

Scope and Content

The Dudley-Clay Family Photographic Collection, ca. 1875 consists of seventy-three albumen cartes-de-visite and two tintypes originally presented in a mid-1870s era photographic album. A few of the individual images have information about their subjects written on either the front or back of the image itself, or below the image on the album page. All information of this type has been entered as part of the collection inventory. Based on the identifiable photographs, the album concerns the immediate family of Eldred Simpkins Dudley of Bourbon County, Kentucky and his wives, Mary Ann Clay and her sister, Henrietta Clay (2nd cousins, once removed to U.S. Senator Henry Clay).

The compiler of the album is unknown, but the hand-written image descriptions point to a child of E. S. Dudley. Henry Clay (1779-1863) is referred to as "Grandfather Clay," Mary Ann and Henrietta Clay's brother, Henry Clay (1798-1890) is referred to as "Uncle Henry Clay," and the brothers and sisters E. S. Dudley are all reference as "Aunt" and "Uncle." Nancy Dudley's (1842- ) absence as an identified image suggests that she could be the creator as all other children of E. S. Dudley and Henrietta Clay are present and identified. All other possible or probable identifications were made based on Clay and Dudley genealogies and internal evidence from the images.