Matthew's great great great great great grandfather was a remarkable man. When Matthew brought in this published journal and we began reading some parts of it as a class, we were amazed by his experiences. We felt like our "Oregon Trail" experiences were more real than ever, imagining Matthew's own relative on this journey. Matthew's mom shared some basic background information:
Born in England in 1814, he was educated and grew to manhood with a love for books and nature. An early convert of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, he conducted one of the first companies from England to Nauvoo, Illinois. With the exodus from Nauvoo, to Utah, he was appointed as a clerk and historian of the company. The group traveled along the Platte River into present day Wyoming territory and crossed the continental divide, ultimately reaching the Great Salt Lake Valley in modern Utah. His journal of that expedition is one of the valuable diaries we have of that early period of western history. He kept careful account of the distances traveled each day. Clayton is credited with inventing a version of the modern odometer, during this trip across the plains from Nauvoo, Illinois to Utah, with the help of apostle and mathematician Orson Pratt. He is also well-known for writing a beautiful hymn called "Come, come, ye saints."