Benjamin  Martin Clopton
Oct 23, 1854 - April 12, 1926

BIOGRAPHY

B. M. CLOPTON, owner of the Clopton Planing Mills, 213 East Fourth Avenue, in establishing the Clopton Mills thirty years ago erected one of the commercial strongholds that has helped to increase the wealth and population of Navarro County.

This concern was organized in 1892 under the joint ownership of Clopton and Bragg, but was later bought out by Mr. Clopton who owned the business alone until some years later when Mr. Charles Hagins purchased a partnership. The mill turns out every kind of novelty mill work including sash, doors, windows, built-in cabinets, and various other built-in features. All ornamental work and inside fixtures of the Palace and Grand Theaters were done by this concern.

A native of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and the son of J. A. and Lucy Wade Clopton, Mr. Clopton came to Texas with his parents February 19, 1874, when he was nineteen years of age. The family settled in Navarro County where a farm was purchased, and Mr. Clopton spent the first year of his life in Texas plowing his father's land with a team of oxen. By the end of that year, however, he determined to follow his own trade as contractor and came to Corsicana to establish himself in business. He continued in the contracting business until 1892 when he opened the Clopton Planing Mills.

In 1884 he erected a home for himself and family at 521 North Beaton Street and he is still living there. He has a son, Sam H. Clopton of Beaumont, and one daughter, Mrs. A. P. Simpson of Corsicana, whose son Donald Simpson is Mr. Clopton's only grandchild.

Mr. Clopton was for six years a Councilman in the Third ward. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, the Waterworks Club, and attends the First Christian Church.

[The above biography was published in The Encyclopedia of Texas, compiled and edited by Ellis A. Davis and Edwin H. Grobe (Dallas, ca. 1922), p.267.]

[Note: Benjamin Martin Clopton was born 23 October 1854 and died 12 April 1926. He married Lizzie Viola Haynie (1862-1897) in Rice on 18 May 1882. Both are buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Corsicana.]

Donated by Roger Bartlett

OBITUARY

FUNERAL SERVICES MONDAY AFTERNOON FOR B. M. CLOPTON

PIONEER BUSINESS MAN OF CORSICANA PASSED AWAY SUNDAY

Funeral services for B. M. Clopton, aged 71 years, who died here Sunday morning at 10:30 o’clock were held Monday afternoon at 3 o’clock at the First Christian church. The funeral services at the church were conducted by Rev. Paul J. Merrill, pastor, and the services at the grave were in charge of the Corsicana Lodge No. 63, I. O. O. F. Interment was in Oakwood cemetery. The deceased had been a resident of Corsicana and Navarro county for many years.

Surviving are two children, Mrs. A. P. Simpson, Corsicana; Sam Clopton, High Island; one brother, Tom S. Clopton, Amarillo; two sisters, Mrs. A. J. McKnight, Hillsboro; Mrs. B. Michael, Fort Worth.

The following step-children also survive: Clarence Collier of California; Mrs. Anna Quaite, Waxahachie, and Mrs. W. C. Wooldredge of San Antonio.

The pallbearers were, J. H. Wooley, (the rest of the paper is torn off)

Notes:

• The Corsicana Daily Sun - Monday, April 12, 1926
• Submitted by Diane Richards