James Brown Clay

James Brown Clay (November 9, 1817 – January 26, 1864) was a Democratic Party member of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky.

Born in Washington, D.C., while his father, Henry Clay, was serving in the United States Congress, James Brown Clay was named for the husband of his maternal aunt, James Brown. His brothers were Henry Clay, Jr. and John Morrison Clay. Clay attended a boys' school associated with Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio (founded by family friend Bishop Philander Chase). Later, Clay attended Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky. He worked at a countinghouse in Boston from 1832 to 1834 before studying law and being admitted to the bar. He practiced law with his father in Lexington, Kentucky. In 1843, Clay married Susan Maria Jacob, the daughter of Louisville's first millionaire and sister of its later mayor, Charles Donald Jacob. The couple eventually had ten children.