The Clanton-Sallee connection

While researching the Jesse James-Sallee connection for the March 7, 2016 blog, I found that many of my Sallee relatives migrated to Kentucky and then Missouri and were neighbors of the James family.  As I followed the lives of these distant cousins I came across another familiar name – Clanton.  “Oh, surely not,” I thought. “Not those Clantons! The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, Tombstone Clantons!”  Yes, those Clantons.

When Henry Sallee and his sons moved to Missouri in the late 1820’s they settled in Montgomery County.  Census records show Henry Sallee living next door to Henry Clanton and in 1825 their kids tied the knot when John H. Sallee married Sarah Clanton.

There’s nothing to suggest that these folks were anything but law-abiding citizens. Most of the men would side with the Confederacy and regrettably, some owned slaves, but that didn’t make them stand out in 19th century Missouri.  Sarah’s brother Newman Haynes Clanton would take a different path.

Newman ‘Old Man’ Clanton had five sons and two daughters and for more than twenty years they moved across the west looking for a place to make a living. Newman went to the California Gold Rush, then settled his family in Texas, then the Arizona Territory, back to California and finally in 1873 built a ranch in Cochise County, Arizona.  The ranch was

Newman Haynes Clanton

favorably set near water and near a mine and stamping mill, both booming markets for their beef.  The ranch was also close to the Mexican border, making it easy to steal cattle from across the border. A number of outlaws began to work at the ranch: Johnny Ringo, Curly Bill Brocious, and the McLaurys. The Clanton boys were repeatedly arrested for cattle rustling. Mexican authorities fought back against the constant cattle raids and Old Man Clanton was killed in 1881 by Mexican forces.

The Earp brothers and Doc Holliday had arrived in Tombstone in 1879 and bad blood between them and two of the Clanton boys, Ike and Billy, resulted in what has become known as the Gunfight at the O.K. Corrall. Billy Clanton was killed in the gunfight. Ike Clanton would be shot five years later resisting arrest for cattle rustling.

Connection: My maternal grandmother was a Sallee. John H. Sallee that married Sarah Clanton was a brother to my 4th great grandfather. Old Man Clanton was a brother-in-law to my 5th great-uncle.

Burl Ives – Folksinger

As a boy his grandmother Kate sang him the old folk songs. As a man he shared them with America and became known as one of our greatest folk singers.

Burl Ives was born in Illinois in 1909 but his family had Indiana roots. His father was born in Orange County and his mother in Greene County.  Grandmother Kate was a Flinn and those songs may have come from County Down, Ireland or Virginia and North Carolina, picked up as the family came west in the 1700’s.

His family recognized Burl’s special voice early and as a child he picked up change by singing in churches and community meetings. He attended Eastern Illinois State Teachers College but dropped out after two years. Traveling about as an itinerant singer didn’t pay well in the 1930’s so he returned to school and attended Indiana State Teachers College and Julliard in New York City.

In the 1940s his career began to take off and he recorded the songs that will always be associated with him: Blue-Tail Fly, Lavender Blue and Big Rock Candy Mountain. 

He was also an actor, appearing in numerous movie and TV roles including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, East of Eden and Big Country for which he won an Oscar.

Christmas songs and TV Christmas specials  come to mind when Burl Ives is mentioned – Holly Jolly Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Connection: Burl Ives is the 5th cousin 3x removed of my husband Steve. Burl’s Grandmother Kate was a great granddaughter of Steve’s 7th great grandfather on his mother’s side.  Another interesting connection.  Steve’s 3rd cousin on his father’s side, Starlin Sims, was Burl’s roommate at Indiana State and in New York. Burl was best man at Starlin’s wedding.

Robert Thomas Bryan, Jr. – Chinese prisoner

For sixteen months Robert Thomas Bryan, Jr. was imprisoned by the Communist Chinese as a spy.

Bryan had considered China his home. The son of a Baptist missionary, he had been born and raised in China.  He had attended Chinese schools and as a child spoke better Chinese than English. When he finished college in the U. S., he returned to China and entered private law practice in Shanghai. After a few years he was asked to serve as the public prosecutor for Shanghai’s municipal council. He prosecuted criminal cases including murderers, kidnappers and thieves. His job also included handling extradition cases of communists wanted elsewhere.

China was changing, however, and what was considered legal and just under one government could be condemned under the next. When the Communists came to power in 1949, they came with a grudge against the former prosecutor.

In the early morning of February 12, 1951 Communist police entered the Bryan bedroom screaming that he was a spy and worthy of death. His wife was forced to lead them as they searched the house, and Bryan was handcuffed and led to Shanghai Ward Road prison. Ironically, since he had inspected this prison as prosecutor, he knew that he was placed in the cell for prisoners about to be executed.

But he wasn’t executed. Instead he was tortured, abused and fed on starvation rations. He developed beriberi and lost 47 pounds.

For twelve months as he was questioned he spoke about law and justice and denied he was a spy. He was beaten and tortured. Then “sick, half-starved, now I chose to live, not die and begged for the opportunity to be indoctrinated.”

His ‘brainwashing’ lasted for sixteen weeks.  He obediently answered ‘yes, sir’ and parroted back communist propaganda to his ‘instructors.’

Then suddenly, suprisingly, he was released. The only condition was the promise to tell the West the ‘truth’ about Red China. Bryan fulfilled his promise, but probably not in the way they intended. In 1953 Saturday Evening Post ran a four part story on his imprisonment detailing his beatings and torture. Bryan ended the article describing the Communist China government, “now the insane asylum has broken open and the madmen are in the streets.”

Robert T. Bryan was released in June 1952 after sixteen months in prison.  He returned to practicing law in Arlington, Virginia and died in 1974.

Connection: Bryan was the stepson of my fourth cousin 4x removed. My 7th great grandfather, William Sallee had two sons, Oliver and William. My grandmother Emma Sallee Acton was descended from William, and Mamie Sallee was descended from Oliver. She married Robert Bryan, Sr. and became stepmother to his children including Robert Bryan, Jr.