Based on YDNA, that is passed from father to son, we are part of an ancient Celtic lineage that survived the Romans, flourished in the Scottish Highlands, endured resettlement in Ulster, Northern Ireland and braved the Atlantic to settle the American frontier.

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The story of our Clinton family is a journey defined by resilience and the steady westward push of the American frontier. Our lineage is anchored by the earliest documented ancestor, Captain James Clinton, a dedicated patriot who served with the New Acquisition District Militia in South Carolina during the Revolutionary War. Following the fight for independence, James led his family across the Appalachians to settle in Caldwell County, Kentucky.

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While two generations of Clintons remained rooted in the bluegrass of Kentucky, the spirit of expansion eventually led two of his grandsons, William Barnett and Finis Ewing Clinton, to move north across the Ohio River into Southern Illinois. It was there, on the enduring soil of William Barnett Clinton’s family farm established in 1854 in Spring Garden Township, that my grandpa, Carl Wallace Clinton, was born—carrying forward a legacy that spans centuries and states.