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Thirteen-year-old John Vinton Clayton (b. 1890) was
said to be a talented artist. He was also plucky. He
wanted to see Mr.
Bluebeard enough
to have possibly gone alone to the Iroquois Theater the afternoon of
December 30, 1903, leastwise his companions if any were not referenced in newspapers. John's body was later found at Rolston's funeral home, identified by his uncle,
Fred W. Clayton (1859– ? ).
John went by his middle name, Vinton, probably to
distinguish between him and his father, who was also
named John. The Clayton family lived at 535 Morse
Avenue in the Rogers Park area of Chicago.
Vinton had attended the Field elementary school at 7019
North Ashland Blvd, the same school attended by
another Iroquois victim,
Rene Mary Taylor, another Morse Avenue resident. The Field School,
named for Chicago journalist and poet Eugene
Field was built in 1890 to serve students kindergarten
through eighth grade. One of 939 students in 1903,
Vinton was probably in the seventh grade.
Vinton was the only child of John Middleton Clayton
(1863–1939) and Thomassetta (or Thomaszetta)
Virginia "Zetta" Parisoe Clayton (1866–1955 ), who
had married in 1889. The 1900 US Census reported
that John Clayton Sr worked in "Gents Furnishings,"
meaning neckties, hats, etc. He remained in retail
sales throughout his life. As of 1903, he was
successful enough to own his home on Morse Avenue.
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Some newspaper lists published two to three days after the fire included
among the victims a Charles Barlow/Bartow Clayton at 1722
Wabash, and he was buried five days after the fire,
but his name was not included in the coroner's
inquest list. Perhaps he died but was not at the
Iroquois Theater.
When her boy's death was feared, Zetta called her
sister in Urbana, Illinois, Louise Shuck
(1864–1952). Louise boarded a train for Chicago the
next morning. She was married to Vinton W. Shuck,
presumably the John's namesake. Louise had an
eleven-year-old son of her own, also her only child,
so she would have keenly felt Zetta's grief. They
were the Indiana-born daughters of Louis ( ? –1901)
and Laura Price Parisoe ( ? –1938). Louis, a
machinist, was French Canadian, and Laura was from
Ohio. The family resided in the Fort Wayne, Indiana,
area in the 1880s but later moved to Danville,
Illinois.
John M. Clayton Sr was one of six children born to
Gilbert and Catherine Miller Clayton. In choosing a
career in retail sales, John followed in the path of
his father.
John and Zetta moved to Los Angeles in the late
1910s, where John worked as a manager at a furniture
store. By 1930 he was a floor manager in a
department store. Zetta's sister, Louise, moved west
too. Zetta outlived both her husband and sister.
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