Col. Ephraim Clayton was born on Davidson's River in Transylvania County, NC in 1805, spent much of his life in Asheville, and died 9 Aug 1892 at his home near Emma, NC, west of the French Broad River. 

In early life he was a contractor, specializing in building homes and public buildings (including buildings at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC, and the Buncombe County Courthouse - burned in 1865, the Newton Academy, and the First Episcopal Church in Asheville. 

During the Civil War, he headed a firm which manufactured guns for the Confederacy.  This firm was taken over during the war by the Confederate States. 

He carried out extensive construction work for the Spartanburg and Asheville Railroad Company, and was severely hurt financially when that firm went bankrupt and could not pay their contractors.