C.A.D. Clamp Historical Marker, Georgetown, Texas

In every community that has survived long enough to be considered "historic", there has been a core group of individuals who were most instrumental in its early growth and development. Without consideration for their roles as pioneers or founders, they worked collectively to assure security, economic stability, and an enhanced quality of life. Their leadership was vital to progress and sustained the town through those pivotal phases of development experienced by all communities. In Georgetown, the key community leaders included such individuals as Moses Steele, Jesse Daniel Ames, George Glasscock, Capt. J. C. S. Morrow, the Snyder brothers, and C. A. D. Clamp.

Christian Augustus Daniel Clamp (1827-1915) was born in Thorn, Prussia. An important city in 15th-century Europe (First Peace of Thorn, 1411; Second Peace of Thorn, 1466), Thorn is now known as Torun, Poland.

Clamp, whose family name in Prussia was von Klemp (also shown as von Klamp), spent many of his early years hunting wolves for bounty. He also, evidently, apprenticed as a cabinet maker, a trade that would become his livelihood upon reaching the United States of America. [1]

C. A. D. Clamp came to America in 1846, entering Texas at the port of Galveston aboard the ship "Emily."

For a short time after his emigration, he worked in the vicinity of Houston, building furniture and houses. In nearby Austin County, he met and married Asenath Christina Davis (1831-1917), a native of Georgia and the daughter of a Baptist minister. Shortly after their wedding in 1850, the couple moved to the new community of Georgetown, arriving in 1851. [2] Platted only three years before, Georgetown was still a struggling frontier settlement.

An 1893 biographical history of the area noted:

Where Georgetown now stands was almost a wilderness, and many times Mr. Clamp stood in his house door and heard wild turkeys fly up to roost, and before breakfast next morning would have enough turkey to supply the town for the day. Deer, bear, and panther were easily found and the whoop of the Indian was heard in the cedar brake above the town. . .[3]

Clamp established a carpentry business in the new settlement.

At the time, his actions must have seemed overly-ambitious--there were only a dozen houses and a few stores in Georgetown. But, as the community grew, Clamp became a leading builder and craftsman. Building projects with which he was associated included the 1854 Williamson County Courthouse (since razed), the 1870s First Presbyterian Church, the McMurray House (611 Church St.), and several commercial structures on the courthouse square. Clamp built the original two-room stone portion of the McMurray House in 1868 for his son-in-law, the Rev. John McMurray. The home was unusual for Georgetown in that it included a double fireplace and a full-size cellar. The Rev. McMurray was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, for which Clamp built a limestone sanctuary in the modified Gothic design a few years later. Located on adjacent corners of an intersection in the central, historic, section of the city, the two structures still stand as reminders of Clamp's contributions as a builder. [4]

Clamp also speculated in real estate, establishing one of the city's early residential subdivisions.

The Clamp Addition, platted first in the 1870s, is located in the northeast part of the city near Southwestern University. Institutions, as well as residents, also benefitted from his landholdings. He deeded property (16 lots) to Texas University, the precursor of Southwestern University, and to Presbyterian congregations in Georgetown and Round Rock (The Georgetown church was organized in Round Rock, but moved several years later). [5]

In addition to his success as a builder and developer, Clamp operated several retail establishments.

In 1863 he became a partner in a mercantile operation known as Anderson, Clamp, and Co. Two years later, he opened his own store. Because of his skills as a craftsman, he began adding furniture to his inventory and, by 1879, was concentrating primarily on the construction of such pieces like doors, spinning wheels, caskets, looms, blinds, and household furniture. Clamp's descendants still have pieces attributed to him. [6]

C. A. D. Clamp was an active civic leader and his many contributions added greatly to the early development of the community.

His devotion to Georgetown was an important part of his life. Although a staunch Republican and, prior to the Civil War, a Union loyalist, he vowed to follow the majority will of the Texas people on the issue of secession. Accepting the eventual outcome, he participated in the Confederate home guard for the Williamson County area. After the war and the resulting Reconstruction, he served as mayor of Georgetown (1,878-80) at a time when the city needed a new direction to realize its economic potential. As noted earlier, Clamp also conveyed land for the development of local institutions. [7]