George Thomas Clayton was born February 22, 1850, in Moundsville, West Virginia, and died October 21, 1904, at the age of 54. He married Mary Elizabeth Hanna who was born June 24, 1847, in Clarington, Ohio, and died August 1, 1924, in Anderson, Indiana, at the age of 77. The couple became associated with the Evening Light Reformation movement in its early days. G. T. Clayton wrote the words and air to song #43 in Echoes from Glory, 1893, “Hid Away With Jesus.” The harmony notes for the song were arranged by B. E. Warren. This is such a beautiful song and, as far as I know, the only one ever written by G. T. Clayton. Unfortunately, it was never republished in any later hymnals that I am aware of. It is a song portraying the beauty of a life hid away with Christ in God which puts us at home in the heaven-born church of the living God (Heb. 12:22-24). Verse 2 says,
“A home in sect, no, not for me; My home came down from Heaven;
Jerusalem, so pure and free! To all the door is open.”
G. T. Clayton was instrumental in the relocation of the Gospel Trumpet Publishing work from Grand Junction, Michigan to Moundsville, West Virginia in the summer of 1898, before it was finally moved to Anderson, Indiana, in 1906. The Claytons are buried in Mount Rose Cemetery, Moundsville, West Virginia.