Claymorgan was born around 1730 in the
West Indies. By 1780, he was a known associate of Thompson and Company of Kingston, Jamaica, possibly working in the
Caribbean slave trade, and Marmillion and Company of New Orleans. In 1781, Clamorgan arrived in
St. Louis, then under
Spanish regime, and laid claim to more than 1 million acres of
Upper Louisiana land, granted by the Spanish authorities. Following the
Louisiana Purchase, the US offered $8 million in response to Clamorgan's Spanish titles of property, however Clamorgan refused to accept the money. Due to Clamorgan's power in the region he was given a seat in the
Court of Quarter Sessions, a governmental body that existed for St. Louis composed of Judicial, Executive and Legislative powers. Clamorgan was not married, but known to live with enslaved women of color, fathering four
mixed children by three women. He established freedom for his children before his death. In a tax-evasion effort, Clamorgan set Ester, his enslaved concubine, free in order to give her some of his land holdings. Ester then sued Clamorgan for rightful ownership of this land, and won through a series of lawsuits. She became one of the richest African-American people in St. Louis. ==Death==