Robert Mackclothlan
The following is an excerpt taken from the Claflin Family Genealogy by C. H. Wight, in which gives a description and account of Robert (MacLachlan) Mackclothlan, as it was spelled in those days.
"When and where Robert Mackclothlan landed in this country may never be determined. An exhaustive search of the early records of Essex and Suffolk counties, Mass., reveals no record earlier than Nov. 4, 1661. According to the custom of those days, no person was admitted to citizenship unless he had lived for some time in the community and was acceptable to the townsmen. Thus it follows that Robert must have been in this country prior to 1661. In various branches of the family the tradition is that he was a Scotch soldier. It is quite probable that Robert was one of the Scotch prisoners captured by Cromwell at the Battle of Dunbar, some of whom were sent by him to New England. Upon their arrival their services were sold for a term of years.
A list of names of the Scotch prisoners who came in the Sara and John, November, 1651, has been preserved. (Suffolk Deeds, Vol. I.) These prisoners were probably captured at the Battle of Worcester, Sept. 3, 1651. They should not be confounded with those captured at Dunbar, Sept. 3, 1650, who arrived at an earlier date and are reffered to by Rev. John Cotton, minister at Boston, in his letter of May 26, 1651, to the Lord General Oliver Cromwell.......'
Robert was known to have worked for a time at the Lynn (Saugus) Iron Works, then the most important industrial enterprise in the country. Some, or all, of his time there may have been spent as an indentured prisoner. Wenham, Mass. is a short travel from the Iron Works area. The records indicate that on the same day Robert was admitted a townsman, Edmund Bridges, who was know to be connected with the Iron Works, was granted land at Wenham. 'The soldierly qualities of Robert are evidenced by his services under Sir Edmund Andros against the French and Indians.'
Based upon additional research, Robert's name was
probably MacLachlan."
Lee Claflin 
He established a shoe-factory in Boston, and by his enterprise and industry accumulated a large fortune.
Lee became identified with education in consequence of his munificent gifts to various institutions of learning. Among those endowed by him were Wesleyan university, Wilbraham academy, and Boston theological seminary.
From 1853 till 1871 he was a trustee of Wesleyan university.
A couple of his more significant educational endeavors include assisting in the founding of: Boston University and Claflin College.
Boston University traces its origins to April 1839, when lay and ministerial delegates of the Methodist Episcopal Church, meeting in Boston, decided to found the country's first Methodist seminary. This was established in Newbury, Vermont; transferred to Concord, New Hampshire, in 1847; and transferred again to Boston in 1867, when it was chartered as the Boston Theological Seminary. On May 26, 1869, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts elected the officers of the Theological Seminary; one of the three officers named was Lee Claflin.
Claflin College was founded as the first
All-Black college in the state of South Carolina. Lee Claflin
established the school, which was originally named Claflin University, as a
Methodist Church-related institution.
Claflin College Athletes 
William Claflin 
He opened his own boot and shoe manufacturing firm in St. Louis, returning to Massachusetts five years later to become a partner in his father's business.
He was a founder of the Free Soil Party and served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1849-1853.
William elected to the Massachusetts Senate in 1859 and became Senate President in 1861.
He served as Lieutenant Governor for Alexander Hamilton Bullock.
William was elected Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1869-1872.
William promoted women's suffrage and extending women greater rights under the law. He advocated prison reform and during his administration established Massachusetts' first State Board of Health.
Governor Claflin also chartered Boston University, a Methodist institution, which his father Lee Claflin co-founded.
William and his father donated funds to purchase land for Claflin University, the oldest historically black college or university, a Methodist university in South Carolina.
He successfully ran for Congress, serving from
1877-1881.
Victoria Claflin Woodhull 
Victoria Woodhull along with her sister Tennessee, was the first woman to operate a brokerage firm, Woodhull, Claflin, and Company, on Wall Street. They become the first women stockbrokers in history.
In 1870, Woodhull set herself up as a lobbyist for women's suffrage in Washington, D. C.
Both sisters published "Woodhull and Claflin Weekly," a sensational journal that took stands in favor of woman suffrage, free love, and socialism. In 1872 the paper reported rumors of a love affair between Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and the wife of Theodore Tilton, which provoked a national scandal. Also in 1872, the journal published the first English translation of The Communist Manifesto.
The first woman to run for President in 1872 representing the Equal Rights Party. The platform on which she ran would be radical even today in its call to prohibit government from enacting any law that would interfere with any individual's freedom "to pursue happiness as they may choose".
The first woman to address Congress, in 1871, where she declared that the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution gave women the right to vote.
Victoria radically advocated of free love, workers' rights, and had a talent for attracting scandal.