William Jefferson Blythe Jr. William Jefferson Blythe Jr. William Jefferson Blythe Jr. (February 27, 1918 – May 17, 1946) was an Arkansas salesman of heavy equipment and the father of Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States. Blythe died three months before his son was born. William Jefferson Blythe Jr. was born as one of nine children to William Jefferson Blythe Sr. (1884–1935), a farmer in Sherman, Texas, and his wife, the former Lou Birchie Ayers (1893–1946). He was of English and Scots descent, with family lines in North America since the days of the thirteen colonies. Blythe was married four times.
Ernest Blythe was born to a Church of Ireland and unionist family in the townland of Magheraliskmisk, Maghaberry, County Antrim, in 1889, the son of James Blythe, a farmer, and Agnes Thompson. He was educated locally, at Maghaberry Cross Roads primary school. At the age of fifteen he started working as a clerk in the Department of Agriculture in Dublin. Seán O'Casey invited Blythe to join the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which Blythe accepted. He was 18 at the time. He also joined Conradh na Gaeilge, where his first Irish teacher was Sinéad Flanagan, the future wife of Éamon de Valera. He was