 The youngest of four daughters, Laura was raised largely by her mother, due to her father's long absences as he pursued his political career and activities as an abolitionist.At age 15, Laura started to question the inferior status of women in society by confiding in her diary that “I think I have a mind superior to that of many boys my age.” Clay was educated at Sayre School in Lexington, Kentucky, Mrs. Sarah Hoffman's Finishing School in New York City, the University of Michigan, and the University of Kentucky.Clay's parents divorced in 1878, leaving Mary Jane Warfield Clay homeless after she had managed White Hall for 45 years.