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  1848 John Robert Clifford is born in Grant County near what is now, Moorefield, West Virginia to free, black parents, Isaac and Mary Kent Clifford, when most people of African ancestry in Virginia were slaves.  Isaac Clifford was a farmer and laborer.
  1858 At the age of 10, Clifford's parents send him to Chicago for schooling. 
  1863 West Virginia is declared a state within Northern Territory at the height of the Civil War.

Camp Nelson

 1864 Clifford returns home from Chicago at age 15 to enlist as a private in the United States Colored Troops of the Union Army during the Civil War. Clifford served in the 13th  Regiment U.S. Heavy Artillery, Company F, organized on June 23, 1864 at Camp Nelson, Kentucky.  African American War Memorial, Plague B-28 shows Clifford honorably discharged.
  1873 Clifford enters Storer Normal College in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.
Storer College 1874 Clifford graduates from Storer Normal College in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.
  1875 Clifford moves to Martinsburg, West Virginia, where he begins teaching at Sumner School.
  1885 Clifford retires as principal of Sumner School in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

Pioneer Press

 1882 Clifford publishes his first “Pioneer Press.”  The national, weekly newspaper was the longest running weekly publication for African-Americans of the era, spanning over 35 years of news coverage. 
  1882  Clifford attends Knights of the Wise Men Convention in Atlanta, GA.  Gives address.

 

 1887 Clifford becomes the first African-American in West Virginia to pass the bar exam after studying with J. Nelson Wisner.  Practices for 46 years.

Martin Case

 1896 State Supreme Court of Appeals – Martin vs. Board of Education, Morgan County.
  1897 Charter member of the American Negro Academy.

Williams Case

 1898 State Supreme Court of Appeals – Williams vs. Board of Education, Tucker County

 

Niagara

 1906 Clifford works with W.E.B. Dubois to organize the first American meeting of the Niagara Movement at Storer College in Harper's Ferry. This meeting led to the formation of the NAACP. Clifford withdrew participation in the Association, because of his adamant opinion that the National Association should not include "Colored People" in its formal name.
  1911

Clifford is appointed President of the National Independent Political League organized by William Monroe Trotter. Clifford served until 1913.
  1917 Pioneer Press closes.
Obituary 1933 Clifford dies on October 6, 1933 in City Hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia at the age of 85 after falling down a flight of stairs at home. Buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Martinsburg.
  1954 Clifford is reburied at Arlington National Cemetery.