Timothy Clear was a resident of New Bern in Craven County, North Carolina. Clear was a merchant, and in 1769 he purchased Antonio Muray from a jail in Jamaica and enslaved him. Clear brought Muray back to North Carolina, promising that Muray's servitude was an indenture, and that he'd free Muray once Muray had paid back the jail fees. However, as Muray later claimed, Clear kept Muray in slavery for six years before selling Muray's labor to Thomas Parsons. Clear was also a member of the local freeholders court, which heard cases involving enslaved people. Clear died in Craven in about September 1775.