History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 170

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162

USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches > Part 170

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cery-store, where he remained until 1876, when he removed to Nantmeal village, where he has since resided, busily en- gaged in the mercantile business. In 1878 he was a can- didate in the Republican county convention for protho- notary, and came within two votes of securing the nomina- tion. In 1876 he was appointed postmaster, and resigned io 1878.

Mr. Loomis was married, Jan. 2, 1873, to Mary L., daugh-

Davis K. Laomid

ter of John and Sarah Latshaw, of East Pikeland township, by whom he has two children, Sarah Rebecca and Ora Kate. He took the symbolical degrees of Masonry in 1870, in Mount Pickering Lodge, No. 446, and is a member of Phoenix Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, No. 198, at Pho- nixville, where he received the capitular degrees in 1871. In East Nantmeal township the first of the Loomis family to buy land was William, who, on April 20, 1797, pur- chased two tracts.

LOWDEN, JOHN, a noted Quaker preacher, came to New Garden in 1711, and it may have been at his sug- gestion that the township was named, as it appears he had been a member of New Garden Meeting, in the county of Carlow, Ireland. During the short time he lived in this country he traveled much in the ministry. He died intes- tate, 1st mo. 19, 1713-4, and the granting of letters of ad- ministration on his estate was the first act of the kind on record in Chester County. Previous to that time letters of administration were granted by the register-general in Phila- delphia for the whole province.

John Lowden had a son William, born in 1704, and per- haps James and Richard. The widow, Margaret Lowden, was married, in 1716, to Joseph Garnett.

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MCADEN, REV. HUGH, was born in Chester Co., Pa .; graduated at Princeton in 1753; studied theology under the direction of John Blair, at Fagg's Manor, and was licensed to preach by New Castle Presbytery in 1755. He became pastor of churches in North Carolina in 1759; and died Jan. 20, 1781, leaving a widow and seven chil- dren. He suffered much from the ravages of the British army during the Revolutionary war. Two days before his death the army passed by, ransacked his house, destroyed his papers and many other valuables, and within two weeks thereafter took up their quarters in one of the churches where he had preached. He faithfully fulfilled his duties, and left behind him an honorable memory.

MoCAUGHEY, ENOCH S .- Nathaniel McCaughey came from Londonderry, Ireland, in 1797, and settled in Sadsbury township, of this county. He married Jeannette Stewart [a granddaughter of Walter Stewart, who emi-

E. S. M. aughey

grated to Chester County about 1720, and married Mar- garet Andrew. Walter Stewart died in April, 1778, and his wife Margaret (Andrew) Sept. 7, 1748, aged thirty- eight years. Both are buried in Upper Octorara grave- yard]. To Nathaniel and Jeannette (Stewart) McCaughey were born four children, of whom the eldest was Enoch S. McCaughey, born in Sadsbury township, April 6, 1810. He spent his boyhood days on the farm, and was engaged in agricultural pursuits until he was twenty-five years of age. He then entered into the mercantile business, which he continued for fifteen years, when he began farming in what is now East Caln township, being thus engaged some eighteen years. For the past twelve years he has been in the mercantile business in Downingtown. He married, March 18, 1839, Eunice M., daughter of Samuel and Sarah Bunn, of Honeybrook township. To them four children have been born,-William Franklin, John Alfred,

Robert, deceased in his fourth year, and Edwin M. His wife is a member of the Presbyterian Church, in which faith he was educated. A Democrat of the Jeffersonian school, his first Presidential vote was cast for Gen. Jackson, in 1832. He was postmaster of Churchtown, Lancaster Co., for two years, and six years at Coatesville, in this county, during the administrations of Presidents Van Buren and Polk. He is now engaged at Downingtown in the gen- eral mercantile business, under the firm-name of E. S. Mc- Caughey & Son. He has been successful in business, and merits the good name his upright conduct and integrity have given him in public estimation.

MACLAY, WILLIAM .- It is not generally known that one of the first senators of the United States from Penn- sylvania was of Chester County birth. These senators were Robert Morris and William Maclay. The father of the latter was Charles Maclay, who was born in county Antrim, Ireland, in 1703, married Eleanor Query, and emi- grated to America in 1734, and settled in Chester Co., Pa., where their son, William Maclay, was born, July 20, 1737. The family, in 1740, removed to Lurgan township, in (now) Franklin County. William Maclay's early education was acquired under Rev. John Blair, at one time pastor of the Fagg's Manor Church, in this county, and an eminent edu- cator. He read law, and was admitted to the York County bar April 28, 1760, but never practiced his profession, en- tering the service of the proprietaries as deputy surveyor of Berks County, then embracing the northwestern part of the State. In 1772, upon the organization of Northum- berland County, he was appointed prothonotary and clerk of the courts. After holding these offices six years he was, in 1781, elected to the Assembly, and from that time for- ward, as member of Assembly and of the Supreme Execu- tive Council, Indian commissioner, etc., he was a control- ling factor in moulding the legislation and settling the land titles of Pennsylvania. He served in the Senate of the United States two years, on the first organization of that body, where he did much to develop those ideas which led to the formation of the Democratic party, and in this he, in fact, preceded Jefferson, although historians give the credit to the latter. He had, however, assumed an inde- pendent position and opposed the tendency of Federal principles and ideas before Jefferson's return from Europe.

In connection with the surveyor-general, Mr. Maclay laid out the town of Sunbury for the Penns in 1772, where he built a stone mansion, still standing. He married Mary Harris, daughter of John Harris, subsequently proprietor of Harrisburg, on Sept. 15, 1774. He afterwards removed to his farm, now within the limits of Harrisburg, where he died, April 16, 1804, in the sixty-seventh year of his age, and being at the time a member of Assembly from Dau- phin County. His descendants have been prominent in so- ciety, business, and the professions, in this and other States.

MCCLELLAN, JOSEPH, one of the earnest men of the Revolutionary epoch, was the eldest of eight children of James and Martha Mcclellan, and was born in the town- ship of Middletown, Chester (now Delaware) Co., April 28, 1747. His father, who was a substantial and industrious farmer, removed, about the year 1770, from Middletown to Sadsbury township, in the county of Chester. In the be-

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

ginning of the year 1776 the Rev. Mr. Foster, a Presby- terian clergyman, preached a sermon to the young men of his congregation and neighborhood at the Octorara church upon the subject of their duty to their country in its then trying situation.

Joseph Mcclellan was present, and the fire of his pa- triotism was enkindled. On mature reflection he resolved to engage in the service of his country, much to the cha- grin of his mother, who refused thereafter, it is said, to recognize the minister who had thus influenced her son. By the intervention of the pastor and some other friends, Mr. McClellan was appointed lieutenant of a company of musketeers, commanded by Abraham Marshall, and July 15, 1776, was appointed a captain in the battalion com- manded by Col. Samuel Atlee. He was then transferred to the 9th Regiment of the Pennsylvania line, to serve during the war, in which situation he continued until March 22, 1781, when, in consequence of the reduction of the Pennsylvania line to six regiments, he was transferred to the 2d Regiment, commanded by Col. Walter Stew- art. From the time of his joining the army until his res- ignation, Capt. McClellan was generally with its main body, and marched with it in its several movements in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. He was in the battles of Long Island, Brandywine, and Mon- mouth. His regiment was not at Trenton, and illness pre- vented his presence at Germantown.

Capt. McClellan was remarkably steady and temperate in his habits, a strict disciplinarian, and always ready and reliable for active duty.

He continued in the service until June 13, 1781, when Gen. Wayne, after repeated solicitations, consented to rec- ommend the acceptance of his resignation to the commander- in-chief. His reason for resigning was a conviction of filial duty ; his parents had become infirm and helpless, and were left alone in their old age. Gen. Wayne, in an indorse- ment upon the back of Capt. McClellan's commission, tes- tifies to his merits : " ... It is a duty which I owe to justice and merit, to declare that the conduct of Capt. McClellan upon every occasion has been that of a brave, active, and vigilant officer, which will ever recommend him to the attention of the country and the esteem of his fellow- citizens."

In 1784, Joseph Mcclellan was elected a commissioner of Chester County. In 1786 he married Keziah, daughter of Joseph Parke, Esq., and soon after settled on a farm on the southern side of West Chester, within the borough limits, where he resided a number of years. In August, 1790, he was elected lieutenant of Chester County, with the rank of colonel. In 1792 he was elected sheriff, and in 1794, upon the outbreak of the Whisky Rebellion in Western Pennsylvania, he promptly raised a volunteer troop of cavalry, composed of the gentlemen and gentlemen's sons of the county, and led them to headquarters ready for action. In 1797, Col. McClellan was elected a member of the State Senate, and in 1811 he was appointed chairman of a com- mission to purchase a suitable lot and erect an academy in the borough of West Chester, which was accordingly done.

In 1814 the Bank of Chester County was established, of which Joseph McClellan was the first president.

Some time afterwards, on retiring from the service of the bank, he purchased and removed to a farm in Brandywine township, in the cultivation and improvement of which he passed the remainder of his days.

Upon the visit of Gen. Lafayette to the United States, in 1824-25, Col. McClellan was appointed chairman of a large committee to invite the " nation's guest" to visit the battle-grounds of the Brandywine, and witness the joyous manifestations of a grateful people. The aged patriot promptly accepted the appointment, mounted the Revolu- tionary cockade on his hat, and was never "among the missing" when anything was to be done. Having served long under Lafayette, the meeting of the colonel with his old commander was a touching scene. This was the last appearance of Col. Mcclellan on a public occasion. He died Oct. 13, 1834, after a short illness, in his eighty- eighth year, and was interred in the grave of his father, at Octorara Meeting-house, where he had first been aroused to that sense of duty to his country to which his heart so promptly and so faithfully responded. Col. McClellan was a true soldier, a good citizen, a professing Christian, and an upright man.

He was the father of four children, and left a widow and two of the children, with a number of descendants, to cherish his memory, to inherit his enviable reputation, and · emulate his noble example.

His daughter Ann, born Aug. 15, 1787, became the wife of William Hemphill.

LIEUT. SAMUEL MCCLELLAN, of Col. Montgomery's regiment of Flying Camp, was captured at Fort Washing- ton Nov. 16, 1776, and confined on Long Island. He was admitted to parole May 20, 1777, but on Sept. 29, 1779, was ordered into the prisons in New York. He received the attention of Mr. Pintard, Mr. Skinner, and Mr. Adams, who furnished him with supplies. He was exchanged Dec. 7, 1780, and returned to his home in Chester Co., Pa ..

DR. ROBERT L. MCCLELLAN .- Robert L. Mcclellan, son of Samuel W. and Fanny B. McClellan (and grandson of Robert and Hannah Whiting Mcclellan, and Edward and Hannah Roberts Pearce), was born in West Brandy- wine township, Chester Co., Pa., Oct. 20, 1822. His scholastic education was obtained in the common schools, and in Joshua Hoopes' academy in West Chester. He commenced teaching at the Union school-house, in his native township, during the winter of 1840-41, and his suc- cess may be inferred from the fact that he taught in that house for six winters and two summers, meanwhile doing something at land-surveying and conveyancing, and assist- ing on his father's farm, until April, 1847, when he com- menced the study of dentistry with Sharpless Clayton. After fifteen months thus spent, he was engaged as an as- sistant, alternately, with William H. Thompson, in Coates- ville, and Robert W. McKissick, in Cochranville, until the death of the latter, in the early part of 1851, when he com- menced for himself the practice of dentistry in the rooms which he had lately occupied.

Although he had enjoyed better opportunities of obtain- ing dental knowledge than are usually possessed by students, yet, after he had practiced his profession for some time, he

BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

641

DR. ROBERT L. MCCLELLAN.

resolved to obtain more knowledge of the adjuncts apper- taining to the dental science. With this in view, in the winter of 1855-56 he matriculated in Philadelphia, and attended lectures in a dental and medical college, and also in the Philadelphia School of Anatomy, presided over by Dr. David Hayes Agnew. Graduating at the Dental Col- lege with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery, he re- turned to Cochranville and resumed the practice of his profession. From that time he has been favored with a large and successful business.

In the fall of 1861 he was elected to the State Legis- lature as a member of the House of Representatives, and re-elected in 1862 and 1863. He was an active member, serving upon the Committee on Education (the third session as its chairman), introduced the first propositions to abolish Saturday sessions in our common schools, and in 1864 introduced and advocated the passage of the first bill for the creation of the Pennsylvania Soldiers' Orphans' Schools .* In the session of 1863 he prepared and introduced a bill providing for the transportation of sick and deceased sol- diers to their homes at the expense of the State, which failed at that session in becoming a law for want of time to consider it. He was elected to the State Senate in the fall of 1874, and served in the sessions of 1875 and 1876. He there introduced a bill, which was enacted into a law, providing for the erection and maintaining on the public roads of public watering-troughs.

He has always taken a lively interest in educational mat-

ters, and has done much to improve the common-school system in this State. The Hon. Thomas H. Burrows, su- perintendent of common schools, accords to Mr. McClellan the honor of suggesting district institutions, provisions for which subsequently became a part of the school law.

In 1852 he married Hannah Matilda Downey, of Lea- cock, Lancaster Co., Pa., who died in 1875, and in 1877 married Martha A. Futhey, sister of Judge Futhey. Mr. McClellan is still (1881) residing in Cochranville, and practicing the dental profession.

MCCLURE, JOHN .- In July, 1730, John McClure and his four brothers came from Ireland and settled in North Carolina. Of these brothers, John, James, and another, whose name is unknown, afterwards migrated to Uwchlan township, in this county. A patent was granted by Thomas and Richard Penn (sons of William), proprietaries of Penn- sylvania, to John and James McClure, dated Oct. 12, 1748, for two contiguous tracts in Uwchlan, containing in the whole 361 acres.

The titles of these lands became subsequently vested in John McClure alone. He died seized of the same, and by his will of Dec. 30, 1775, devised the same to his two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. John married, in 1743, Jane Ahll, and to them were born eight children,-Esther, m. Mr. Williams ; James, Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Rachel, m. John Neal; Jane, m. John Wallace ; and Benjamin.

John McClure, the emigrant, died March 25, 1777, aged seventy-two years, and his wife, Jane, Feb. 15, 1762. Of their children, Joseph, born Oct. 27, 1749, married Martha Thompson, and had eight children,-Jane, Elizabeth, James, Joseph, Martha, John, Rachel, and Mary. Of these, the youngest son, John, was born July 26, 1791. He was married, Feb. 6, 1816, to Elizabeth Mackelduff, by whom he had two sons, Joseph and James. His wife died Aug.

# The skeleton of the bill had been prepared by Prof. Wickersham, of the Millersville Normal School, at the suggestion of Governor Cur- tin. This skeleton bill was put into practical shape by the Governor, Attorney-General Meredith, and himself, as chairman of the Commit- tee on Education, in a conference for that purpose .- (See original bill, in the files of the House of Representatives, session of 1864.)

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

22, 1822, and he was the second time married (Jan. 13, 1824), to Elizabeth Mackelduff, a first cousin of his first wife, by whom he had one daughter and two sons,-Eliza- beth, John, and Samuel. His last wife died Dec. 15, 1867, and he departed this life Feb. 9, 1873. He was emphati- cally a business man, but was successful as a farmer. Many years previous to his death he retired from active life to his quiet home, where he spent the close of an honored life. For about eleven years in the Brandywine Manor Presby- terian Church, where he was ordained, and for thirty-three years in the Fairview Presbyterian Church, he filled the office of ruling elder with entire acceptability.

The McClure residence was built in 1833. The woolen- mill was erected in 1844, on a site which had an old grist- mill, which, with 80 acres, John McClure bought in 1816, and to which he removed. This woolen-mill John carried on until 1865, then his sons Samuel and John operated it. He gave it to John in 1865, who the following year con- veyed it to Joseph McClure, of whose estate it is now a part ; it is operated by Samuel McClure as manager. At its full capacity the mill employs forty-odd hands, and manufactures some fifty-six thousand yards monthly of jeans, for which a market is found in New York and Phila- delphia. Woolens and cottons are also made, but jeans is its principal product.

MCCULLOUGH, JAMES, was born in the south western portion of Chester County, now known as the township of Lower Oxford, in the year 1758. At the age of eighteen years he entered the Revolutionary army as a private sol- dier, and his first march was under Col. Anthony Wayne to the Canadian frontier, early in 1776. In August of that year his name appears in the regimental orders as a ser- geant in the company of Capt. James Taylor, of Wayne's battalion, at Ticonderoga. Soon after this he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, in which capacity he served un- til some short time after the taking of Stony Point. When the day was lost at the battle of Brandywine, he and his comrades were driven in their retreat through a buck wheat- field, and as he arrived at the fence on the farthest side of the field he stopped a moment. Seeing the rails being shat- tered with balls, and being nearly exhausted, he sat down on a large stone, wishing a ball might strike him ; but, be- ing encouraged by a friend, he rallied again, and made good his escape.

At the time of Gen. Grey's exploit of the " Paoli mas- sacre," Lieut. Mccullough was sleeping in his tent when the murderous attack was made, and not taking time to put on his clothes, gathered them up in one hand, and with his sword in the other fought his way through the enemy until he arrived at a baggage-wagon, where he halted to assist the teamster, and together they succeeded in taking the wagon with them.

In the battle of Germantown he had a narrow escape. A cannon-ball passed so near his right side under his arm as to carry away a portion of his clothing, and seriously damaged his ribs on that side. He fell, and was supposed to be killed, but after some time revived, and was taken to his father's residence, where he remained until he was able to resume his place in the army.

At the taking of Stony Point, Lieut. Mccullough was a

participant in that brilliant affair. In arranging the pre- liminaries of the attack, it was ordered that the forlorn hope should be led by a lieutenant, and as a dispute arose among the lieutenants about that honor, Gen. Wayne di- rected the applicants for the command to cast lots, on which Mccullough was unsuccessful. He resolved, however, to have a hand in the matter; he volunteered as a private, carrying a weapon called a spontoon, and was one of the two foremost in that silent attack. Having passed the sen- tinels, they pushed along a narrow passage, and were nearly upon the enemy before being discovered, when a rush for- ward brought Mccullough in contact with a man just about to put a match to a cannon stationed so as to sweep the passage through which the assailants entered. In this en- counter he killed the match-man, and then commenced the deadly struggle. This was the only engagement in which Mccullough knew he had taken life. Soon after the cap- ture of Stony Point, Lieut. Mccullough was promoted to a captaincy, in which capacity he continued until his death, near Charleston, S. C., in 1783, having served as a faithful soldier and patriot throughout the Revolutionary contest.

His nephew, William Mccullough, Esq., now of West Chester, writes of him as follows :

" I heard a member of his command tell my father that in the spring of 1777, at a review of the troops, at which the wives of Gens. Washington and Lee were present, Washington called out two officers, each six feet high, and placed a ramrod on their heads, and called upon my uncle to jump over it, which he did without touching it. This unsle's sword and fixings cost my grandfather forty pounds in gold. I have had that sword in my hands, but other relatives claim it and keep it."

McDOWELL, JAMES, born in 1740, came from the north of Ireland about 1758, being the only one of his family who emigrated to Pennsylvania. He married, at Concord, Elizabeth Loughead, and settled on land partly belonging to her, now composing the farms of Henry D. Hodgson and Franklin Garrett, at Lincoln Station, in Oxford town- ship. The house, now of Henry D. Hodgson, was built in 1775. About 1798 he purchased the Ruston tract of 425 acres on Elk from Dr. Thomas Ruston, and removed thither. He died Sept. 12, 1815, and was buried at New London.

Capt. William McDowell, of Lower Oxford, has in his possession the following commissions to his grandfather from the Supreme Executive Council :

May 1, 1786, to James McDowell, Esquire, as captain of a troop of militia light-horse in the county of Chester. Signed by Cha. Biddle. May 1, 1789, to same for the same office. Signed by Thomas Mifflin.

Capt. McDowell served through the Revolutionary war, but his former commissions have been lost or mislaid.

The children of James and Elizabeth were Mary, m. Rev. Samuel Barr, of New Castle ; Jane, m. John Aitken, of Philadelphia ; John, b. 1768, d. 1837, m. Sarah Gettys, of Philadelphia; Margaret, m. Joseph Beale, of Philadelphia ; Catharine, m. John Whitehill, of Cumberland County ; Elizabeth, m. John Campbell, of Maryland; Ann, m. John McCay, of Maryland ; Martha, d. unmarried.

John McDowell was commissioned, May 1, 1789, ensign of the Fourth Company of foot, in the Fifth Battalion of militia, in the county of Chester.

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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

Another commission (in possession of his son William) is dated Aug. 1, 1814, as ensign of the ninth company of the 91st Regiment of the militia of Pennsylvania, in the Second Brigade of the Third Division, composed of the militia of the counties of Delaware and Chester. This commission was to last for seven years, and was signed by Governor Findlay.

John MeDowell continued to reside on the Ruston tract, which he had farmed before his father purchased it, but the latter sold 100 aeres at the north end before his death.

MCILVAINE, HON. ABRAHAM R .- James Mellvaine emigrated with his wife and five children from the county of Antrim, Ireland, about 1740, and was of the Scotch- Irish Presbyterian and Covenanter's stock. John, the eldest sou of James, was twice married, his second wife being Lydia, daughter of Richard Barnard. James, the father of Abraham R., was the fifth of the issue of his second marriage. He married Mary, daughter of Abraham Rob- inson, of Naaman's Creek, Del., and settled upon a part of his father's estate on Crum Creek, in Chester County. Abraham Robinson was the son of Thomas Robioson, who emigrated from Ireland and married Sarah, daughter of Bartholomew Penrose. Abraham Robinson was the second son of James McIlvaine, and was born Aug. 14, 1804. His education was plain and practical. He married Anna Garrison, daughter of P. Mulvaney, of Belmont Co., Ohio, who emigrated from Ireland about 1796 and married Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel Calvert, a descendant of Daniel Calvert, who came over with William Penn. Abra- ham R. was bred a farmer, and settled on "Springton Farm," which is beautifully situated on the Brandywine. After it came into his possession the appearance and quality of the land was much improved, he being a systematic and thorough farmer.

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History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 170

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts Number of Pages: 1162

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162