Person:Edward McLain (1)

My father bought a horse and closed buggy and went into business selling school supplies and various small items to farmers in Northern Indiana. This was a common way for young men to get started in those days. In 1899 he and Tom and Frank had saved enough money to go to Cassopolis, Michigan, and open a small general store. It was a good little store but it could not produce enough profit to support three families. In 1902 Tom bought a small store at Jones, Michigan, ten miles east and moved there. This comes from Shawn Gail McLain.

In an 1899 Cassopolis, Michigan directory, Edward is listed as having a bazaar on Broadway street. Thomas is listed as a clerk.

1910 Census of district 106, LaGrange, Cass County, Michigan, p. 107B McLain, Edward W. head 42 md 1 13 yrs IN IN OH Mail carrier & Express

    Emma    wife   39  md 1 13 yrs 6 - 6   IN  OH  NY    None
    Leonard M.  son      9            MI   IN   IN     None
           Edward Guy       son    7            MI   IN   IN     None     
    H. John       son    6            MI   IN   IN     None
    Helen H.      dau    4            MI   IN   IN     None
         L. Raymond         son    2/12              MI   IN   IN     None

In 1912 he was still living in Cassopolis, Michigan.

Middle name from Larry McLain

This from Inez McLain who was Ed's daughter-in-law: Ed was my husband's father. You might be interested to know that Ed carried mail fom the railroad station to the post office, too, and was a patent medicine salesman at one time. I think that was when they lived in northern Indiana where they both taught school in the area of Goshen.

1930 census of district 23, Northway, Prowers County, Colorado, p. 1B

        name                   age     married     read-write      born  FB  MB    Occupation

McLain, Edward head 62 at 29 Y IN IN OH Farms own farm

          Emma L.   wife     59     at 27                Y               IN    OH  NY     
         Lenard M.  son      29       S                   Y               MI    IN   IN       farm labor
           Guy          son      27       S                   Y               MI   IN    IN      farm labor
          H. John     son      26       S                   Y               MI   IN    IN        farm labor
          Raymon    son      20       S                   Y               MI   IN     IN        farm labor

McLain Final Rites Set For Friday 2 p.m.

    Funeral services for Edward McClain, 85 years old, a resident of the area south of Lamar since 1916, who died Tuesday at 1:20 p.m. will be held Friday from the Kirkpatrick-Duggan chapel.
    Rev. G.W. Swiney will officiate and burial will follow in Fairmount cemetery.  The final rites will be at 2 p.m.
    Mr. McClain, ill for an extended period of time, was a retired farmer.  He was born in La Grange, Ind.  Survivors include six children:  S.G. McClain of Denver, Guy McClian of Draper, N.C., Leonard McClain of Auburn, Calif., John McClain of Lamar, Helen McClain Swink of Lincoln, Neb., and Ramo McClain of Long Beach, Calif.
   Three brothers, T.P. McCalin of Perryton, Tex.; G.F. McLin of Bremertin, Wash., and C.A. McClain of (M)uskegon, Mich., also survive.
   The Kirkpatrick-Duggan mortuary is in charge of all arrangements.

Final Rites For E.W. McLain

   Final rites for Edward W. McLain were conducted at 2 p.m. Friday at the Kirkpatrick-Duggan chapel by the Rev. George Swiney.
   "Beautiful Isle" and "Abide With Me" were sung by Lee Flora, accompanied by Mrs. Glen E. Kirkpatrick.
   Andrew Osborn, George Gentzler, Claude Porter, Clark Fowler, Robert Snyder, and Morris Rife were pallbearers.
   The interment was in Fairmount cemetery.

Taken from p. 347 of History of Prowers County:

    In 1916 Ernest and Elizabeth Merriman and their daughter, Thelma, moved from Michigan to Prowers County into a one-room, 10 by 12 foot dugout 27 miles south of Lamar on the west side of highway 287.  They came with the Edward McLain family who homesteaded close by on the east side of the highway.  Emma McLain and Ernest Merriman were brother and sister.
    Homesteading was much different from the life the Merrimans had in Michigan.  Back east Ernest had worked in a factory and had a regular salary.  Now the family had to trust to their hard work and vagarities of the weather -- and even then there was no guarantee of a cash crop.  Even the landscape was different.  Used to the trees and vegetation of Michigan, at first the family members had trouble finding their way around on the treeless and fenceless prarie -- frequently gettin lost.  Among other hardships, they hauled water for the next 15 years to their property and their transportation was foot, horse, or wagon.

1. ↑ Notes from David Leonard Family Bible in my possession.
2. ↑ Notes from David Leonard Family Bible in my possession.
3. ↑ Card from Edward W. McLain's funeral.
4. ↑ Family Record sheet kept by Shawn Gail McLain.
5. ↑ Shawn Gail McLain.
6. ↑ Shawn Gail McLain.