Person:William McClelland (13)

Information on William McClelland

From "History of Greene County, Ohio", by

WILLIAM McClelland.

The late William McClelland, a soldier of the Civil War, former land appraiser, for years an elder in the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia and for years a member of the board of directors of the Greene County Agricultural Association, was a native of Greene county and all his life was spent here. He was born on a pioneer farm in Sugarcreek township, January 3, 1825, a son of Capt. Robert and Martha (McConnell) McClelland, pioneers of the Sugar Creek neighborhood, about four miles wesr of Xenia.

Reared on the farm on which he was born, William McClelland grew up a farmer. He was but twenty-two years of age when his father died and thereafter the responsibility of management of the farm was assumed by him. During the Civil War he became a member of the organization known as the "Squirrel Hunters" and later enlisted for service as a member of Company F, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with the same until his honorable discharge. Upon the formation of the Republican party he became affiliated with the same and in 1890 was appointed land appraiser of his home township, which he also had served in the capacity of supervisor, and he also served for some time as director of schools in his local district. Mr. McClelland was for eight years a member of the board of directors of the Greene County Agricultural Association, but when the race-track privileges began to include concessions to the gambling element he withdrew from the association, declining to sanction by his presence on the board any such method of stimulating the "sport of kings," although himself a great lover of good horses and an admirer of an honest contest in the speed ring. He was for thirty years a member of the session of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia, for years superintendent of the Sabbath school of the same and also for years conducted a class in the Sabbath school. He died on March 10, 1910, then being in the seventy-seventh year of his age.

The late William McClelland was twice married. In 1846, at the age of twenty-one years, he was united in marriage to Jane \\'att, of Beavercreek township, this county, a member of one of the pioneer families of that neighborhood, and who died on March 30, 1883, without issue. On July 3, 1883, Mr. McClelland married Hannah M. Naughton, of Xenia, who survives him and who is making her home at Xenia. Mrs. McClelland also is a native of Ohio, born in Hamilton county, daughter of James and Mary (Welch) Naughton, both of whom were born in Ireland. Bereaved of her mother when but a child, Mrs. McClelland was reared in the household of David Brown, one of the early settlers of the Jamestown neighborhood in this count)' and her schooling was received here. Mrs. McClelland is a member of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia and is an active member of Woman's Relief Corps No. 29, of Xenia, her late husband having also been an active member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic.