CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 601
ELWOOD S. McCLELLAN
For a number of years Elwood S. McClellan has been an honored. resident of Champaign county. He has won an excellent reputation in business circles, and whatever tends to elevate and improve the condition of his fellow men is certain to receive his earnest support and influence_ He was born in Tiffin, Seneca county, Ohio, September 27, 1854. His,. father, Hiram McClellan, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania,. and after his marriage removed to Tiffin, Ohio, removing thence, in 1868, to Cable, Champaign county, where he is now a retired farmer.. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Eliza Swisher, and she,, too, was a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. She now resides with her husband in their pleasant home in Cable. Of their six children three are now living, two sons and one daughter, and two daughters and a son are deceased.
Elwood S. McClellan, the second child and second son in the above family was fourteen years of age when he carne with his parents to Wayne township, Champaign county. Prior to his removal here he attended the schools of Seneca county, later became a student in the Heidelberg College, at Tiffin, and after completing his education he taught for three terms in Wayne and Rush townships, Champaign county. For the following six years he was engaged in farming near Mingo. In 1886 he left his Ohio home for Kansas, and in Gray county, that state, took up government land and followed agricultural pursuits there for two years, during which time he was active in public affairs, having served as county commissioner and being also elected to the legislature from Gray county. He still owns one hundred and sixty acres of land in that state. His homestead in Wayne township, Champaign county, consists of two hundred and ten acres, and he also owns one hundred and eighty-eight acres in Logan county, Ohio. In addition to the raising of the 'cereals he also makes a specialty of the raising of standard bred trotting horses, and in this line of endeavor has met with a high degree of sue- cess. His home place is known as the "Kings Creek Valley Stock Farm," and there he raises annually about thirty head of horses and cattle. He now has "Strong Boy," 2 :11, and "Aletus," 2 :17 1/2. His political support is given to the Republican party, and for a long period he served as chairman of the school board in Wayne township.
In 1877 occurred the marriage of Mr. McClellan and Miss Maria T. Johnson, and they have four children, two sons and two daughters, ---Maud, Hiram, Margaret and Ivan Boggs, all at home. The family are members of the Friends church. Mrs. McClellan was born January 2, 1854, in Wayne township, this county, daughter of Hiram and Margaret Johnson. He was born in Wayne township and lived there for ninety-two years, being a very successful farmer and cattle raiser, who owned nineteen hundred acres of land free of all incumbrance when he died in 1900, in his ninety-second year. His wife was born in Virginia January 14, 1817, daughter of David and Esther Brown. The former was born in Frederick county, Virginia, was a successful farmer and died at the age of eighty-two, while his wife, Esther, after raising eight children, died about middle life. Hiram Johnson had two sons, Nelson and Alfred. Nelson died leaving a large estate, while Alfred is still living.
