John Hannibal McClary (1832 - 1906)

Born 13 Nov 1832 in Piqua, Miami County, Ohio

Ancestors

Husband of Emmaline Catherine (Stinchcomb) McClary — married 12 Mar 1857 in Grandville, Indiana

Descendants

Died 6 Jul 1906 at age 73 in Kirbyville, Taney County, Missouri

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Biography

John McClary is Notable.

Early Life

John Hannibal McClary was born in Piqua, Miami County, Ohio, November 13, 1832. In 1847, John was orphaned when his father died. Uncle Benjamin Knox Brandon, born 1799, County of Shelby, Ohio became the guardian of John.

In 1851, guardians of minor John Hannibal McClary appeared in Miami County Court and requested that he receive bounty land to which he was entitled. John Hannibal McClary was the final remaining minor child of John Hamilton McClary who had served under Captain Buchanan during the War of 1812. According to an 1850 Act of Congress, John Hannibal McClary could claim land based on his father's service.

John was fortunate as an orphan to have a guardian, his Uncle Benjamin K. Brandon, watch out for his interests, and a brother, James McClary, who was willing and able to raise him. Life was not always easy for an orphan.

John's father had died when John Jr. was 14 years old, and his mother Elizabeth (Brandon) McClary had died when he was 4 years old. The Brandon family had come to Ohio via Tennessee about 1808. Grandfather Benjamin Brandon had reportedly helped lay out the town of Piqua, Ohio. He was a Revolutionary War veteran who lived to the age of 80. During the last six years of his life he collected a veteran's pension of $80 a year.^[1]

During the 1850’s, John went to medical school, but decided not to practice medicine because he did not want to live a doctor’s life. He married Emma Catherine Stinchcomb on March 12, 1857, in Grandville, Indiana. Over the 10 years following their marriage, John ran a shoe and harness shop in Chillicothe, Ohio, while also working as a teacher near his home in Indiana.^[2] Like most American men at the time, John also a Civil War veteran.

Civil War Service Record

Info from the National Park Service, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, online (https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/); last accessed 1 Feb 2015

NAME: John H. McCleary

SIDE: Union

REGIMENT STATE/ORIGIN: Ohio

REGIMENT NAME: 193 Ohio Infantry

REGIMENT NAME EXPANDED: 193rd Regiment, Ohio Infantry

COMPANY: A

RANK IN: Private

RANK IN EXPANDED: Private

RANK OUT: Private

RANK OUT EXPANDED: Private

FILM NUMBER: M552 roll 69

Career & Life In Taney County

Story by the White River Valley Historical Quarterly^[3]

In October 1868, John left Ohio with his sights set on the West. Accompanying him were his wife and children, his father-in-law and mother-in-law (Nathaniel and Ann Stinchcomb), and his brother-in-law, Alexander MacFarland (husband of Emma's sister Asenath) and his family. The three families made the trip in three covered wagons.

Like many people who came West, John McClary wanted to homestead. He stopped in Taney County because there was cheap land for him and his sons to develop.

Having the advantage of an eastern education helped make McClary into an Ozarks entrepreneur. He was another Yankee Unionist who came South and was an innovative, progressive on a new frontier.

Upon arrival, John McClary bought a $500 claim that was about three miles west of Kirbyville on the Springfield-Harrison road. He could have bought better farms for less money, but the claim was well situated for trading and a homestead.

The Springfield-Harrison road was one of the upper White River country’s main land routes for freighters between Missouri and Arkansas. John McClary was farsighted enough to realize that the freighters needed a place to stop and rest, eat, and feed their stock on the eight-day round trip from Harrison to Springfield. Like many Ozarkers have done, McClary taught school for a couple of years in order to establish himself in the community. Then about 1870, he built a camphouse and market on the Springfield-Harrison road. He sold camping spots, meat, vegetables, oats, and garden supplies to freighters.

John McClary’s versatility aided his success. He traded well; used his medical knowledge to treat neighbor’s ailments; was a craftsman who made shoes and brooms; and held the trust of his fellow citizens evidenced by his elections during the 1880’s as county surveyor and county judge. The latter accomplishment was even more impressive in Taney County as John McClary, the man, outweighed McClary, the Democrat. Around 1890, he bought land where the Holiday Hills Country Club is today and traded his old homestead for a sawmill in Cricket, Arkansas, and a pair of mules.

He, his wife, and their children, Leora Estella, Clarence Edwin, Ulyssess Grant, Eugene Hannibal, Alonzo Stinchcomb, Dora Frances, Owen Alexander, Emma Ethel, Laura Asenath, John Milton, and Mary Lillian built a home in Taney County. Most of the McClary children continued to participate in the westward migration settling in Oklahoma and Colorado.

Although John McClary did not farm, his sons did and the McClarys lived off the crops and livestock they raised. The field crops they raised were corn, cotton, cane and sorghum (used in making molasses). The garden crops included beans, potatoes, pumpkins, squash, cabbage, and turnips.

The preservation of food was of grave importance to agriculturalists like the McClarys. Since there were no refrigerators or freezers, meat was quickly eaten, smoked or salted. Dairy products were lowered into a spring or a shallow well to keep them cool. Fruit was dried in the sun. Pumpkins and squash were cut into strips and dried by hanging from the ceiling in an attic or shed. Turnips, potatoes, and apples were buried in a hole that was lined with straw and a layer of dirt. Cabbage was made into kraut (fermented cabbage) and stored in barrels. Food was cooked over a fireplace or an open fire.

The McClarys raised sheep for clothing and meat. Sheep were common in the Ozarks, due to their versatile utility. The McClarys also kept a few milk cows, two or three teams of horses or mules, bees, chickens, and hogs. Bees were kept to provide honey, which was used as a sweetener.

The clothing was homemade from wool or cotton. The wool was sheared, washed, and carded. Carding is a process in which the wool is combed and separated into fibers. The fibers were spun on a spinning wheel to make thread, and the threads were woven on a loom to make cloth. The cloth was then dyed by putting it in a kettle of boiling water and adding roots, walnuts, bark, etc. Then the cloth was sewn by hand into clothes. The process for making cloth from cotton was the same except the seeds were picked out by hand before carding.

Hogs provided the majority of meat eaten by most Ozark families. The hogs were earmarked for identification and ran free on "open range." Open range meant that everyone’s stock was allowed to run free and forage for themselves. In the fall there was a hog "round-up." At the "round-up" young hogs were earmarked and some hogs were butchered. John McClary raised some beef cattle, but dairy cattle provided the regular income. His work as a surveyor and duties as Taney County judge (1878-1882) also supported his family.

The McClarys enjoyed visiting their neighbors during leisure time. Travel by horses, wagons, and on foot gave extra time to think and converse. Kirbyville was often a point of destination as were church and church socials.

1880 Taney County, Missouri Census

Census taker made a few mistakes- John Hannibal McClary's mother was born in N.C., not VA. (Additions and corrections made by Jan Fillingim & Jayme McClary.)

• Oliver Twp.
• p.266, 87-89
• John Hannibal McClary 40 Ohio Ky. Va. County Judge.
• Emma (Stinchcomb) McClary 40 Ohio Md. Md.
• Clarence McClary 18 Ind. Ohio Ohio. (Married Dica Pike, d. 1890 - later married Serelda Coggburn).
• Ulysses McClary 16 Ind. Ohio Ohio. (Married Hettie Ann Rose)
• Eugene McClary 14 Ind. Ohio Ohio. (Married Laura Roberts)
• Alonzo McClary 13 Ind. Ohio Ohio. (Never married)
• Dora McClary 11 Mo. Ohio Ohio. (Married James "Lonnie" Haggard)
• Owen McClary 8 Mo. Ohio Ohio. (Married Mary Lawrence)
• Ethel McClary 6 Mo. Ohio Ohio. (Married Richard I. Smith)
• Laura McClary 4 Mo. Ohio Ohio. (Married Andrew Hawkins - later married Richard I. Smith after the death of Andrew as well as the death of Richard's wife and Laura's sister, Ethel)
• John McClary 1 Mo. Ohio Ohio. (Married Rozetta A. Pickett)
• Leora (McClary) Rose 20 Ind. Ohio Ohio. (Married Caleb Rose)
• John Rose (age 10 months) Mo. Iowa Ind. (Child of Leora - later married Flora Widmer).

Later Life

Taney County Courthouse Fire

In 1885, the tension between the infamous Baldknobbers vigilante group and the Anti-Baldknobbers reached new heights. On the 19th of December, the Taney County Courthouse was set on fire and burned to the ground.^[4] Fingers were pointed at both organizations, only serving to increase violence in the county.

Stories in the McClary family have stated that John H. McClary reconstructed many of the courthouse documents lost in (or damaged by) the fire from memory.

Presiding Judge

State of Missouri, 1894

"To All Who Shall See these Presents--Greetings:"

"Know Ye That, Reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity and abilities of John H. McClary. I, William J. Stone, Governor of the State of Missouri, on behalf and in the name thereof, do hereby appoint and commission him Presiding Judge of the county court within and for the county of Taney..."

"In Testimony whereof, I hereunto set my hand and cause to be affixed the Great Seal of the State of Missouri. Done at the City of Jefferson, this 28th, day of June, A.D. Eighteen Hundred and Ninety four."

• .................By the Governor...........W.J. Stone

This is a poster size document 20" by 20". With big picture and seal of Missouri- naming John H. McClary Presiding Judge of Taney County. I have a copy of the original.^[5]

Death

John passed away in July of 1906 at his home near Kirbyville, Missouri, after an illness of several months.

His last few hours on earth is never to be forgotten by those who remained by his side. He called the members of his family who were present around his bedside and bid them all goodbye. He declared that he was prepared and was not afraid to die, which were indeed words of comfort to his grief stricken family.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ White River Valley Historical Quarterly, Volume 8, Number 3 (Spring 1983)
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1860," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M4F6-LH7 : accessed 10 July 2015), J H Mc Clary, Boon Township, Crawford, Indiana, United States; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," database, Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing p. 207, household ID 1498, NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 803,250.
3. ↑ White River Valley Historical Quarterly, Volume 8, Number 2 (Winter 1983)
4. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taney_County,_Missouri#History
5. ↑ Entered by Jan Fillingim
6. ↑ John's obituary can be viewed in the images section of this profile.

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6084978/john-hannibal-mcclary: accessed 31 July 2023), memorial page for John Hannibal McClary (13 Nov 1832–6 Jul 1906), Find a Grave Memorial ID 6084978, citing Vanzandt Cemetery, Kirbyville, Taney County, Missouri, USA; Maintained by Marilyn France (contributor 46517813).

See also:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_Knobbers#The_Taney_County_chapter
• http://www.legendsofamerica.com/mo-baldknobber.html

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile McCLARY-17 created through the import of John the Elderged.ged on Sep 1, 2011 by Joe Bissett. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Joe, Jan Fillingim (profile manager), and others.

• Special thanks to Marie Hassell and Marilyn France of the White River Valley Historical Society. Had it not been for their hard work and dedication to preserving this family's history, we wouldn't know half of what we do today.