IowaJones/Biographies/C. B. McKean

C. B. McKean–Mrs. McKelvey

Charles B. McKean
Born 1845

CHARLES B. McKEAN, farmer, Scotch Grove Twp., Sec. 19; P.O. Scotch Grove; born in Carroll Co., Ohio, in 1845; came to Jones Co. with his parents in 1855. He enlisted in Co. C, 44th I.V.I; enlisted for 100 days; served about four months; was discharged in November, 1864. He married Henrietta B. Clark, born in Pennsylvania; her parents came to Jones Go. in 1854; they have three children—Marguerette A., Frank and Alexander. Mr. McKean has 125 acres of land. He and wife are members of thc Presbyterian Church.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, 1879, page 657, and submitted by Lori J. Mentzel

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Rev. James McKean
Born September 24, 1795

REV. JAMES McKEAN, deceased, Anamosa. James McKean was born near Pease's Mill on Ten-Mile Creek, Washington Co., Penn., on the 24th of September, 1795; his father's name was Hugh McKean, who was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in 1753; the father of Hugh McKean died in 1763, at an advanced age. The family came originally from Scotland, and were what is known as the Scotch-Irish, settling in Ireland about the close of the sixteenth century, and were originally Scotch Covenanters. James' youth was spent on a farm west of New Wilmington on the Pulaski road, one mile from the Chenango Creek. He joined the army at the age of 19 years, in the war against Great Britain, at Erie, Penn., and was a member of Capt. Rea's company, Col. Christy, Pennsylvania Militia; on his discharge, he marched home, ninety miles; the weather was cold and the snow was deep, and in after life he was afflicted with bronchitis and weakness of the chest arising from disease contracted in his army career. The schools at that early day were few, and classical education was difficult to obtain; he worked by the job or by the month, and in any way that was remunerative and honorable, to obtain funds; he was one of the men who, in the year 1818, helped to clear the ground where Wooster, Ohio, now stands, receiving $15 per month for his services; for several years, he attended the academy at Mercer, Penn., under the care of a teacher named Anderson, and went over the whole college curriculum, but, owing to failure of health, was not able to finish the course at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, where several of his classmates graduated. He was married to Nancy Smith, of Mercer Co., Penn., in May, 1822. His health failing from over-study while at school, he was not expected to live and retired to his farm in Neshannock Township, Lawrence Co., Penn , where his health was comparatively restored, and, after about nine years, having studied theology under the charge of Rev. William Wood, Pastor of Neshannock Church, and for two years under the care of Beaver Presbytery, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Beaver, and, about the year 1834, was sent as a missionary to Ohio, where he settled as Pastor of Waynesburg, Still Fork and Bethlehem Churches, at a salary of $400 per year, which, at that early day, was all that they could pay; as the churches grew stronger and his labors increased, he gave up Bethlehem and Still Pork by consent of the Presbytery, at about the year 1845, and retained Waynesbnrg alone of the three original churches, and, for nine years, preached at Waynesburg and New Harrisburg, until the year 1856, when he removed to Scotch Grove, Jones Co., Iowa. At the time he reached in Ohio, there was an organization of infidels, under the lead of one Permarr and Zach Wathy, who were followers of Hume, Bolinghroke and Thomas Paine; this leader gave him an opportunity for a public discussion, and the question was as to the credibil~ty cf the religion of Christ; he completely and forever demolished the society, which never met after for discussion. Hc lectured on temperance and slavery, and persistently fought every foe of man and of the country. For years, during the winter months, he preached in schoolhouses and private dwellings all over his county and beyond; nearly every church from the Ohio River west, in the Steubenville Presbytery, was privileged to hear his faithful exhortations and pungent logic; the disease of his throat so increased upon him that, at the age of 60 years, he was compelled to give up the pastorate in Ohio and remove to Iowa; here, for several years, he preached one-half of his time to the church of Wayne. He died on the 1st of September, 1876, at Scotch Grove, Iowa, and was buried in the cemetery of the Presbyterian Church. He had eight children, as follows; Jane McKean, who died and was buried at Bethlehem, Ohio; Rev. James W. McKean, President of Lenox Collegiate Institute, and Captain of Co. C, 44th I.V.I., who died at Memphis, Tenn., in the officers' hospital, on the 9th of July, 1864; Dr. Hugh C. McKean, the beloved physician of Scotch Grove, where his name and memory are still held sacred in the minds of many, to whose health he had contributed; he died in November, 1865; P. S. McKean, attorney at law, Anamosa, Iowa, for many years Auditor of Carroll Co., Ohio, and County Treasurer of Jones Co., Iowa, who died on the 25th of December, 1867; Francis C. McKean, Captain of Co. D, of the 9th I. Veteran V. I., and attorney and counselor at law, who died at Evans, Colo., on the 5th of May, 1874; Dr. Alexander McKean, of Scotch Grove; C. B. McKean, of Scotch Grove, and John McKean, of Anamosa, Judge of the Circuit Court, Eighth Judicial Circuit.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 564.

John McKean
Born 19 July 1835

HON. JOHN McKEAN, Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, Anamosa; is a native of Lawrence Co., Penn., and was born on the 19th of July, 1835, his parents being James and Nancy (Smith) McKean. Hugh McKean, the pioneer, and grandfather of the subject of this sketch, came over at the close of the American Revolution. James McKean was a soldier in the second war with England, and was stationed for some time at Erie. Penn.; he studied at the Mercer Academy, became a Presbyterian minister and preached for nearly forty years, dying in Scotch Grove, Jones Co., Iowa, in September, 1876. The wife of James McKean was also of Irish descent; she was a native of Westmoreland Co., Penn., and a very pious and worthy woman. the mother of eight children, of whom John was the fifth child. James McKean moved with his family to Carroll Co., Ohio, when John was an infant, and the father having a farm, the son, when arrived at suitable age, spent his summers in agricultural and his winters in intellectual pursuits, attending a common school until 16, and then spending one year at the new Hagerstown Academy, a little later; he studied at New Richmond College, Jefferson Co., for eight months. In October, 1854, John and an elder brother, James W. McKean, came to Jones Co., Iowa, with a two-horse wagon, pitched their tent in Scotch Grove Township; camped in the woods on Sec. 3 in the winter and spring, and during that period fenced forty acres of prairie land and built a small frame house, nearly all of it with material of their own getting-out; the remainder of the family reached Scotch Grove the ensuing June; the next winter, John taught a select school, he having been similarly engaged two seasons before leaving Ohio; in May 1856, James and John returned to the East, entered Jefferson College, Unionsburg, Penn., and graduated in August, 1859; in March of that year, John McLean was a Franklin debater, and received the award of honor in a logical contest held that month, five learned men acting as judges. On leaving college, Mr. McKean returned to Jones Co., Iowa, located at Anamosa, the county seat, where he read law with S. T. Pierce, and was admitted to practice in 1861, and has ever since been a member of the Jones Co. bar. During the last ten or twelve years, he has spent no inconsiderable part of his time in the service of the State; he was a member of the Lower House of the General Assembly in 1866 and 1868, and was in the Senate in the regular sessions of 1870 and 1872; being nominated for Circuit Judge in the summer of 1872, he resigned his seat in the Senate and did not attend the adjourned session. While in the Lower House, he was Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments, a very important committee in that juncture of our national history, and, in the Senate, was always on the Committee of Ways and Means and the Judiciary. While in the House, he introduced the bill, which became a law, allowing townships, towns and cities to levy a 5-per-cent tax to aid in constructing railroads. As a legislator, he showed himself an ardent friend to the State University and the Agricultural College, and of educational matters generally. He served for six years as Regent of the State University. and while in the Senate, he originated the measure and secured the passage of a bill for a second Penitentiary, located at Anamosa, Jones Co. Judge McKean took his seat on the bench in January, 1873; was re-elected at the end of four years, and his present term will expire in January, 1881. He is one of the best equity lawyers in the State; is noted for his honesty, and carries all the best traits of his character to the bench, being above bribery and corruption. He was a Democrat till the civil war burst upon the land, and shortly afterward, from a War Democrat, became an out-and-out Republican, to which party he owes his repeated political honors. The Judge is a Freemason, a member of the Commandery and an Odd Fellow. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, an Elder in the same and a man of the purest Christian character. He was for some time a Trustee of the Lenox Collegiate Institute, a Presbyterian school, located at Hopkinton, Delaware Co., Iowa. The wife of Judge McKean was Mrs. Nancy A. Carr, of Jones Co.; they were married on the 16th of November, 1865, and have six children.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 566.

JOHN MCKEAN is a native of the State of Pennsylvania, born in Lawrence County on the 19th of July, 1835. He was an infant when his father removed to Ohio and located on a farm where the boy received his early education. Later he attended New Richmond College. In 1854 John and a brother came to Iowa in an emigrant wagon, taking a claim at Scotch Grove in Jones County, where they opened a farm. He read law at Anamosa in Jones County, was admitted to the bar and there began to practice. In 1865 he was elected to the house of the Eleventh General Assembly serving two terms, after which he was promoted to the Senate where he served in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth General Assemblies. Mr. McKean was an able and influential legislator and did good service for the Agricultural College and the State University; for six years he was a regent of the latter. He secured the establishment of an additional penitentiary at Anamosa. In 1872 he was elected judge of the Circuit Court, where he remained for many years.

From History of Iowa Vol. IV, Benjamin F. Gue, New York City, 1903

Mrs. Adell I. McKelvey
Born 1856

Mrs. Adell I. McKelvey, well known in Jones county, where she has many warm friends, is a native of Iowa, her birth having occurred in Jackson county in 1856. She was one of a family of four children born unto Dr. Z. G. and Irene S. (McDowell) Isbell, two of whom still survive. The parents were natives of New York and came to Iowa at an early date, both passing away in Jones county, the father in 1897 and the mother in 1900. Dr. Isbell arrived in Center Junction in 1870 when it was little more than a corn field, and here opened a drug store which he conducted in connection with his practice, though he had retired from his profession to some extent. He filled the office of county coroner and also served as postmaster of Center junction for eighteen years. He was a thirty-second degree Mason, of which rank he was very proud, and was minister of the Methodist Episcopal church.

In 1877 Miss Adell Isbell gave her hand in marriage to Thomas McKelvey, who was born in Marion county, Pennsylvania, on the 20th of November, 1844, a son of James and Eliza McKelvey, who were also natives of that state where they continued to make their home throughout life, passing away when their son was only ten years of age. He received a good common-school education in his native county and in Illinois, where he made his home for a time. He was only seventeen years of age when, actuated by a spirit of patriotism, he entered the Union army during the Civil war, becoming a member of Company B, Eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He enlisted for three years and during half of that time was in the infantry and was in the signal corps for a year and a half. Owing to illness he was later in the hospital as a patient. After the close of hostilities he went to Illinois, where he was engaged in teaching school for some time, and later he pursued a course of study in telegraphy. He then came to Center Junction and for ten years was employed as a telegrapher, at the expiration of which time he became identified with mercantile interests in the same place and was thus connected until the time of his death, which occurred on the 13th of January, 1886. Fraternally he was a Master Mason and was also a member of the United Workmen.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. McKelvey were born two children: George A., now residing in Texas; and Helena A., the wife of G. W. Dunham, of Iowa. Prior to her marriage Mrs. McKelvey had been a school and music teacher, accepting her first position as a school teacher when seventeen years of age, while at the age of sixteen years she became a teacher of music. After her husband's death she again took up her music and has been a teacher of that art ever since. She is a prominent and active member of the Methodist Episcopal church and has just returned home from Florida, where for the past two years she has been engaged in missionary work. She is a lady of good business ability, who has capably managed her affairs since the death of her husband. Generous and kindly in disposition and charitable in her estimation of every one, she has gained a circle of friends which is almost coextensive with the circle of her acquaintances, and she now enjoys the respect and esteem of those with whom she has come in contact, while her many good deeds have endeared her to many.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 457.