J. C. McNARY, Canonsburg. W. H. McNary, the eldest son of John McNary, of North Strabane township, was born November 26, 1805. He received his education in a log schoolhouse under the tuition of "old Master Howe" (as he was called), who taught for twenty-five consecutive years in the same place, and he was the only teacher William had. But, being a devoted reader, and, withal, an apt scholar, he secured an education that enabled him to take his place among his fellow-men as a leader of thought, always able to give a reason for the faith he professed in an intelligent and easy manner. On February 26, 1828, he married Margaret Murray, by which union there were twelve children, of whom the following is a brief record: Mary died at the age of four years. John C. is the subject of this sketch. Martha Jane married Robert Russel, Esq., of Chartiers township, who was a leading farmer, progressive stock breeder, and an elder in Chartiers U. P. Church, and is now deceased. George died at the age of five years. Margaretta died when twenty-one years old. James W. married Hettie Williamson, a minister in the Presbyterian Church, and they have settled in Milwaukee, Wis.; they have three children: Nellie, Willie and Foster. William T. married Elizabeth Graham; their children: Lida, Willie, Nora, Graham, Margaretta, George and John; he is a minister in the United Presbyterian Church, and settled at Tarkio, Mo.; had the degree of D. D. conferred on him, and is president of the board of trustees of Tarkio College; was also a colonel in the army during the Civil war. Anna Maria married Rev. E. G. McKinley, a Presbyterian minister, and they settled at Bartow, Fla.; their children: Russel, Gretta and Louisa. Thomas M. lives with his Uncle James in North Strabane township. Oliver died at the age of twelve years. Carrie (twin of Emma) married Rev. J. Buff Jackson, a minister in the United Presbyterian Church, and they settled at Morning Sun, Iowa; their children: Bessie, William, Retta, John, Russel (twin, deceased in infancy), Reed (twin), and Martin. Emma (twin of Carrie) died at sixteen years of age. These are the children and grandchildren of W. H. McNary. After the marriage of William they lived for three years on the farm known as the "Rich Hill farm," in South Strabane township; then purchased and moved tot he McNary homestead, known as the "Fine View farm," in Chartiers township. He was an industrious, devoted farmer, and made the breeding of fine Merino sheep a specialty in his farming operations, in which he was successful in having one of the best flocks in the county. He was a very zealous friend of education, and spared neither labor nor expense in securing for his family the best of school privileges. He was for thirty years and elder in Chartiers Seceder (later the United Presbyterian) Church, a leader in church work, and was often chosen to represent the congregation in the higher courts of the church. He was conspicuous as one of the original anti slavery men of the country. He believed slavery to be a crime against God and man alike, and an injury to master and slave as well -- a disgrace to our fair nation, and a blight and injury to the county and State where it existed. He was very bold and fearless, even at the risk of bodily harm, in denouncing and opposing it in those dark times, when slavery was defended in Congress by the bludgeon, and the slave hunter in northern States by Federal law. He sheltered and assisted the runaway, when to do so meant fine and imprisonment by the laws of the country. He was present and active at the meeting in Pittsburgh where the Republican party was born, and lived to see the triumph of the principles he so long defended in the overthrow of slavery and the enfranchisement of the colored race. He was also an earnest advocate of temperance; was one of the first farmers, where he lived, to oppose and abandon the practice of the constant use of liquor in the harvest fields and gathering of neighbors for the assistance of one another. On questions of right and wrong he was fearless and uncompromising -- he would denounce evil and evil-doers with a severity which perhaps at times would do no good, but rather made him enemies at the time. Yet, withal, he was one of the kindest of men; no appeal for help from the needy was ever unheeded, nor any sent hungry away from his door, his house being proverbial for its hospitality to neighbor, friend or stranger alike. In 1861 he left the farm,moving to Canonsburg, and there -- busy as ever with his lots and houses -- his pastime and pleasure was to be doing something. He could not be idle; never was known to sit and while away the time aimlessly. Although reading was part of his industry, one seldom saw him without book or paper in his hand when at rest in his home. He died September 10, 1877, more honored in his death than in his life by all who knew him for his many sterling qualities of head and heart. His wife Margaret survived him but a few years. She was a lovely woman, beloved by everybody; of a meek and quiet spirit, a striking contrast to the restless energy of her husband, and yet seeming to honor him the more for what she termed his "fuss and energy." John C. McNary, the subject proper of this sketch, the oldest son of William and Margaret McNary, was born on the Rich Hill farm in South Strabane township, July 30, 1830. He passed all his early life on the farm with his father in Chartiers township, to which the latter moved in 1832. His privilege was to attend one of the best common schools of the county, which became so through the energy and love of education of his father, and a few other worthy patrons whom we would take a pleasure in naming: They were John Hays, John Haft, Samuel Griffith, George Barnet and others, who from time to time came into the district. On October 20, 1859, J. C. McNary was married to Mary Jane Rankin, of Mercersburg, Penn., who died June 28, 1866, aged thirty-seven years. Her six children (there being two pairs of twins among them) all died in infancy. Mr. McNary afterward married, May 20, 1868, Abba T. Pollock, and their children were Mary Ellen, Mattie J. R., James T., William Houston, John Thome, and Nannie Jennett. Of these, Mary Ellen married George Paxton, January 20, 1892, and settled on a farm near Houstonville, in Chartiers township; Mattie J. R. died September 20, 1892, of typhoid fever, at her father's home in Canonsburg, at the age of twenty-one years; James T. died March 30, 1880, of inflammatory rheumatism; William H., John T. and Nannie J. are all at home with their parents, and attending school. Our subject early united with the U. P. Church of Chartiers, of which he was elected an elder. On the organization of a congregation in Houstonville, he became a member there, as he felt it his duty to take his place where he was most needed. He remained to see the young congregation well established; and when he moved to Canonsburg (in 1892) he again united with old Chartiers, the church of his father. Politically, Mr. McNary was an anti-saloon Republican -- an ardent Protectionist -- and as these two great principles are not embodied in any one party just at the present day, he is not a very ardent party man, but hopes for the day when, like the revolution of 1856, good men all over the country will again unite, independent of old party trammel, in defense of true reform. Before the war he was a brigadier-general in the State Guards, and at times is called "General." For twenty consecutive years, while in the township, he was justice of the peace, and is on that account also familiarly called "squire." He has been entrusted with the settlement of very many estates, and always took an active part in all local improvements. He is one of the incorporators of Oak Springs Cemetery Co., and of Western Penn. Agricultural Association. He was one of the original breeders of the National Delaine sheep, and the first man to ever adopt and advertise a flock with the title, "The Delaine Merino." He is president of the Citizens Bank (limited), Canonsburg, in which borough he is now living, for the purpose of securing better school privileges for his family, and to be near his other business interests, as well as to escape the care and labor of farm life, believing that when all the rest do as much hard work as he has, it will be all done; and also to be near to enjoy the religious privileges of God's house, and attend all the meetings for prayer and religious conference, believing them to be our richest inheritance in this famed land. (For the ancestry of W. H. McNary, father of J. C., see biography of James S. McNary.)

Text taken from page 335 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed July 1997 by Linda Vourlogianes of Petaluma, CA as part of the Beers Project. Published July 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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