George McCain

MCCAIN, MCCARTY, POTTER

Posted By: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs (email)
Date: 5/13/2009 at 14:54:30

1889 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF
SHELBY AND AUDUBON COUNTIES, IOWA
W. S. DUNBAR & CO., PUBLISHERS
113 ADAMS STREET, CHICAGO

pages 801-802

GEORGE McCAIN, one of the well-to-do
farmers of Melville Township, located
on section 16, in the month of Septem-
ber, 1870. At first he purchased eighty
acres of land, one-half of his present farm,
winch is all well improved. Mr. McCain
was born in the village of St. Omer, Indiana,
December 30, 1839. He is the youngest of
a family of ten children. His parents were
William and Mary (McCarty) McCain, who
lived for a time in Wayne County, Indiana,
near the village of Centerville, at that time
the county seat. Later on they removed to St.
Omer, Decatur County, Indiana, where the
father engaged in farming and mercantile
business. He died in 1845, and the mother,
May 8, 1873, at the age of seventy-three
years. Of the ten children only five are liv-
ing; a brother of our subject in Indiana, one
in Kansas, one sister in Colorado, and one in
Iowa. Mr. McCain, like most men of his
age, received his education under many dis-
advantages, within a rude log school-house,
provided with slab seats. The teacher was
paid by private subscription. The youthful
days of our subject were spent for the most
part upon his father's farm. At the outbreak
of the civil war he enlisted as a member of
Company K, Sixteenth Indiana Volunteer
Infantry. He saw much hard service during
his army life. his first engagement was at
Edwards' Ferry, at the time of the Balls
Bluff disaster. In the fall of 1861 his com-
mand went into winter quarters, and in the
spring crossed over into Virginia, going over
the Blue Ridge Mountains. He received his
discharge in May, 1862, at the city of Wash-
ington, D. C., after which he returned to his
home, and enlisted in the thirty days' regi-
ment, formed to protect the country against
the Morgan raiders. In December, 1863, he
enlisted in the three years' service at Greens-
burg, Indiana, as a private soldier; but he
soon after became Sergeant-Major, and Au-
gust 9, 1864, he was commissioned as First
Lieutenant of Company G. They were sent
to Nashville, Tennessee, and became part
of General Hovey's Hoosier troops, and then
went South with General Sherman, prepara-
tory to entering the Atlanta campaign. Mr.
McCain was in the fall of Atlanta, and tells
many thrilling scenes in connection with this
great event. From Atlanta, under the com-
mand of General Thomas, he marched to the
north into Tennessee, where his regiment
did various duties; he finally took a steamer,
via Ohio River for Cincinnati, and went
thence by rail to Washington, D. C. He
was then ordered to Anderson, going down
the Potomac River into Chesapeake Bay, and
to Cape Fear River, North Carolina; he then
crossed the country to Moorehead City, en-
gaging in a three days' fight at Wieser Forks,
and defeating General Hooks. The company
then marched to Goldsboro, North Carolina,
where they made junction with Sherman's
army; there they remained until the sur-
render of General Johnston's army took
place. The rest of the season, up to August,
1865, was put in at guard duty; but on the
25th of that month Mr. McCain received his
final discharge, and returned to Decatur
County, Indiana. Having thus faithfully
served both as a private and an officer, in an
army which had finally restored peace and
liberty to a great nation, he then began to
lay plans for his own future welfare. For a
year and more he was engaged in the bridge-
building department of a railroad company
in Indiana. In March, 1867, he came to
Iowa, and stopped in Jasper County, near
Newton. Here he engaged with the Rock
Island Company in the same branch of work
he had been following in Indiana. This work
took him along the main line, and all the
branches of the great Rock Island Route,
both in Iowa and Nebraska. He continued
in this position until May, 1870, when he
was married to Miss Ada A. Potter, of
Marengo, Iowa, a native of New York. In
September, 1870, Mr. and Mrs. McCain
removed to Audubon County, and bought
land as above noted, where they have not
only built for themselves a good home, but
have established a character in the com-
munity which is beyond reproach. Having
been among the first to locate in the north-
ern part of the county, Mr. McCain has
helped to foster the public schools and estab-
lish the public roads, and advance the wel-
fare of the county in many directions. Mr.
and Mrs. McCain are the parents of five
children -- R E., Mona E., Guy F., Mary A.
and John Mayo. In politics Mr. McCain is
a staunch Republican, and has been honored
by various local offices; he has served as town-
ship clerk for two terms, trustee one term, as-
sessor three terms, and was elected supervisor
soon after the establishment of the county
seat at Audubon. Under President Hayes's
administration he was appointed postmaster
of Melville Center, holding this position
from February 19, 1878, until February 19,
1880.