John B. McCrary (1860-1931)

MCCRARY

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 11/3/2022 at 22:41:09

John Brown McCrary
(November 9, 1860 – December 27, 1931)

There is no calling which has more important bearing upon the condition of man in his social and business relations than the law which is the conservator of the rights and liberties, the life and property of the individual. It is therefore to be classed among the most important of the professions and the lawyer who exemplifies the true spirit of the calling cannot but be a man of high character, worthy the regard of his fellow men. Occupying an enviable position at the Calhoun County bar, Mr. McCrary has a distinctively representative clientage and has been connected with the trial of many important causes in the courts of his district. A native of Illinois, he was born in Warren County. November 9, 1860. His father, Andrew McCrary, was born in South Carolina, and after arriving at years of maturity he married Elizabeth Cunningham, whose birth occurred near Salem, Illinois. He came to this state about 1832, settling on a farm in Marion, and in 1852 he removed to Warren County, Illinois, going to Keokuk County, Iowa, in 1867, where he spent five years, and arriving in Calhoun County in 1873. His children were Sarah J., the deceased wife of William Moore; Matthew, who is living in Lake City; Thomas, a resident farmer of Calhoun County; Joseph, who is engaged in mining in New Mexico; Margaret, who resides in Calhoun County; Ella, who died in 1876; and J. Brown. James and Sidney both died in 1877 of diphtheria; and the father passed away in February, 1884. Coming to this county in early life the subject of this review pursued his early education in the public schools and later became a student in the academy of Iowa City. In 1886 he was admitted to the bar and the same year went to Kansas, where he remained for a year. He also spent one year in the state of Washington, in partnership with Judge Long, and in 1888 he returned to Lake City, where he entered into partnership with M. R. McCrary. Our subject has since practiced in this place and his devotion to his clients' interests is proverbial. He prepares his cases with painstaking care and thoroughness and is thus well qualified to meet every possible point of attack. He is logical and has a keen analytical mind, so that his mastery of the principles of jurisprudence has insured him success. In 1892 Mr. McCrary was elected a delegate to the state convention of the Republican party, but a change in his political views caused him to make campaign addresses in support of Bryan throughout Minnesota in 1896. In 1899 he was elected mayor of Lake City and His administration proved practical, progressive and satisfactory to his fellow townsmen. He exercised his official prerogatives in support of every measure which he believed would promote the general good and whether in office or out of it he is known as a loyal citizen who has the welfare of his community at heart. His circle of friends in Lake City and Calhoun County is very extensive, and all who know him esteem him for his professional ability, his sterling worth and his many excellencies of character. [Source – Biographical Record of Calhoun County, Iowa, by S.J. Clarke, 1902, p.446]