McClure, Thomas M.

MCCLURE

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 13:39:37

History of Warren County, Iowa; Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns & Etc., by Union Historical Company, 1879, p.654

McCLURE, THOMAS M., retired farmer; White Oak Township, P. O. Indianola; born in Clinton, Ind., Dec. 30, 1834, and lived in that State until seventeen years of age, when his parents removed to Marion county, Iowa, and in March of 1852 came up to this county; owns 207 acres of land on which there is a fine orchard; he has given considerable attention to the raising of bees; he had held all the township offices excepting constable; he is a man of independent thought, but kind and obliging, and impresses all with whom he has business transactions, of his honor and integrity; he married Miss Mary J. Latimer, March 22, 1855, she was born in Indiana; they have four children: John T., Dora F., Frank H. and Dell; they have lost two: Amos P. and Mary C.; the latter died June 27, 1879, aged twenty-one years.

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.487

THOMAS M. McCLURE
With the pioneer development of Warren County, T. M. McClure has been actively identified for he located here in 1852 and for many years was one of the leading business men of Indianola, but is now practically living retired in this city. He was born n Clinton County, Indiana, December 30, 1834, his parents being Thomas M., and Ruth (Alley) McClure, natives of Virginia, where they continued to make their home until after their marriage. In early life the father learned the tanner's trade, but after his removal to Clinton County, Indiana, he opened up a farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits. Later he improved a farm in Howard County, that state, where he resided until coming to Iowa in 1851. The following year he took up his abode in Warren County, and entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in White Oak Town­ship, on which he continued to live until called from this life. His wife, who survived him for some time, is also now deceased.
T. M. McClure was a young man of sixteen years when the family came to Iowa and he aided his father in the improvement and cultivation of the home farm until his marriage. It was on the 22d of March 1855, that he wedded Miss Mary J. Latimer, who was reared here but was born in Ken­tucky, of which state her father, J. D. Latimer, was also a native. Six chil­dren were born of this union, namely: John T., now a resident of Roswell, New Mexico, where he is engaged in the practice of law; Dora, the wife of L. H. Wilder, a lawyer of Norton, Kansas; Frank, assistant cashier in the First National Bank of Indianola; Ethelyn Dell, at home; Mary C., who died in June, 1879, at the age of twenty-one years, and Amos, who died in 1862, at the age of two years.
After his marriage, Mr. McClure located on a farm in White Oak Town­ship, where he purchased eighty acres of land, and as he prospered in his farming operations he added to his property from time to time until he had two hundred and forty acres, which he continued to cultivate for twenty-four years. In 1879 he rented his farm and removed to Indianola, buying ten acres of land within the city limits, only four blocks from the square. For about ten years he was engaged in the grocery business, but now gives his attention principally to looking after his property interests. In business affairs he has always been found just and reliable and the success that he has achieved in life is due to his own industry and enterprise.
At state and national elections Mr. McClure affiliates with the democracy, but at local. elections he votes independent of party ties, supporting the men whom he believes best qualified for office. He has served as township clerk, trustee and assessor, and has always been found true to any trust reposed in him whether public or private. He is a prominent member of the Odd Fellows lodge of Indianola, in which he has passed through all the chairs and has served as past grand, and both he and his wife were connected with the Rebekahs. They hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church and are people of prominence in the community where they reside. During the long years of his residence in this state Mr. McClure has watched with interest its wonderful development and progress and has ever borne his part in the up-building of Warren County. He well remembers when Indianola was a very small village, has seen the railroad built and the telegraph and telephone introduced, and is thoroughly familiar with pioneer conditions.