When Cedar county was a frontier district and all the conditions of pioneer life were to be here met and endured, John McClellan came to this section of the state, dating his residence in this county from 1848. He was then a young man of sixteen years, his birth having occurred near Perth, Canada, on the 7th of May, 1832. His father, William McClellan, was born in the north of Ireland and was of Scotch parentage.
He came to the new world with his parents when a lad of sixteen years and was reared in Canada. In that country he married Anna Dennison, after which he devoted his attention to farming in Canada until 1848, when he crossed the border into the United States, where competition is greater but where advancement is more quickly secured. The opportunities of the new but growing west attracted him and he made his way to Cedar county, Iowa, casting in his lot with its first settlers. He entered land near the present site of Lowden and performed the arduous task of developing a new farm, breaking the sod and turning the first furrows upon the prairie, his labors resulting in the development of highly cultivated fields. Later he owned four hundred acres of land for, as his financial resources increased, he made further investments in property. He had lost his wife in Canada but his last days were spent in Cedar county, where his sterling worth won him a position with the most highly respected and esteemed residents of this part of the state. His family numbered two sons and four daughters: Samuel, a resident of Clarence, Iowa; Lizzie, the wife of George Corey of Des Moines, Iowa; Sarah, the wife of Edward Corey of Auburn, Iowa; Alice, the wife of Benjamin Dilworth of Pasadena, California; and Anna, of California.
The other member of the family is John McClellan, whose name introduces this record. Coming to Iowa when a young man, he assisted his father in developing and improving the home farm. His educational privileges were some-what limited so that he is largely self-educated. In the school of experience, however, he has learned many valuable lessons that have made him a practical business man and a progressive, public-spirited citizen. He fitted up a breaking team and broke hundreds of acres of prairie land, thus contributing in a large measure to the substantial improvement of this section of the state. For some years he and his brother cultivated the old home farm together and each day saw them busily employed in the fields, their labors bringing that success which can be attained only by earnest and unremitting labor and perseverance.
That he might establish a home of his own Mr. McClellan was married in Springfield township, June 17, 1868, to Miss Mary Arlington, who was born in Ohio and came to Iowa when a maiden of sixteen summers. She is a daughter of Henry Arlington, a native of England, having been born, reared and educated in London. He was afterward employed in a bank there but, believing that better opportunities were offered in the new world, he crossed the Atlantic in early manhood. Previous to leaving London, however, he was married there to Miss Lucy Wordsworth, a native of that city, and after coming to the United States they settled in Huron county, Ohio, where they resided for a few years. They removed to Iowa in 1853, at which time Mr. Arlington purchased land in Cedar county and developed a farm, upon which he reared his family. He served in several public positions of honor and trust, his fellow townsmen recognizing his fitness for office.
After his marriage Mr. McClellan located in Springfield township, about four miles from Lowden. He began there with two hundred acres of land, which he afterward sold, and invested in two hundred acres in Fairfield township. At different times he purchased and sold land, becoming the owner of several hundred acres. Mrs. McClellan received an inheritance from England with which she bought land, investing in eighty acres which she afterward disposed of and made further investments, becoming the owner of one hundred and seventy acres in Plymouth county. Mr. McClellan also purchased another place of two hundred acres near Clarence, erecting thereon a large residence together with two or three barns, commodious sheds and outbuildings, and developing a fine place. He likewise owns a farm near Mechanicsville, while his wife has a one hundred and seventy acres tract in Plymouth county. His possessions further include one hundred and sixty acres at Stanwood and altogether he has seven hundred acres in well improved farms. He has always given considerable attention to the breeding of high grade stock, making a specialty of Durham shorthorn cattle, Poland China hogs and Percheron horses.
He commenced life empty-handed and his possessions are the proof of his industry, perseverance and capable management and the assistance which he has received from his estimable wife. In 1906 they removed to Mechanicsville, where they own and occupy a good home that is supplied with all of the comforts and some of the luxuries of life. Unto Mr. and Mrs. McClellan have been born three children: W. H., who resides on the Clarence farm, is married and has three children; J. F. , who occupies the Stanwood farm, is married and has two children; and Eunice L., who is the widow of John Nicoll of Mechanicsville and has three children.
Mr. McClellan formerly gave his political support to the republican party but is now an advocate of prohibition principles, his support of the latter party indicating his position on the temperance question. He and his wife are consistent and faithful members of the Mechanicsville Methodist Episcopal church and take an active and helpful part in the work of the church and Sunday school. Mrs. McClellan has served as assistant superintendent of the Sunday school and the children are also members of the Methodist church. For sixty-two years Mr. McClellan has lived in this county and is one of its most honored and worthy pioneer settlers. He has been closely identified with the growth and development of the region throughout the period, has seen all of the towns built and the railroads put through. His labors have been a valuable element in the work of general progress for he has broken hundreds of acres of prairie land and has made and improved three farms. He possesses excellent business ability, keen discrimination and unfaltering enterprise and carries forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes. He has ever stood for progress and while actively engaged in farming was ever among the first to adopt new agricultural implements or to accept improved methods that would advance the interests of the place. He is one of the widely known citizens of Cedar county and no history of this region would be complete without mention of John McClellan, who is honored and respected wherever known and most of all where he is best known.
