Hugh McKellar Hugh McKellar late the owner of the fine old homestead farm upon which his father established the family home more than sixty years ago, maintained his residence there from the time he was a lad of five years. Mr. McKellar was born in Tioga county, New York, on the 8th of October, 1848, and was a son of Hugh and Mary (McKuenan) McKellar, both natives of Scotland and representatives of sterling old families of the land of hills and heather. Upon coming to America, about the year 1842, Hugh McKellar, Sr., first located near the city of Albany, New York, and later established his residence in Tioga county, that state, where he remained until 1853, when he came with his family to Iowa and became a pioneer settler of Clayton county. He obtained a tract of land in Section 16, Highland township, where he reclaimed and developed a fine landed estate of two hundred and forty acres. He was a black smith by trade, and on his farm he maintained a well equipped blacksmith shop, in which he found ample demand for his services. He was one of the sturdy and upright men who contributed materially to the civic and industrial development and progress of the county, and he remained on his old homestead until his death, which occurred July 4, 1877, his widow having passed to eternal rest on the 22d of May, 1879. They became the parents of six children, concerning whom the following brief data are given: Archibald died in childhood; Peter resides at Elgin, Fayette county; Sarah is deceased; the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth; Maria is the wife of Jerome N. Robbins, of Highland town ship; Roxie is the widow of John Service and resides at Elgin, Fayette county. He to whom this brief review is dedicated gained his youthful education in the district schools of Highland township, and the stage of his activities during the long intervening years was the old homestead farm on which he was reared from childhood and which now comprises three hundred and thirty acres. Mr. McKellar never wavered in his allegiance to the Republican party and, though he was loyal and liberal in his civic attitude, he was not imbued with any ambition for the honors or emoluments of public office. He affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and at the time of his death, June 7, 1916, he was one of the highly esteemed citizens of the county. source: History of Clayton
County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical Times Down to
the Present; by Realto E. Price, Vol. II; page
265-266 |