For
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 112
JAMES W. McELRAVY...There is no doubt as to the fighting blood which courses through the veins of some men who are born fighters, and either on the field of battle or in the sharply contested struggle for supremacy in the business world they give indisputable evidence of the class to which they belong. They are the natural leaders, and to them the world largely owes its present condition of progress in all departments of life. James W. McElravy, now retired at West Liberty, is clearly entitled to a place among these men.He was born in Harrison county, Ohio, December 31, 1836, a son of Daniel and Margaret ( McCombs ) McElravy. The father, who was a farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 1798 near Belfast, Ireland, and came to the United States in 1816, locating near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He removed to Ohio in 1826, where he lived until his death, which occurred in 1860. The family history has been traced to the Scottish clan McGregor. When this clan was almost exterminated by the English the survivors changed the name McGregor to McElravy and emigrated to Ireland, from which country descendants of this daunting clan have gone forth to all parts of the world. The mother of our subject was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1798, and was married to Mr. McElravy in the Keystone state. She passed away at West Liberty,Iowa in 1882. Her ancestors came to this country previous to the Revolutionary war. Of the nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. McElravy, John, Alec, William, Thomas, Robert and Nancy are deceased. Four brothers, Robert, Thomas, Frank and James W., participated in the Civil war. Robert was killed bravely fighting for his country at the battle of Petersburg; Thomas became captain of the Seventy-fourth Ohio Volunteers and was wounded at Atlanta, Georgia; Frank was also wounded at Atlanta and is now in the gold mines at Haynes, Alaska.
James W. McElravy received his early education in the common schools and was attending college at Hopedale, Ohio, at the outbreak of the Civil war. Responding to the call of President Lincoln, he enlisted in Company B, Thirtieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, May 13, 1861. At the expiration of his term of enlistment he reenlisted March, 1864, and served til the close of the war, being mustered out at Little Rock, Arkansas, in September, 1865. After the battle of Kenesaw Mounyain, January 27, 1864, he was commissioned first lieutenant by recommendation of General Logan, and when he laid his uniform aside he was in command of Company F. of the thirtieth Ohio Volunteers. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Antietam but later in the day overpowered his guards and made his escape. Near the city of Tuscumbia, Alabama, he was taken again prisoner because of his horse falling under him. He was locked in a house near by and again succeeded in making his escape under somewhat peculiar circumstances, being released by a girl who pried open a window while the guard was indulging in a drink of whiskey. Mounting a horse which stood outside, the young soldier soon succeeded in reentering the Union lines. At one time, as the officer in charge of a detachment, he was ordered by General Sherman on a foraging expedition, which practically lasted from the time of the battle of Atlanta to the battle of Bentonville,North Carolina, as he foraged all the way through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, being almost every day engaged in skirmishes with the enemy. The foraging order read, " Take liberally from the rich and give to the poor." The day before the battle of Bentonville, Captain McElravy was ordered to take charge of his company and make a forced march of sixty miles, which he did, entering the battle without stopping to rest. During the battle the captain and his men were most of the time obliged to fight knee deep in water. On the second morning after such great exertions, he was put into an ambulance by a surgeon and sent to Goldsboro. He was present at every battle and participated in every movement of his regiment, a statement that can be made of very few soldiers whose period of service extended througout the entire war. Even after being sent to the hospital he refused to stay there, and, having been given a horse as he was unable to walk, he returned to his company which he commanded until the close of the war. Notwithstanding his frequent contact with the enemy, he was never wounded but once, being knocked down by an exploding shell at the battle of Antietam. A strong and robust man at the time of his enlistment, the terrific strain greatly reduced his strength, and two years after the war he weighed only ninety-six pounds, but his health improved by a trip to Colorado in 1867.
His first venture in commercial life was as a hardware merchant at West Liberty. Later he sold out and spent eighteen months in Missouri, then returning to West Liberty, where he engaged for a year in the grocery and grain business. Being attracted to the newspaper field, he purchased the Enterprise, which he sucessfully edited for ten years and then sold, reentering the mercantile life as a furniture dealer. He also bought the Index and Enterprise and edited them from 1897 to 1902, retiring from active labors in the latter year on account of ill health.
In 1868 Mr. McElravy was united in marriage in Cedar county to Miss Belle Lewis, daughter of Clarke and Rachel ( Wright ) Lewis, who came to this county in 1846. Six children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. McElravy, four of whom are living: Mrs. H. E. Kelley of Denver, Colorado; Mrs. C. E. Ball, of Salt Lake City, Utah; Robert C., of Los Angeles, California; and Henry W., of Denver, Colorado. One died in infancy and Ellenor died in 1901.
Mr. McElravy cast his ballot for John C. Breckenridge in 1860, for Abraham Lincoln in 1864, and for Grover Cleveland in 1892. During recent years he has adhered closely to the republican party. Socially, he is connected with the Odd Fellows, the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Society of the Army of Tennessee, which was organized at Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1865.
In the course of a long and active life Mr. McElravy has demonstrated his worth as a patriotic citizen, a capable business man and a friend to the weak and unfortunate. He passed through many thrilling experiences in his early career, performing his duty as a soldier with the same conscientious devotion that he has shown in later life, and he has acquired a stability of character that is one of the most valuable traits any man can possess. Today no citizen of Muscatine county is more highly respected than the subject of this sketch.
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