Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 1073 - 1074

JOHN E. McCLALLEN, in 1872, disposed of his farming interests in Illinois, and started out overland with a team for the young State of Kansas. Pre-empting 160 acres of land in Attica Township, he set himself vigorously to work to cultivate the soil and to build up a homestead. He succeeded admirably in his efforts, meeting with uniform prosperity, and is now the owner of 720 broad acres, embellished with a handsome and substantial set of farm buildings, and of late years has given his attention largely to the raising of good grades of cattle. He has been no unimportant factor in the development of the rich resources of Sedgwick County, by whose people he is held in universal esteem. He presents the anomaly of a man who has steadily declined to become an an office-holder, but nevertheless has his firmly fixed ideas upon political matters, and is a zealous supporter of the Republican party.

             The subject of this history is a descendant of excellent Scotch and German ancestry, and his family was first represented on American soil during the Colonial days. He was born in Worcester County, Mass., Aug. 27, 1839, and is the son of Silas and Abigail (Parkhurst) McClallen, who were natives of Massachusetts, and who emigrated after their marriage from the Bay State to Illinois, locating first in Peoria, and later in Tazewell County, when their son John E. was a lad six years of age. Silas McClallen, the father of our subject, was born April 8, 1814, in Petersham, Mass., and his wife, Abigail, near Dana, Mass., March 28, 1817. They were married March 25, 1836; the household included five children, namely: Rosetta, the wife of William Stringer, of Attica Township; John E., of our sketch; Charles I., also farming in Attica; Clara, the wife of Samuel Mooberry, who is farming in Tazewell County, Ill., and George T., who is married and lives on the homestead with his parents.

             Mr. McClallen spent his boyhood years on the farm in Tazewell County, Ill., becoming familiar with its various employments, and also acquiring a good education in the district school. He was twenty-two years of age at the outbreak of the Rebellion, and on the 16th of August, 1861, enlisted for three years in the 47th Illinois Infantry, the regiment being then under command of Col. John Briner. Their division was led by Gen. Pope until after the siege of Corinth, and then our subject with his comrades was transferred to the army of Gen. Sherman, the 15th Army Corps, whom they followed until after the siege and capture of Vicksburg. Subsequently, under the command of Gen. Banks, the 47th was transferred to the 16th Army Corps, and proceeded up the Red River on the expedition which has been made a subject of history, and the incidents of which will be clearly remembered by those acquainted with the events of that period. Upon the return to Memphis, Tenn., although their term of enlistment had expired, the 47th Infantry, by request of their General, engaged in another battle at Cupola, and remained in the service two months longer, after which they returned to Memphis, and received their honorable discharge Oct. 11, 1864. Mr. McClallen participated in thirty-one general engagements.

             Our subject now returned to his home in Illinois, and on the 4th of March, 1865, re-enlisted in the Western Army Corps, under Gen. Hancock. They proceeded first to Washington City, and subsequently operated in the Shenandoah Valley. After the surrender of Lee they returned to Washington, and Mr. McClallen was one of the guards over the conspirators of Lincoln's assassination. Afterward, he and a portion of his regiment were sent to Louisville, Ky., where they had charge of the barracks while the Kentucky soldiers were being discharged and mustered out. Thence they repaired to Columbus, Ohio, where they remained while the Ohio boys were being discharged. Mr. McClallen was subsequently discharged at Columbus, Ohio, on the 5th of March, 1866. During his army service he was most of the time in the brigade which the American eagle, "Old Abe," followed through the war, flapping his pinions over the smoke of battle and always returning to his colors after the conflict was over. This much-admired bird it will be remembered was, after the war, taken to Wisconsin, and died in Madison, that State, not long ago.

             Our subject upon retiring from the service, engaged in farming on his father's homestead a year, and then was occupied as clerk in a store at Mackinaw, Ill., another year, after which he purchased eighty acres of land near El Paso, and farmed there for a period of four years. At the expiration of this time, resolving upon a change of location, he crossed the Mississippi, and his subsequent life we have already indicated.

             The paternal great-grandfather of our subject, David McClallen, was a Scotchman by birth, but crossed the Atlantic early in life, and served as a Lieutenant General in the Revolutionary War. Subsequently he settled in Peterboro, Mass., where his son Harrington, the father of Silas, was born. The latter engaged as a drover and hotel-keeper, and died when fifty-five years old. On the mother's side her paternal grandfather, Jonathan Parkhurst, was from England, and together with the maternal grandfather, Jonathan Thare, was also in the Continental army, both serving when boys, as cooks. The former settled on the farm near Dana, Mass., and his son Jacob P. was born there. The latter died when seventeen years of age. Jonathan Thare settled on a farm near Greenwich, Mass., where he spent the last years of his life. His wife was from Ireland, and lived to be eighty-four years old. They were all honest and industrious people and law-abiding citizens.

             In the fine lithographic view of the homestead of Mr. McClallen the reader may form an idea of his surroundings, and the taste and good judgment exercised in the establishment of one of the most admirable homes in Sedgwick County.

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