Notes for John MCCLAIN

Thurtell and Related Families Thurtell and Related Families

Notes for John MCCLAIN

Much of the information about John McClain and his relatives was obtained from the web pages of Heather Firede, 2036 South Balsam, Lakewood, Colorado 80227, 303-988-3848, e-mail heather_friede@@compuserve.com (http://www.uftree.com/UFT/WebPages/hfriede/McCLAIN/index.htm) in 1998.

He is listed in the U.S. Census for 1880 for Paris, Grant County, Wisconsin (SD 2, ED 120, Page 7), enumerated June 9, 1880, as John McClain, born in Wisconsin, age 26, a farmer, whose father was born in Tennessee and his mother in Prussia. He is living with his parents John and Ann McClain, his siblings George age 25, Albert age 18, Laurah age 14, Edward age 12, Henry age 9, Thomas age 7, and Anna age 5, and his grandfather, Mathew McClain. His father is shown as John McClain, age 52, a farmer born in Tennessee, whose father was born in South Carolina and mother was born in North Carolina. His mother, Ann McClain, is shown as age 45, whose occupation is keeping house, and that she and her parents were born in Prussia. All of John's siblings were born in Wisconsin. George is a farmer, and Albert's occupation is shown as working on farm. Albert, Laurah, Edward, Henry, and Thomas all attended school within the census year. His grandfather, Mathew McClain, is shown as a widower age 83 and a farmer born in South Carolina.

The 1901 Biographical Sketch Book of Grant County, Wisconsin, in the listing of John McClain, shows that his son, John McClain, was born in Grant county in 1853 and married Miss Grace Thurtell. They were living on his farm and cattle ranch in South Dakota and had five children, John, Grace, Bertha, Glenn, and Henry.

The family is listed in the 1900 U.S. Census for Meade County, South Dakota (Volume 11, SD 1, ED 34, Sheet 7, Line 29) living in the second ward of the City of Sturgis, Sturgis Township, Meade County, South Dakota. John McClain is shown as age 46, born in Wisconsin in October 1853, with his father born in Tennessee and his mother in Pennsylvania. He owned their home with no mortgage and had no months of no employment, with his occupation shown as stock raiser. He and his wife, Grace McClain, had been married 19 years according to this census. She is shown as age 40, born in March 1860 in Wisconsin, with her father born in England and her mother in Indiana. She is the mother of five children, all living with their parents. John E. McClain is shown as age 15, born in Wisconsin in May 1885, and at school. The four younger children were all born in South Dakota. Grace L. McClain is 10, born in February 1890, and is also in school. Bertha M. McClain, age 7, born in December 1892, is at school also. Leo G. McClain, age 5 and born in March 1895, and Henry C. McClain, age 3 and born in December 1896, are not yet in school.

Additional information about this branch of the family was received from Pearl Sawyer, 1567 Charleton Crt., Port Coquitlam, British Columbia V3B7M8, Canada, in 1998.

A database index of Bureau of Land Management Records found on the internet in January 2000 at http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/sd/land/perkins.htm shows that John and Grace McClain and John E. McClain (possibly their son) had five different land patents in Perkins County, South Dakota, all at the 7th Meridian, Township 018 N, Range 012 E, in Sections 8 and 9. John McClain had two homestead patents dated May 26, 1908. The one in Section 8 was for 120 acres, with a document identification number 3645. The same document identification number is also referred to a homestead of 40 acres in Section 9. Document number 108181 dated February 1, 1910, is indexed to cash sales of 120 acres in Section 8 and 40 acres in Section 9 to John E. McClain. Document identification number 447193 dated December 5, 1914, refers to a cash sale of 80 acres to Grace McClain in Section 8.

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