R. J. McClure    

R. J. MCCLURE, miller, Sandy Lake, was born May 28, 1831, in Old Cool Spring Township. The farm is now in Lake Township, and was settled by Robert McClure, he having a settler’s right. James and Hannah (Gamble) McClure, the parents of our subject, were natives of this county and England, respectively, the latter having come from that country when nine years of age, and settled with her parents in Cool Spring Township. Her parents had Hannah, Henry, William, Sarah, Ruth, Mary, Elizabeth, Maria and Charles. James McClure died July 4, 1845, and his widow is living. They had R. J., Henry, Andrew, Mary, married P. J. Boyd; Sarah, married Lemuel Bristol; Ruth, married T. Egbert, and is dead. The father was a farmer, and owned at one time 210 acres. B. J. McClure was educated in the common schools and was brought up on a farm. He taught seventeen terms of school in Mercer County. He was married in 1872 to Mary J. Caldwell, a sister of George P. Caldwell, at present connected with the management of the poorhouse. His wife died leaving one son, Robert. He was again married, to Ella, a sister of his first wife, and has three children: James B., Frank T. and Clara. He and brother, Henry, bought a mill at Sandy Lake in 1879, and in 1881 it burned. The same year the dam went out, and they rebuilt the mill and dam in 1882, and began running five buhrs. The mill is three stories, and cost about $7,000. February 2, 1882, the dam again gave away, and they were compelled to spend $1,000 more to repair it. In 1887 they put in the full roller process, at a cost of $5,000, and the mill is in good order and is running continually during the day. He is also the owner of a large farm in this county. He is a member of the I. 0. 0. F. and K. of L. He has represented his lodge at the grand lodge of I. 0. 0. F. He served as school director of Lake Township for twenty-three years, and is now holding the same position in Sandy Lake. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is a Republican.

History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania : its past and present : including its aboriginal history, its early settlement and development, a description of its historic and interesting localities, sketches of its boroughs, townships and villages, neighborhood and family histories, portraits and biographies of pioneers and representative citizens, statistics, etc. : also, a condensed history of Pennsylvania. Chicago, Ill.: Brown, Runk & Co., 1888, page 1060.  Read this book on line - Free Trial  Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com.