William McArthur    

WILLIAM McARTHUR, real estate dealer, Meadville, was born in this city, October 19, 1815, and is a son of William and Rebecca (McClean) McArthur. His father was born in Ireland, and came to America about the close of the Revolutionary war, taught school in York County, and studied surveying with the McCleans, and when Pennsylvania lands came into market he came in 1794 to Meadville, and laid out the town for Gen. Meade. He was appointed District Surveyor, and in 1800 was elected State Senator for the district composed of Crawford, Erie, Venango, Warren and Mercer Counties, his opponent being Gen. David Meade. He served two terms in the Legislature (the capital was then Lancaster), and he rode back and forth spring and fall on horseback over the mountains during said terms. While he was State Senator he was appointed by the Governor, Simon Snyder, Prothonotary of this county, and also Register and Recorder, which positions he filled until his decease in 1822. Our subject’s mother, Rebecca McClean, was of Scotch­Irish descent, and a daughter of Col. Moses McClean, who served in the Revolutionary war, and who, with his brothers, helped survey the famous Mason and Dixon’s line—in fact, had run the line from Cape Henlopen, or Cornelius, to the Chesapeake Bay, the north line, and the twelve-mile circle round the New Castle Court House before Mason and Dixon came to this country. These lines were run between 1760 and 1763. Mason and Dixon came in 1764, accepted the work already done, and with the former Surveyors ran the celebrated Mason and Dixon’s line westward. Our subject, who is the fifth of a family of six, received his education in the academy at Meadville. He then learned carpentering, and also worked at millwrighting. In 1840 he was appointed Justice of the Peace by Gov. David R. Porter, and in 1842 was elected Prothonotary and Clerk of the several courts for Crawford County, which offices he served until 1845. Mr. McArthur was married in 1848 to Helen Hines, a niece of Col. James Corban, of this county. She died in 1855, and in 1872 he married Mrs. Hersh, widow of Rev. Chares Hersh, of Baltimore, Md., whose maiden name was Mary McClean. He has four children by his first wife. Mr. and Mrs. McArthur are members of the Park Avenue Congregational Church, under the charge of Rev. James G. Carnachan, D. P.

History of Crawford County, Pennsylvania: containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc., portraits of early settlers and prominent men, biographies, history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1885, page 749-750

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