John M. McClellan

Col. John McClellan Patriarch

John McClellan and Mary Polly Wallace had nine children, born between 1795 and 1817. Here's a detailed list of their names along with birth and death dates:

John McClellan was born December 24, 1768 in Botetourt County, Virginia, and died November 15, 1842 in Canehill, Washington County, Arkansas. He married Mary Polly Wallace on May 13, 1794 in Knox County, Tennessee.

🧬 Children of Col. John M. McClellan (1768-1842) and Mary Polly Wallace (1774-1856)

Matthew Wallace McClellan 1795 1872

Gen. William Blount McClellan 1798 1881

Barbara Walker McClellan 1800 1826

Charles McClure McClellan 1802 1844

Elizabeth Price McClellan 1804 1885

Sarah Walker McClellan 1806 1860

Olevia M. McClellan 1809 1837

Evan White McClellan 1811 1881

Elizabeth Price McClellan 1816 1885

Mary Ann McClellan 1817 1879

Colonel John and family settled in their new home and John became very active in the growth of Boonesboro. He was the first surveyor from 1833 to 1840. In 1834, a group took steps to start a school. Colonel John McClellan was on the Board of Trustees of the college. It was Cane Hill Collegiate Institute until the legislature changed it to Cane Hill College in 1852. They met in the log church house at first. Soon a permanent brick building was built. J. B. Russell built a large frame building and opened a female seminary with library and music department. Miss Mary Bellar of New York brought her grand piano. It was shipped to Van Buren, hauled overland to Cane Hill where it is at present in the Church Annex.

Colonel John, patriarch of the McClellan clan, after a very active life died in 1842 at age 74. He was the first buried in the family cemetery located on his farm. Flashback described it as one of the country's most romantic cemeteries. It is enclosed by an ornamental fence and has several massive vaults. Charles McClure McClellan, John's son, the pioneer, died in 1844 unmarried and was also buried in the cemetery. Many pioneers related to the McClellans by blood or marriage are buried there.

Colonel John left the farm to Evan White McClellan. White married Sarah Jane Trusdell in Cane Hill. She was born in Princeton, Indiana, but she was educated (as a child) in Cane Hill. Her father was a man of wealth but he spent it helping people and the town. He put up a steam mill. The post office was called "Steam Mill" for a while then was "Boonesboro", named for a relative of Daniel Boone who lived there, then Major Earle named it Cane Hill. Mr. Trusdell also had a store and a tailor shop. White and Sarah Jane had nine children. They were all born in Cane Hill and grew up there.

White's sister Elizabeth, who came with her father from Alabama, married Ewing McClure. He was postmaster in Cane Hill in 1845. He and White (his brother-in-law) opened the second store in Cane Hill. He and Elizabeth had a home by the old college spring. They had no children and both died in 1885.

Sarah, another sister, who came with John from Alabama, married Judge Peters first and then married John Wilson. They had no children but Sarah raised a niece, Florence Wilson, and a nephew, Montgomery Wilson (of her husband's brother). Florence was engaged to Professor Buchanan who was killed in the Battle of Prairie Grove. She taught school in Cane Hill schools and then went to Tahlequah, where for 26 years she was the principal of the Cherokee Female Seminary. Later it was Northeastern College and the girls dormitory was named Florence Wilson Hall. The Wilson's farm was in northeast part of Cane Hill. They left the farm to Samuel Getty McClellan, White's son and Sarah's nephew. He farmed it until he died. In 1935 it was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Nick Matthews. They were both Texans but Marion Lee was White's great-granddaughter, her grandmother was Ada, White's daughter. Because of her mother, Victoria (Victoria, daughter of Ada) had had a close relationship with the Cane Hill cousins. Victoria married James Kennedy and lived in Texas. First Port Arthur, where his folks had come in the early days of Texas, later they moved to Beaumont, where he was in business - a couple of summers. Victoria brought her city bred children to Cane Hill. They loved it - a wonderful new experience. The excuse for buying was to keep the farm in the family. They moved there in 1936, built a home, and lived there until 1969 when due to Mr. Matthews' health, they sold it and moved to Prairie Grove, where Marion Lee still lives.