 |
 RANCIS M. McCARTNEY is Postmaster,
and proprietor of the largest drug-store at
Lerna, Pleasant Grove Township. He was
born Jan. 5, 1847, in Cumberland County, Ill., and is
the son of John and Susan (Powell) McCartney. He
is of Scotch and Irish extraction, from which
nationalities many of the most enterprising and
successful citizens of Illinois have descended. His
paternal grandparents, Jacob and Sarah McCartney,
were natives of Ireland. Soon after their marriage
in that country they emigrated to the United
States and settled in Virginia. His maternal
grandparents, Jacob and Elizabeth Powell, were
natives of Scotland, and upon their arrival in this
country likewise settled in Virginia. When John McCartney was eighteen years of age, his father’s family left their home in Virginia and moved to Ohio, whither he accompanied them. In 1831 he resolved to push still farther westward, and consequently moved to Illinois, which State was at that time attracting many settlers from the East. He settled in Cumberland County, making his permanent home there, and passed the evening of life at his old home in that county, of which he had been a citizen for half a century, dying on the 14th of August, 1887. He was born in 1804, and had reached the advanced age of eighty-three years. The wife who shared with him the trials and privations of pioneer life, died Feb. 16, 1883, at the age of sixty-seven. A family of seven children was born to them, all of whom grew to maturity. Their record is as follows: Elizabeth, the wife of Bennet Cline; Jacob; Peter, deceased; George; Nancy, the wife of Ira Parker; John W. and Francis M. Francis M. McCartney was reared on his father’s farm, and received a good common-school education. He possessed an unusual degree of intelligence and made the best use of his limited advantages. In 1867 he was married to Miss Celeste Floatonett Swingle. Mrs. McCartney is the daughter of Jacob and Mary (Welver) Swingle, and was born in Bartholomew County, Ind., Oct. 23, 1859. Mr. McCartney, being of a studious and reflective mind, was not inclined to engage in agricultural pursuits, and accordingly after his marriage purchased stock and engaged in the drug business at Neoga, in the meantime educating himself in pharmacy. He was successful in his enterprise, and remained at Neoga until Feb. 2y, 1886, when he moved to Lerna, and established his present business. He carries a fine stock of drugs, paints, oils, and druggists’ sundries, and although a recent citizen of the place, is carrying on a successful trade. Mr. and Mrs. McCartney have three children Lura Idola, Sidney Erburt and Oscar Theodore. Mr. McCartney is a Democrat in politics, and received his appointment as Postmaster, Sept. 20, 1886. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., and his wife and himself are members of the Methodist Church. |
 |
| Return To Contents |
|