History of Bourbon, Scott, Harrison and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky, ed. by William Henry Perrin, O. L. Baskin & Co., Chicago, 1882. p. 581. [Bourbon County] [Ruddel's Mills Precinct] JOHN W. McILVAIN, farmer, and short-horn breeder; P. O. Ruddel's Mills; was born July 9, 1849; son of Moses H. McIlvain, a farmer of Bourbon County, Ky., whose father, William, came from Virginia at an early day, and followed farming and distilling, dying in 1853, his wife following him in 1854. Moses H., born in 1825, the father of our subject, died May 3, 1864, in the prime of life, leaving only one child; his widow afterward married J. C. Flowers, but died July 13, 1876. Mr. McIlvain is a farmer, and devotes a great deal of his time to the breeding and handling of short-horn cattle, in which he has been quite successful; he owns a farm containing 425 acres of land, on which he resides. He was married April 16, 1869, to Miss Mattie E., daughter of James Rule, deceased. She died Nov. 6, 1880, leaving three children: Hattie May, William James and Richard Miller. Mr. McIlvain is a member of the A. F. and A. M., and I.O.O.F.; also a Democrat. McIlvain Flowers Rule = VA http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/bourbon/mcilvain.jw.txt