BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO

"History of the Upper Ohio Valley" Vol. II, 1890.

Presented by Linda Fluharty from hard copies provided
by Mary Staley & Phyllis Slater.

Pages 707-708.

WILLIAM T. McCREARY is one of ten children that were born to Hugh and
Rebecca McCreary. The children were: John, the eldest son, born July
20, 1825; George Irwin, born August 26, 1826; Huldah, deceased, born
January 25, 1828; James, born July 11, 1830; Nelson, born January 8,
1832; Andrew, born July 26, 1833; Hugh, born February 3, 1835; Joseph,
born March 26, 1837; William, born March 3, 1839; Rebecca Jane, born
February 10, 1842. Hugh McCreary, the father of the subject of this
sketch, was also one of ten children, and was born in Pennsylvania,
September 19, 1801. When quite a small boy his parents settled on a
farm near Washington,  Guernsey county, Ohio, where Hugh raised his
family and lived until his death, which occurred January 16, 1873.
Rebecca McCreary, the mother of William, and a daughter of George and
Elizabeth Irwin, was born in 1803. Her parents were natives of Pennsyl-
vania, but came to Ohio at a very early day and settled near Washington,
Guernsey Co., Ohio. Mrs. McCreary is still living with one of her sons
in Guernsey county. She is in her eighty-seventh year, and remarkably
active for one of her years, having ridden from Morristown to Washington,
a distance of twenty-one miles, when eighty-six years of age. The subject
of this mention, William T. McCreary, was born March 3, 1839, on the farm
which his father entered, near Washington, Guernsey county. His education,
which is very practical, was obtained in the common schools of his neighbor-
hood. At the age of twenty-three and about the height of the gold excitement,
he, with a company of friends, embarked for San Francisco, going from New
York by water. From thence the party went up the Columbia river to work,
and after spending eight years in which he was moderately successful in a
financial way, in prospecting, mining, packing and ranching, and one summer
in the mines, he joined a company of seventy-six and started for Idaho. At
that time the country was very wild and new, and after three years' experience
in fighting Indians, he returned to the scenes of his chilhood. Finding his
father in declining health, he and one of his brothers took the management
of the old farm. In connection with this successful management, Mr.
McCreary bought timber for the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. This, he continued
to do for eight or ten years, when he bought a merchants' flouring-mill at
Byesville, Guernsey county, which under his excellent management has become
one of the finest merchants' flouring-mills on the of state road. Mr.
McCreary was united in marriage to Miss Elenor McKelvey, December 9, 1874.
Five children were the result of this union, viz.: Zelena May, Robert B. and
Hugh B., twins, Charles D., who died at the age of one year, and a baby which
died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. McCreary are Presbyterians in their belief, Mr.
McCreary being an elder in that church. The people of his township have
evinced their confidence in his sterling qualities by electing him trustee,
six years in succession. He is democratic in his views.