Biographical Sketch of

Hugh McClelland

Transcribed by Sandra Boudrou for the Marquette Co WI Pages


Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara Counties, Wisconsin, 
published 1890 by Acme Publishing Co., Chicago, Pages 682 - 683


Hugh McClelland is a representative of one of the pioneer families of Green Lake County, and it is with 
pleasure that we present his sketch to the readers of the Portrait and Biographical Album.  His home is 
on section 35 in the town of Berlin, where he has resided for more than a quarter of a century.  He was 
born in Knox Co., Ohio, May 2, 1828, and is a son of James and Mary (Wilson) McClelland.  On his marriage 
with Miss Wilson, he settled in Knox County, Ohio, where he made his home until his death, which occurred 
in 1830, when our subject was about two years old.  The widow then became the wife of Thomas McClelland 
a brother of her former husband.
 
Our subject was the second of three children:  John, the eldest, is engaged in farming in the town of 
Berlin, Green Lake County, and Hannah J. is deceased.  He was early inured to hard labor and has been 
an industrious man throughout his entire life.  He was only twelve years of age when the family removed 
to Northern Indiana and he bore no inconsiderable part in the arduous task of developing the land in the 
midst of a deep forest.  He received but little education and that little was obtained in a log school 
house.  He remained under the parental roof until twenty-one years of age, assisting in the cultivation 
of the home farm, but on attaining his majority started out in life for himself.  He first rented land 
and in that way acquired a sum sufficient to purchase eighty acres.  In 1853 he went to Minnesota, where 
he pre-empted a quarter section, transforming it into a good farm.
 
On the 30th of November, 1857, Mr. McClelland wedded Margaret Cromwell, who was born in Montgomery County, 
N. Y., April 12, 1838, and is a daughter of Stephen A. and Sylvia A. (Worth) Cromwell.  The father was of 
German descent, the mother of New England birth and parentage.  The grandfather, Aaron S. Cromwell, was 
born in Germany and married a lady of the same nationality.  They then came to America and settled in 
Montgomery County, N. Y., where Stephen A. was born, reared and married.  In 1843, accompanied by his 
family, he emigrated to St. Joseph's County, Mich., where he died in 1844, at the age of fifty-two years.  
His wife died in 1845 in the forty-third year of her age.  In their family were five children, three of 
whom are living--Mrs. C. E. Chapman, Mrs. Lucy J. Streeter and Margaret, honored wife of our subject.
 
At the time of his marriage, Mr. McClelland located upon his farm in Minnesota and continued its cultivation 
until the breaking out of the late war, when fearing Indian depredations, he removed his family that they 
might be away from danger.  Soon afterwards, he purchased a part of his present farm, which he has since 
increased until it now comprises 355 acres, 240 of which is arable land.  The family numbered three children, 
but Willie, the second child, died at the age of two years; Truman H., the eldest, assists in the cultivation 
of the home farm; and Ella is the wife of Seth A. Janes.
 
Mr. McClelland is the owner of one of the best farms in the township, it being furnished with a commodious 
residence, good barns and outbuildings and all necessary improvements.  He also raises a fine grade of sheep, 
hogs, cattle and horses, and has been very successful in that line of business.  He is a Republican in politics 
and is held in high esteem by the people of the community. 






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