One of the prominent merchants of Kendrick, and the senior member of the large general mercantile firm of McGrew & Carmean, is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, an enterprising, energetic man whose keen discrimination in business efforts and indefatigable industry have brought him a success which he well merits. A native of Illinois, he was born in Clay County, July 11, 1862, and is of Scotch-Irish lineage. His great-grandfather, James McGrew, having emigrated from the Emerald Isle to the New World, settled in Pennsylvania and became the progenitor of the family in the United States. He later became a pioneer of Ohio, where the grandfather, Joseph McGrew, was born in 1804. The latter became a successful farmer and was also a devout Methodist. In 1854 he removed with his family to Clay County, Illinois, where his death occurred, in 1898, at the advanced age of ninety-four years.
James McGrew, the father of our subject, was a native of Clay County, and there married Miss Sarah Adeline Moore, a native of Indiana. Her father died when she was a small child, and she was reared in Illinois. Both of Mr. McGrew’s grandmothers died in 1898, the one on the paternal side at the age of ninety years, the one on the maternal at the age of eighty. On both sides the families were people of the highest respectability. The McGrews were active, energetic and successful in accumulating money, but the Moores were less ambitious, satisfied with enjoying the good things of life as time passed. In the McGrew family of which our subject is a member, are eight children, the eldest being a son, then six daughters, and the youngest a son. AH are yet living and are in the enjoyment of good health.
Mansfield C. McGrew, the eldest of the family, was educated in the public schools of his native state, and in the Heyward College, after which he successfully engaged in teaching for four years. In 1889 he came to Idaho, locating first in Moscow, where he engaged in teaching until he took charge of the public schools in Genesee.
Subsequently he was employed as a salesman by J. P. Vollmer, for two years, and his experience in that line determined him to engage in merchandising on his own account. Accordingly he organized the Genesee Mercantile Company, with which he was connected for five years, after which he came to Kendrick and opened his present store, which he has successfully conducted continuously since. In 1899 Mr. Carmean was admitted to a partnership. They do an extensive general mercantile business, occupying a large double store and two warerooms. Their courteous treatment of patrons, reasonable prices and correct business policy insure them a large business, and they are also extensive buyers and shippers of grain.
Mr. McGrew was married March 12, 1885, to Miss Aldorah S. Yockey, a native of Iowa, and of German ancestry. They have, six children: Elba, Joy, Beulah, Veva, Portia and Merton C. The parents are leading members of the Methodist church, and Mr. McGrew is serving as a member of the board of trustees. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias fraternity and the Modern Woodmen of the World, and in his political views is a Democrat. The cause of education finds him a wise supporter, and he lends his aid and co-operation to all movements intended to advance the material, social, intellectual and moral welfare of the community.