OLIVER E. MCCLINTOCK. The roster of agriculturists of Madison County who have participated prominently in the movement which have served to bring about the great progress and advancement of this section of the State during the past half a century would be incomplete indeed did it not contain the name of Oliver E. McClintock, of Stony Creek Township, who, although now a resident of the town of Lapel, has for many years been interested in farming and stock raising in Stop, Creek and Jackson Townships, where he is the owner of large property.
Mr. McClintock belongs to that class of enterprising, energetic men to whom are due the progress and improvement of the West, while as a public servant he has and is contributing materially to the welfare of his fellow men, Mr. McClintock was born on a farm in Jackson Township, Madison County, Indiana, June 21, 1858, and is a son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Bristol) McClintock.
The McClintock family is one of the old and honored 0nes of this section, and was founded in Indiana by Alexander McClintock, who came as a pioneer from North Carolina. A son of this progenitor, George McClintock, settled in Anderson when there were but three houses in that place, his journey thence having been made by wagon, and subsequently he located on a tract of land along the river in Jackson Township, where he passed the remainder of his life. Daniel McClintock, son of George, and father of our subject, was born in Jackson Township, May 19, 1832, and died May 4, 1910. He was reared on his father’s farm, received his education in the district schools and continued to reside on the homestead until within eight years of his death, when he came to Stony Creek Township and located in Lapel. For forty years he was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and his politics were those of the Republican party, whose candidates and principles he supported staunchly. A successful farmer, Mr. McClintock developed an excellent property, and he was also a large breeder of pure-bred Short Horn cattle, which he served to introduce in Jackson Township. He and his wife were the parents of three children George K.; Oliver E.; and Belle V., a graduate of the Jackson public schools, and now the wife of Verling Stanley, former editor of the Lapel News, a sketch of whose career will be found on another page of this work.
Oliver E. McClintock was reared on his father’s farm and after a district school education and a term at high school, secured a teacher’s license. He continued to farm, however, and remained on his father’s property until he was twenty-one years of age, at which time he embarked in operations on his own account. Mr. McClintock was married November 28, 1886, to Miss Leora Wise, who was reared in Jackson Township and educated in the common schools, and to this union there were born five children: Hershel G., a graduate of the Lapel High school, who was a public school teacher for one year and is now a Rural Free Delivery mail carrier out of Lapel; Daniel, also a graduate of the Lapel High school, and now at teacher in the public schools of that place; Walter, a high school graduate, who is assisting his father in the operation of his farms; Cecil, who graduated from the high school, and like his brother is engaged as an educator; and Myrtle. who is still a student at Lapel. The family has long been connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which Mr. McClintock serves as steward. His fraternal connection is with Lapel Lodge No. 386, Knights of Pythias, and the local lodges of the Improved Order of Red Men and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Politically a Republican, he was elected a member of the board of trustees of Stony Creek Township, and is now serving his fifth year as incumbent of that office, where he has given the utmost satisfaction.
In 1903 Mr. McClintock transferred his home from the country to Lapel, in order that his children might receive better educational opportunities. He is the owner of 500 acres of land, of which 200 acres are located in Stony Creek Township and 300 in Jackson Township, and all are under a high stet of cultivation. General farming has occupied the greater part of his attention, but he has also met with a gratifying success in the breeding of standard Short Horn cattle and Arabian horses, and few men of the County are more widely known as stock buyers and dealers, Air. McClintock has been interested in other business ventures, and is at present a stockholder in the Lapel State Bank. In the conduct of his commercial interests and in the discharge of his official duties his reputation is unassailable and among the citizens of Lapel he is held in the highest regard.