J. S. McClary, of the firm of McClary & Co., dealers in general merchandise and coal, is a native of Onondaga County, N. Y.; raised in Madison County. N. Y. At the age of seventeen, he came to Boone County, Ill.; was employed as Civil Engineer for the Old Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, now the N. W. R. R; continued in the employ of this company about five years, afterward employed as conductor on the I. C. R R. about three years, running from Centralia to Dubuque; also employed with the B. & M. R R. about one year; enlisted in 1861, in Company B, Thirteenth Illinois Infantry as Quartermaster Sergeant. Later, he was commissioned First Lieutenant and Acting Quartermaster; remained in the service till the summer of 1864, when he went to Minnesota; was appointed Road Master of the W. & St. P. R. R; remained there three years. In 1867, he removed to Fremont and engaged in merchandising; in 1871, came to Norfolk, where he has since resided; was Receiver of the United States Land Office from 1875 to 1881.
