Guide to the Papers of the McClelland Family, 1821-1977
Arrangement
Repository
Heinz History Center
Title
Papers of the McClelland Family
Creator
McClelland family
Collection Number
MSS#66
Extent
6 cubic feet(12 boxes)
Date
1821-1977
Abstract
This collection consists of the papers of the McClelland family, a prominent local family which first settled in the region in the early 1800's and lived for over a century in Pittsburgh's Shadyside neighborhood. It includes correspondence, educational materials, diaries, scrapbooks, travel souvenirs, newspaper clippings and organizational material pertaining to homeopathic medicine, abolition of slavery, local politics and social conditions.
Language
The material in this collection is in English.
Author
This guide to the collection was originally prepared by Historical Society Staff c. 1977. The papers were rearranged and the inventory was rewritten by Susan J. Illis on April 30, 1994. Revisions occurred to the finding aid as a part of the encoding process in
Sponsor
This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project, a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
The McClelland Family was a prominent local family who counted among its members builders, architects, physicians, lawyers, artists, politicians, university professors, and clergymen. The family first settled in the region in the early 1800s and lived for over a century in Pittsburgh's Shadyside neighborhood. The last family member, Rachel Pears McClelland, died in 1982, leaving no heirs.
>Black Family
The Reverend Dr. John Black (1768-1849), son of John Black and Margaret McKibben Black, was born in Brecknamuckly, County Antrim, Ireland. He studied classics at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 1797. Due to the political unrest at the time of the Irish Rebellion, he immigrated to America. He first settled near Philadelphia, where he taught classics and studied to enter the ministry. After being licensed to preach in 1799, he came to Pittsburgh and in 1800, and was ordained pastor of the First Reformed Presbyterian Church, a position he held until his death. Dr. Black was also professor of ancient languages and superintendent of the Classical Department at the Western University of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh). In 1801, he married Elizabeth Watson (1783-1824), third daughter of Andrew Watson (1755-1823) and Margaret Thomson Watson (1759-1829).
John and Elizabeth Black had eleven children, nine of whom survived childhood: Margaret (1802-1802); Margaret Ewing Wylie (1804-); John (1806-1828); Andrew Watson (1808-1858); Elizabeth Thomson Black McClelland (1810-1870); Martha (c1812-1822); Alexander (1814-); Samuel Brown Wylie (1816-1862); Robert John (1820-1860); and Martha Anne Black Rodman (1823-). Andrew Watson Black became quite well known as a minister in Shenango and Allegheny City. In 1835, he married Margaret Roseburg and they had ten children: Mary Roseburg; Elizabeth; John; Alexander; Henry Stirling; Agnes Roseburg; Andrew Watson; Jennetta; Robert J.; and John Neil McLeod. Samuel Brown Wylie Black (1816-1862), a lawyer by profession, served as governor of the Nebraska territory. As colonel in the United States Army, he led an expedition against Mexico, and during the Civil War was killed in the Battle of Gaines Hill. He married Eliza Irwin in 1841 and they had four children: Emily (married Major W. J. Moorhead); Irwin (died in infancy); Watson; and Betty (married Rodman Wister). William Black (1818-1878) did not pursue any particular career and never married. After fighting in the Civil War, he went West to search for gold. Elizabeth Thomson Black (1810-1870) married James H. McClelland in 1835.
The following family members are not specifically addressed in these papers; however, there are some materials on their descendants: second daughter, also named Margaret (1804-) was married twice, first to Reverend Gordon T. Ewing in 1828, and second, to Reverend Samuel Wylie in 1849. Margaret and Gordon Ewing had two children: Elizabeth (married A. W. Pentland); and Mary (married Reverend Mathew McBride). Their eldest son John (1806-1828), also a minister, died from consumption shortly after his ordination. Their sixth child, Martha, died in 1822 at age 10. Alexander Black (1814-) was a doctor, but drifted out of the profession after his marriage to his first cousin Margaret Watson in 1838. He went into business and for a time operated an apothecary's store with his brother William. Robert John Black (1820-1860) was a minister in the Kensington district of Philadelphia. He married his first cousin Susan Julia Maria Wylie (-1860) in 1835. They had three daughters: Margaret; Elizabeth (died in infancy); and Susan Wylie. The youngest child, Martha Anne Black (1823-), married General Thomas Jackson Rodman, inventor of the twenty-inch Rodman gun (an innovation in sea coast defense). They had seven children: John Black; Florence (married Lt. W. P. Butler); Edward; Thomas; Robert; Ella (married Lt. J. C. Ayres), and Addison Burton.
>McClelland Family
James Henderson McClelland (1800-1871) was born in Newry, County Down, Ireland. He was the sixth child of Thomas McClelland (1757-1814) and Anne Wilson McClelland (1761-1830). James H. McClelland immigrated to the United States in 1816 and settled in Pittsburgh. An architect and builder, he worked on some of Pittsburgh's best known buildings. He was responsible for the installation of many of the city's water lines and in 1858, was appointed water commissioner. McClelland was an active abolitionist, belonging to Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Societies. He was deeply involved in religious activities and wrote many essays expressing his opinions. As a member of the Institution for the Increase and Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, which met on a weekly basis, he wrote a series of essays on education. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Pittsburgh in 1854, and was appointed postmaster of Pittsburgh in 1867.
He married Elizabeth Thomson Black in 1835, and they had eleven children: their first two sons, both named John Black, did not survive infancy; Thomas Claudius (1839-1863); Mary Watson Pentland (1841-1904); Robert John Black (John) 1843-1912); James Henderson (1845-1913); Elizabeth McClelland (Lizzie) (1847-1910); Sarah Collins (Sallie) (1849-1882); Anne Evangeline (Annie) (1851-1872); William Black (1854-1900); and Robert Watson (1857-1921).
In an effort to help family finances hurt by the Civil War, Thomas went West in 1861 to work in a silver mine in Arizona. In May 1863, he volunteered to accompany a cavalry expedition against the Apaches and was the only soldier killed in the encounter. John tried to help the family by working as a clerk in various stores around Freeport, Pennsylvania, until 1862 when he joined the Independent Pennsylvania State Artillery, Nathaniel Irish's Company F. After the war, he briefly sold life insurance, and eventually became a homeopathic doctor. William, a lawyer, settled in Colorado, where he was president of the Colorado-Pennsylvania Mining Company and one of the directors of the Shingiss Gold Mining Company. The youngest son, Robert, also became a homeopathic doctor. Mary (Mamie) remained single, residing at Sunnyledge, the house at 5th & Wilkins in Pittsburgh built by her brother James Henderson McClelland. Elizabeth married Reverend Joel S. Kelsey and they had four children: Joel S.; Mary; Elizabeth Black; and Rebecca. Sallie died from complications of typhoid at the age of thirty-three. Annie had studied to become a teacher, but died the summer before she was to have begun teaching.
James Henderson McClelland, Jr. attended the Hahnemann Homeopathic College in Philadelphia and became a prominent homeopathic physician. He was a surgeon, professor, and lifetime crusader for the cause of homeopathic medicine both here and abroad. He was a member and sometime president of numerous medical organizations, including the Pennsylvania State Board of Health. He was instrumental in the construction of the Pittsburgh Homeopathic Hospital (now Shadyside Hospital) on Centre Avenue in Shadyside and in having a statue of Dr. George Hahnemann erected in Washington, D. C. in 1900.
In 1884, he married Rachel May Pears (d.1947). She was the daughter of Rachel and John P. Pears, a partner in Bakewell, Pears Glass Company. They had three daughters: Sarah Collins (1885-1979); Rachel Pears (1887-1982); and Elizabeth Black (1888-1889), who died from meningitis.
Both Sarah and Rachel attended the preparatory school at the Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham College) and the Misses Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York. They travelled extensively with their parents and were active in various social welfare and homeopathic organizations. Sarah McClelland studied political science at the University of Pittsburgh, earning her B. A. in 1927, and completing all the requirements for a master's degree except for the thesis. During World War I, she worked for the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Returning to Pittsburgh following the war, she remained active in the YWCA, and also became involved in the Misses Masters School Society, Pleasant Hill Farm Association, Shadyside Hospital Ladies Auxiliary, and various other women's branches of homeopathic organizations.
Shortly after women were enfranchised in 1920, Sarah became involved in Republican politics. She served as City-County Committeewoman of the Republican Party, 14th Ward, 1st District from 1926 until 1958, and ran unsuccessfully for state legislature several times between 1924 and 1934.
Rachel McClelland attended the Misses Masters School, and Carnegie Institute of Technology, graduating in 1916. She became a well-known local artist, exhibiting her work in several of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh shows at the Arts & Crafts Center (now Pittsburgh Center for the Arts). She also exhibited her work at the Carnegie Institute, Bird in the Hand Gallery (Sewickley, Pa.), Post Office Museum, and the Westmoreland Museum of Art. In 1920, she married William Sutton (d.1954), an accountant who later became mentally ill.
Scope and Content Notes
This collection consists of the papers of the McClelland family, a prominent local family which first settled in the region in the early 1800's and lived for over a century in Pittsburgh's Shadyside neighborhood. It includes correspondence, educational materials, diaries, scrapbooks, travel souvenirs, newspaper clippings and organizational material pertaining to homeopathic medicine, abolition of slavery, local politics and social conditions.
Arrangement
Series have been designated for Black Family Papers, McClelland Family Papers, and Miscellaneous Materials. Materials are arranged alphabetically by family members' names within the series.
The McClelland Family Papers are housed in twelve archival boxes and are arranged in three series.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These materials came in three accessions in 1977 and were combined into one body of records in 1992.
Acc# 1977.0094 Gift of Sarah McClelland and Rachel Sutton.
Acc# 1977.0198 Gift of Sarah McClelland and Rachel Sutton.
Acc# 1977.0199 Gift of Sarah McClelland and Rachel Sutton.
Preferred Citation
Papers of the McClelland Family, 1821-1977, MSS #66, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Historical Society Staff c. 1977. The papers were rearranged and the inventory was rewritten by Susan J. Illis onApril 30, 1994.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Jennifer Marshall in June 1999.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.
Subjects
Corporate Names
Reformed Presbyterian Church (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia
Homeopathic Medical Society
Institution for the Increase and Diffusion of Universal Knowledge
Western Pennsylvania Anti-slavery Society
Personal Names
Black, Andrew Watson, -- 1808-1858
Black, John, -- Rev., -- 1768-1849
McClelland, James Henderson, -- 1800-1871
McClelland, James Henderson, -- 1845-1913
McClelland, John Black, -- 1843-1912
McClelland, Robert Watson, -- 1857-1921
McClelland, Sarah Collins, -- 1885-1979
McClelland, Thomas, -- 1839-1863
McClelland, William Black, -- 1854-1900
Geographic Names
Unites States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
