George S. and Elliott S. McCleary are profitably engaged in business as dairymen and farmers, and each has a well-stocked and finely equipped dairy farm in Nelson Township. These gentlemen are natives of Lawrence County, Pa., the first-mentioned born February 15, 1848. George McCleary‘s farming interests are centered on section 13, where he owns one hundred and thirty-eight acres of excellent farming land, that is finely adapted to stock-raising purposes, and is one of the best dairy farms of the neighborhood. It is stocked to its fullest capacity with cattle of good breeds, and for the past two years Mr. McCleary has kept a herd of thirty dairy cows and by his able management has made this branch of agriculture a paying business. He and his brother came to this county with their parents and other members of the family in the spring of 1865 and have since been numbered among its most desirable citizens. He spent the first eighteen months after his arrival in Dixon Township, and since then has been a resident of Nelson Township, becoming the owner of his present farm in 1876.
The marriage of George McCleary with Miss Mary A. Alcorn was solemnized in his native county. She was also a Pennsylvanian by birth, born in Beaver County, in 1855, and was ten years old when her parents, Henry and Catherine (Baker) Alcorn, removed to Lawrence County, where they now live retired, having formerly been engaged in farming. May 29, 1889, death crossed the threshold of the home of our subject and took from him his beloved wife, who had filled in a perfect measure her position as daughter, wife and mother, and was truly a home-maker. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and her Christian spirit was evinced in her daily life. Four children were born of her marriage with our subject, all of whom arc with him and are named as follows: Edna, Iva P., Charles N. and Frances C.
Our subjects are sons of William McCleary, who was a native of the same Pennsylvania county in which they were born.
Source: “George and Elliot S. McCleary” Portraits & Biographical Record of Lee County IL. Chicago: Biographical Pub. Co., 1892. 211-212.