Samuel McCleary, who was a native of the North of Ireland, and came to this country when he was twelve years old, with his parents, who were of Scotch-Irish stock. The family first settled in Westmoreland County, Pa., and when Samuel was a young man removed from there to what is now New Castle, the county seat of Lawrence County, that city now being built upon the farm that the grandfather of our subjects developed from the dense growth of primeval forest that then prevailed in that section of the country. Samuel Mc-Cleary spent his remaining days in the home that he made there, dying at the age of fifty-six. He was prominent in promoting the growth of New Castle and lived to see it a flourishing town. He was one of its pioneer merchants and one of its principal business men in his day. Besides running a mercantile establishment he did an extensive business as a drover, taking stock to Philadelphia, and with the proceeds of the sales buying goods to sell at home. He and his wife were great workers in church matters, and they helped to organize the Presbyterian Church in their town.
Samuel MeCleary was married in New Castle to Nancy Gorden, who was born on the Atlantic Ocean when her parents were emigrating to this country from their ancestral home in Scotland. They were a branch of the celebrated Gorden family so well known in the history of Scotland. They settled first in Westmoreland County, Pa., after their arrival in America, and thence removed to Mercer County in the early days of its settlement, and were pioneers of the country around New Castle, where they hewed out a farm from the wilderness. Some of them served as privates in the War of 1812. They were stanch Presbyterians in religion and were Whigs in polities, while the old stock of McClearys were Democrats. Mrs. Samuel McCleary survived her husband many years and died during the Rebellion when nearly eighty years of age. She was a large woman, of fine physique, and retained her bodily and mental faculties to the last.
Source: “George and Elliot S. McCleary” Portraits & Biographical Record of Lee County IL. Chicago: Biographical Pub. Co., 1892. 211-212.
Samuel McCleary was a stone-mason in early life, and it is claimed that in 1812 he erected the first two-story building in New Castle, building it on the plot of ground where the Y. M. C. A. Building now stands. He was also a large farmer, and owned a valuable tract of 400 acres, now located in the borough of West New Castle. In addition to his other lines of business and occupation, he kept a large store, where the Rink Building is now located on Beaver and Washington Streets. He was a man of unusual business tact and energy, and although he died at the early age of forty-four years he had accumulated a fine fortune for those days.
Source: “Samuel Moorhead”, Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania. Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897. p175.