Charles R. McLean
One of the extensive land owners of Fayette county, Ohio, is Charles R. McLean, who owns two hundred and fifty acres in Fayette county and operates two hundred and fifty acres more, making a total of five hundred acres in this county. The McLean family have been prominent in their county history for more than a century and its various members have been active in every phase of the gpunty's growth and development. The McLeans are of Welsh descent and located in this county in 1810. Mr. McLean is a man of wide education and is justly regarded as one of the most progressive farmers and ablest business men of the county.
Charles R. McLean, the son of James A. and Catherine (Briggs) Mc Lean, was born in Washington C. H. on July 31, 1870. His father was born in the same city in 1841, and served with distinction in the Civil War as a member of Company C, One Hundred and Fourteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He enlisted as a sergeant in this company on August 9, 1862, and was discharged on account of disability arising from sickness after serving a year at the front. He was a civil engineer and helped to plan and lay out the breast works surrounding Vicksburg, and was present at the capture on July 4, 1863. As a civil engineer James A. McLean laid out most of the roads in Fayette county and surveyed a large number of the farms in this county at different times. James A. McLean and wife were the parents of five children, Nettie, Charles R., Lida, Fred and Mary. Nettie is the wife of Dr. Charles James, of Denver, Colorado, and has three children, Wathan, Charline and Marvin; Lida is the wife of George Fabb, and has one son, Charles; Fred married Louise McMullen; Mary is the wife of W. H. Riddel and has three children, Hildreth and twins, Williams and James. James A. McLean and wife were both loyal and consistent members of the Presbyterian church and are now buried in the cemetery at Washington C. H.
Charles R. McLean finished the common school course at Washington C. H. and then entered the University of Kentucky at Danville, where he graduated in the classical course. At the age of twenty-one he began farming and has since devoted all of his time to agricultural pursuits. That he has been remarkably successful is shown by his land holdings. He lives on his fine farm in Wayne township. He is one of the most extensive stock breeders in the county and markets several car loads of live stock annually.
Mr. McLean was married in December, 1904, to Leota Brown, the daughter of Jesse Brown and wife, of Clinton county, this state, and to this union has been born one daughter, Catherine L.
Politically, Mr. McLean gives his allegiance to the Republican party, but his heavy agricultural interests so occupy his time and attention that he has not had the time to mingle in political afifairs. However, he takes an intelligent interest in the issues of the day, and is able to discuss them in a manner which shows that he is thoroughly conversant with the problems now confronting the American people. He is a man of genial disposition, kindly impulses and gives his unreserved support to all measures which have for their end the educational, moral or material advancement of his county.
From History of Fayette County Ohio - Her People, Industries and Institutions by Frank M. Allen (1914, R. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.)