30 Facts About Alexander McClure

Alexander Kelly McClure was an American politician, newspaper editor, and writer from Pennsylvania.

Alexander McClure served as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1858 to 1859 and 1865 to 1866 as well as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 18th district in 1861 and the 4th district from 1873 to 1874.

Alexander McClure was a prominent supporter, correspondent, and biographer of President Abraham Lincoln.

Alexander McClure was the editor of the Franklin Repository newspaper in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and of the Philadelphia Times.

Alexander McClure grew up on a farm and received little formal education.

Alexander McClure traveled west as far as Iowa but returned to Pennsylvania after failing in the tannery business.

Alexander McClure worked as a printer at the Perry County Freeman and the Juniata Sentinel in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania.

Alexander McClure became editor and publisher of the Sentinel in 1846, and became known for his Whig political views.

In 1850, Millard Fillmore appointed McClure deputy United States Marshal for Juniata County.

Alexander McClure moved to Chambersburg in 1852 and purchased the Franklin Repository newspaper.

Alexander McClure studied law and was admitted to the Franklin County, Pennsylvania, bar in 1856.

Alexander McClure became active in the newly formed Republican Party and was an outspoken abolitionist.

At the 1860 Republican National Convention Alexander McClure became a well-known political figure, opposing fellow Pennsylvanian Simon Cameron's bid for the Republican nomination for the presidency.

Alexander McClure served in the Pennsylvania Senate for the 18th district in 1861 and for the 4th district in 1873.

Alexander McClure assisted Governor Curtin in planning a meeting of fourteen Northern state governors known as the "Loyal War Governors of the North", in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in order to secure their continued support of the war.

Alexander McClure was commissioned by President Lincoln as an assistant adjutant general with the rank of major on September 6,1862.

Alexander McClure was tasked with raising seventeen Pennsylvania regiments for induction into the US Army and served until he resigned his commission on February 27,1863.

In 1864, Alexander McClure moved to Philadelphia, opened a law office and helped Lincoln carry Pennsylvania again in the general election.

In 1865, Alexander McClure was elected again to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a Union Party member.

Alexander McClure became an investor and officer of the Philadelphia-based Montana Gold and Silver Mining Company and was superintendent of one of the company's mills at the Oro Cache vein in the Montana Territory.

Alexander McClure collaborated with former Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin as an incorporator of the McClure-Curtin Oil Company in Venango County, Pennsylvania.

Alexander McClure returned to Philadelphia in 1868 after supporting Ulysses S Grant at the Republican National Convention.

In 1867, Alexander McClure published Three Thousand Miles Through the Rocky Mountains and it became a resource by many interested in traveling in the West.

In 1873, Alexander McClure was elected to the Pennsylvania Senate for the 4th district.

Alexander McClure returned to newspaper editing by founding the Philadelphia Times in 1875.

Alexander McClure continued as The Philadelphia Times' editor until 1901, when he sold the newspaper to Adolph Ochs.

Alexander McClure lost much of his fortune in the stock market but was able to obtain an appointment as prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Alexander McClure worked to heal sectional divisions between Union and former Confederate forces, including participating at the unveiling of the monument to Confederate General George Pickett at the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.

In 1886 Alexander McClure wrote The South: Its Industrial, Financial, and Political Condition, which included material on race relations in the South.

Alexander McClure died on June 6,1909, in Wallingford, Pennsylvania and was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.