Back to the Family Records Page
Thomas W. McClure was a wheelwright, also skilled in the art of cabinet making. He arrived in the village at the age of nineteen to begin a long career. He found ready market for the wheels he made for spinning jennies. He set up a shop, west of Mill St., and produced wheels for many years. Later he manufactured chairs, bedsteads, tables, dressers, etc. for the settler's homes. He married Mary Hedges of Adams Co., who was born Oct. 5, 1805 and succumbed Sept. 12, 1830, after the birth of the following children: Mary Jane, Elizabeth, Sarah, who died Aug. 21, 1831, at the age of 11 months; Wilson, Sarah, named for her sister; Martha, one who died an infant, and James McClure, 1838-62. After the death of his first wife, Thomas married Martha, widow of the early merchant, James McCague. They were the parents of seven more children making him the father of sixteen children. The children by the second marriage were Margaret, Joseph W., Robert D., George W. Thomas, and two who died at an early age. Wilson, eldest son of Thomas an Mary (Hedges) McClure, married Ellen Jane, daughter of George W., and Eva Belleson. when his father died in 1871, Wilson McClure took over the business. He was already a licensed embalmer and added a new line of furniture. The McClures kept a good stable in connection with their funeral parlor. Wilson McClure had taken time out to enlist as a member of Co. B, 175th Reg., O.V.I., during the Civil War. Wilson and Ellen (Belleson)McClure were the parents of four children: George E., James A., Thomas H. and Wilson G. McClure. Wilson McClure died in 1909, his wife survived until 1920. Thomas H. McClure took over the family business and continued to sell furniture and hardware. They also became experts in all the types of tin work, slate and iron roofing. The McClures, Galls, and Wickerhams are no longer in business in Sinking Spring, but for many years they, or their relatives, dominated the business life of "the village among the hills."