- Alney McLean
Infobox Officeholder
honorific-prefix =
name = Alney McLean
honorific-suffix =
caption = Alney McLean, circa 1820
state = Kentucky
district = 5th
term_start = March 4, 1815
term_end = March 3, 1817
March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1821
preceded =William P. Duval (1815)Anthony New (1819)
succeeded =Anthony New (1819)Anthony New (1821)
birth_date = Birth date|1779|6|10|mf=yes
birth_place =Burke County, North Carolina
death_date = Death date and age|1841|12|30|1779|6|10
death_place =Greenville, Kentucky
restingplace = Old Caney Station Cemetery
restingplacecoordinates =
party = Democratic-Republican
spouse = Tabitha Russell Campbell
occupation = Surveyor
profession =Lawyer
religion =
branch =United States Army
serviceyears = 1812 – 1815
rank =Captain
unit =
commands =
battles =War of 1812
awards =Alney McLean (
June 10 ,1779 –December 30 ,1841 ) was aUnited States Representative fromKentucky .McLean County, Kentucky is named in his honor.Early life
McLean was born to Ephraim and Eliza (Davidson) McLean in
Burke County, North Carolina on June 10, 1779.Kleber, p. 599] He pursued preparatory studies.Congressional Biography] In 1820, Ephraim McLean moved the family toMuhlenberg County, Kentucky .Rothert, p. 72] At age twenty, he moved to Kentucky and was appointed surveyor ofMuhlenberg County, Kentucky . In this capacity, he laid outGreenville, Kentucky , the county seat, and was elected a the trustee of that city when it was formed in 1799.On November 16, 1805, McLean married Tabitha Russell Campbell, daughter of Revolutionary War
general William Campbell; the couple had ten children."Biographical Encyclopedia of Kentucky"] One of McLean's grandsons, William C. McLean, became an Associate Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court.Political and military career
McLean studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1805 and commenced practice in Greenville. He showed little interest in politics until at least 1808. [Rothert, p. 71] He was first elected to office in 1812, representing Muhlenberg County in the
Kentucky House of Representatives from 1812 to 1813.At the outset of the
War of 1812 , McLean organized a company of volunteers.Rothert, p. 70] Records show that the company was enlisted September 18, 1812. In 1813, he organized a company ultimately commanded by Lewis Kincheloe, then raised another company that he commanded personally both underGeneral Samuel Hopkins in his campaigns against the Indians and at theBattle of New Orleans . ["Biographical sketch of the Hon. Lazarus W. Powell"] He took offense to GeneralAndrew Jackson 's charge that the Kentuckians "ingloriously fled" during the battle, and remained a political opponent of Jackson's for the remainder of his career.McLean was elected as a Republican to the
Fourteenth Congress , serving from March 4, 1815 to March 3, 1817. He returned to Congress in 1819, serving in theSixteenth Congress . After leaving Congress, he was appointed acircuit judge of the fourteenth district of Kentucky, a position he held until his death. As apresidential elector in 1824 and 1832, McLean twice cast his vote for Kentucky'sfavorite son ,Henry Clay .Later life
Around 1820, McLean and his son William discovered
coal on the family farm near the now-defunct town of Paradise. However, at the time, wood was more more plentiful and convenient, and the discovery was largely overlooked. In 1830, the McLeans mined some of the coal and sent it toRussellville, Kentucky on ox wagons and via barges down the Green River toOwensboro, Kentucky andEvansville, Indiana . The McLean mine was one of the first commercial mines in Muhlenberg County and was later valued above other mines in the county because of its transportation facilities. [Rothert, pp. 389–390]McLean died of
pneumonia near Greenville, Kentucky in 1841 and was buried in Old Caney Station Cemetery, near Greenville, Kentucky.McLean County, Kentucky was formed from Muhlenberg and other counties in 1854 and named in honor of Alney McLean.References
*CongBio|M000544
*cite book |title=Biographical sketch of the Hon. Lazarus W. Powell, (of Henderson, Ky.) : governor of the state of Kentucky from 1851-1855 and a senator in Congress from 1859-1865 |others=published by direction of the General Assembly of Kentucky |publisher=Kentucky Yeoman Office |location=Frankfort, Kentucky |year=1868 |url=http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;sid=61e57d097009769aae83e57a690ffa7c;idno=b92-63-27078866;view=toc |pages=p. 13
*cite book |title=The Biographical Encyclopaedia of Kentucky |publisher=J. M. Armstrong & Company |location=Cincinnati, Ohio |year=1878 |url=http://www.tennkin.com/d0/i0000050.htm#i50 |accessdate=2008-09-22
*cite book |last=Kleber |first=John E. |editor=Kleber, John E. |others=Associate editors:Thomas D. Clark ,Lowell H. Harrison , and James C. Klotter |title="The Kentucky Encyclopedia" |year=1992 |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |location=Lexington, Kentucky |isbn=0813117720
*cite book |last=Rothert |first=Otto Arthur |title=A History of Muhlenberg County |publisher=J.P. Morton |year=1913 |location=Louisville, Kentucky |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=tHzUYtgbjgEC |accessdate=2008-06-14
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