MEN OF THE RIVER
THE OTHER CLERMONT COUNTY
MCCLAIN FAMILY

By Bev McClain

Area historians may be familiar with one branch of Clermont County McClains, including Reverend John McClain who lived in the vicinity during the 19th century. But, there is another family of Clermont County McClains whose story is not so easily told. They were "Men of the River" and their tale is still unfolding. Riverboat Captain John McClain, buried in the Forest Ave. Cemetery in the village of Neville, has a gravestone which is impressive in stature and design. But only glimpses of Captain McClain's life are recorded, which makes his legend even more intriguing.

In her written memoirs, Captain John McClain's granddaughter, Rachel Smith Wheeler, described him as a "very large man". She recounted several stories about Captain John McClain, including the fact that his father, Hugh, had come to this country from Londonderry, Ireland. Hugh McClain ventured to America sometime before 1800 and had a family of at least on daughter and eight sons, all of whom became "steamboat captains, pilots or engineers" along the Ohio River.

Census records verify Hugh McClain and his wife lived in Pennsylvania, where son, John, was born in 1798. They moved down the Ohio River to Virginia (now West Virginia) where other children were born. It is likely that Hugh McClain arrived in Ohio sometime during the 1820's. By 1830, he was listed in the Clermont County Census as a widower with five children living at home. Two older sons, Captain John and Alexander, were heads of their own household and lived nearby.

Much of what is know of Steamboat Captain John McClain comes from the partial autobiography of his granddaughter. Other facts have been pieced together from census and land records, wills, and a recently discovered family Bible. Captain McClain and his first wife, Sarah, gave birth to daughter, Rachel, in 1821, and another girl, Polley, in 1925. Mother and daughter, Sarah and Polley McClain died within two years of each other leaving widower Captain McClain alone to raise young Rachel.

In 1829, John McClain married a second time to Isabella Massey. That same year, Captain McClain purchased 112 acres along the Ohio River from Morgan Neville and built a home for his new wife and young daughter. Almost a century later, John McClain's granddaughter would describe the house in her reminiscences:
"…Grandfather lived in a beautiful old colonial house with an avenue of cedar trees leading to the landing. It was situated about twenty eight miles above Cincinnati. Everything about the place bespoke comfort and good taste."

Thanks to the tenacious research of area resident Bev McClain, the above mentioned 1830 era McClain homestead has been re-discovered its is located at 1842 US Rt.52 Ohio River Pike. Current owners Bill and Mary Thompson, are interested in having the home documented as a historic landmark.

Around 1840 Rachel McClain met her husband to be, another steamboat captain, at the McClain homestead. Another excerpt from the partial autobiography of her daughter, Rachel Smith Wheeler reveals more of the McClain legacy: "…One day my father, (Captain Alexander Smith) was invited to the home of Captain John McClain who owned several boats and had been Captain of a keel boat before steamers were invented. Grand father McClain had seven brothers and they were all steamboat captains, pilots, or engineers, so you wonder that I am fond of the water…". "…Here (the McClain home) my father met my mother (Rachel)) and fel lin love with the bright, witty girl, ten years his junior. They were married October 12th, 1842 when mother was twenty one years old. They lived at her father's house until they could build their house on propetry father had bought ten miles above the McClain homestead. A daughter named Isabel Elizabeth, after her stepgrandmother, had been born before they moved in their own house.

Smith's Landing, the new home of Captain Alexander Smith and his bride, Rachel McClain Smith, was established at Rural, Franklin Township, Clermont County in 1844. It was well documented on early river charts. Just west of present day Utopia, a street sign still marks the general location. A store was built near the landing and both became hubs for travel and trade along the Ohio River in the middle of the 19th century. The McClain and Smith River properties are marked in Atlases of that time. The 1891 Atlas for Washington Township also confirms the presence of a McClain School, built along the Ohio River Pike. The school was recently razed with the building of the new water treatment plant.

The Ohio River McClains were major stockholders in the Cincinnati, Maysville and Portsmouth Packet Company and were actively involved in the local river commerce for over 70 years. At least on of the McClain brothers was involved in the abolitionist movement during the mid 19th century. According to the The Southern Ohio History of the Underground Railroad by Beverly J. Gray, Captain William McClain was a known conductor on the Underground Railroad; ferrying people to safe houses in Scioto County along the Ohio. Anti-slavery feelings in the 1850's were prevalent among those living along the Ohio River. In her memoirs, Rachel Smith Wheeler wrote of their mother's feelings about slavery:"Mother (Rachel McClain) often took trips with my father's boats, then running from Pittsburg to New Orleans and may is the story she used to tell of slavery and its horrors."

The impact that Riverboat Captain John McClain's family had on the economic and social development of this Ohio River region will continue to be measured as each of their stories are uncovered. Tales untold may yet unlock the mysteries of a bygone era of wealth and prosperity in our Ohio River towns. Unfortunately, what the River once brought to this valley, the River took away. The strength of the emerging railroads and the increased dangers of steamboat fires had a major impact on the decline of the great riverboat saga. The great floods of the Ohio River in 1883 and again in 1884 literally wiped out much of the early history of many of the small river villages. Some families tried to rebuild, but in 1913 and again in 1937 the raging River won again. Rediscovering these remarkable stories of pioneer river families, like the McClains, is an ever-important part of Neville's rich, colorful, and romantic River History.