Conecuh County AlArchives Biographies.....McCreary, John A. November 11 1832 - living in 1893
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 17, 2004, 9:43 am

Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
    JOHN A. MCCREARY, M. D., an old and popular citizen of southern Alabama, is
a native of Conecuh cotmty, born about ten miles south of Evergreen on the 11th
day of November, 1832. Paternally he is descended from Scotch-Irish ancestry and
traces his family history back to the early days of Virginia. His father, John
McCreary, was united in marriage in Conecuh county, in the year 1825, with
Narcissa Autrey, daughter of Alexander Autrey, the second white man to make a
permament settlement within the present limits of Conecuh county. Of Alexander
Autrey it has been said: "He came up from the most straitened circumstances,
enduring all the privations of pioneer life, and yet, when he died, he was one
of the wealthiest men in Conecuh."  He was born of French and German ancestry in
North Carolina, January 4, 1780, married, March 5th, 1803, Parthenia B. Irvin,
and in 1810 moved to Georgia, thence to Monroe county, Ala. In 1815 he settled
on what is now known as Hampton ridge, Conecuh county. He reared a large family;
but one of whom, Mrs. C. P. Robinson of Vermillionville, Louisiana, is now
living. Mr. Autrey died September 22, 1857. To the marriage of John and Narcissa
McCreary were born the following children: Parthenia, widow of S. Mims; John A.;
Mary A., widow of J. M. Travis; William, Lorenzo and Martha, the last three
deceased. This family was raised in Conecuh county, and the father died on the
home place ten miles south of Evergreen in the year 1834. His widow, in 1836,
was united in marriage to Edward Shannon and departed this life in 1840. Adam
Mc-Creary, grandfather of John A. McCreary, was born in South Carolina in 1768,
and moved to Conecuh in 1818, settling near what is known as Old Town. He made
the first improvement on the large plantation now owned by Dr. Taliaferro, and
was a quiet, substantial citizen, noted for his deeply religious nature. Dr.
John A. McCreary attended school at intervals during his youthful years at
Evergreen, and at the age of eighteen began life for himself as clerk in the
store of George Christian, at the same place. He was thus employed for a period
of three years, when he bought a stock of goods and conducted the business until
1855, at which time he sold out and entered the office of Dr. Jordan at
Evergreen for the purpose of preparing himself for the medical profession. After
pursuing his studies assiduously for some time he took a course of lectures in
the Eclectic school of medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, and subsequently entered the
university of Louisiana at New Orleans, from which he graduated in March, 1860.
Returning home with his degree he engaged in the practice at Sparta, then the
county seat, and remained there until 1862, at which time he responded to the
call of the state for volunteers, enlisting in company H, Second Alabama
cavalry, with which he served until the close of the war, the greater part of
the time on detail duty in the states of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. On
quitting the service, he returned home and effected a copartnership in the
practice with Dr. Taliaferro, which was dissolved after a few months, Dr.
McCreary continuing his professional duties in connection with the drug
business, in which he had interested himself shortly after the close of the war.
He continued in active practice until 1836, since which time he has given his
attention entirely to the drug business, in which he has been more than
ordinarily successful, his stock, at this time, being the largest of the kind in
Evergreen. The doctor has been twice married; first, in October, 1860, to
Marcella, daughter of Asa Johnston, who bore him three children, namely:
Earnest, partner with his father in the drug trade; Edward J., clerk in the
general mercantile establishment of Demming, Evergreen, and John A., Jr., an
attorney at law at Bessemer, Ala. Mrs. McCreary died in 1870, and in 1871, the
doctor married his present wife, Elizabeth Ethridge, daughter of John W.
Ethridge, a union blessed by the birth of four children-the eldest of whom,
Marcellus, is a student at Howard college, Eastlake, Ala., where he is pursuing
his studies for the purpose of engaging in the medical profession. The other
children, Willie A., Lizzie Estelle, and Mattie Lou, reside at home with their
parents. As a democrat, Dr. McCreary has been active in behalf of his party's
interests in Conecuh county, and, in 1883, was honored by an election as county
treasurer, and re-elected in 1892. He has also served as mayor of Evergreen
several terms, and has been active in all movements, having for their object the
general prosperity of the city and county. Fraternally, he belongs to the Odd
Fellows and K. of P. orders, and is a communicant of he Baptist church, as is
also his wife.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 715-716

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/

File size: 5.3 Kb