Will County IL Archives Biographies.....McClester, George R 
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Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 14, 2008, 1:53 am

Author: Past & Present Will County IL 1907

George R. McClester, who is now practically living retired from active 
business, was for twenty-one years prominently connected with the building 
interests of Plainfield as a contractor and builder and for sixteen years was 
associated with Frank Marsh in a grain elevator business. More than a half 
century has come and gone since he took up his abode in Will county, having 
settled in Plainfield in 1853, when he came to the middle west from 
Springfield, Massachusetts. He was then a lad of about ten years, having been 
born in Springfield in 1843. His parents were Robert and Mary A. (Field) 
McClester, who settled in Plainfield in 1853. The father was a wagon-maker by 
trade and conducted a shop of that character for a considerable period. He 
died, however, in 1865, at the age of fifty years, when at Chattanooga, 
Tennessee, in the government employ. His widow still survives and is residing 
in Wheaton, Illinois, in the ninetieth year of her age. Both parents were 
natives of the old Bay state and the father was of Scotch descent, Mr. 
McClester has two sisters living: Mrs. Hoag, of Plainfield, and Mrs. Ida 
Patrick, of Wheaton. In the schools of his native state Geroge R. McClester 
began his education, which he continued in Plainfield and in the Northwestern 
College. After putting aside his text-books he learned the trade of a 
carpenter and builder at Plainfield and has made that his main business. He 
has erected many houses in and near the village and has also had charge of 
elevators which he has erected. On many sides are seen evidences of his 
handiwork. He has been recognized as one thoroughly proficient in the line of 
his trade and thoroughly reliable in the execution of his contracts. The only 
interruption to his business life down to the present time, when he is living 
partially retired, was when he served his country as a soldier in the Civil 
war. He enlisted at Plainfield in 1862 when about nineteen years of age, 
becoming a member of Company D, One Hundredth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. 
Three months later he was transferred to the regiment of United States 
Engineers, with which he was connected for two years and nine months. He had 
previously enlisted in McAllister's battery in 1861 for three months' service, 
after which he joined the army for the term of three years. He never received 
a scratch during his long service of three years and three months, although he 
was often in places of imminent danger. Fraternally he is connected with 
Morrell post, G. A. R., at Plainfield, and thus maintains pleasant relations 
with his old army comrades. He has served in different offices of the post and 
is much interested in its work. His political allegiance is given to the 
republican party and at the present writing he is serving as alderman of 
Plainfield. In this village, where he has so long resided, Mr. McClester was 
married to Miss Marietta Bowering, who was born in Plainfield, whither her 
father, William C. Bowering, came in the early '40s. He afterward removed to 
California, where his death occurred. Mrs. McClester was reared here and made 
her home in the village until her death, which occurred on the 4th of July, 
1903, when she was fifty-six years of age. Mr. and Mrs. McClester had one son, 
Frank R., who was a pharmacist of Plainfield and conducted a drug store until 
his death, which occurred in March, 1897, when he was twenty-eight years of 
age. Mr. McClester has thus been left alone. For more than a half century he 
has lived in the village which is still his place of residence and where he is 
very widely and favorably known. His acquaintance embraces almost every man, 
woman and child in the town and many people of the surrounding country and by 
all who know him he is held in high esteem as a man of genuine personal worth, 
having displayed throughout his life many sterling traits of character. 

Additional Comments:
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907

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