Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....McClelland, John A. 1933
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Marilyn Ransom mlnransom@chartermi.net May 8, 2012, 7:11 pm

The Portland Observer, Thursday, July 20, 1933
Portland’s final tribute to John A. McClelland was paid Monday when funeral 
services were held from the Methodist church, of which he had been a member 
for many years, at four o’clock in the afternoon, with Rev. R. V. Birdsall 
officiating.  Burial was made in Portland cemetery.  Mr. McClelland died early 
Saturday morning following a several week’s illness, death coming peacefully 
as he slept.

Born in Seneca county, Ohio, in 1854, while still an infant he was brought to 
Ionia county by his parents, who made the trip in a covered wagon and settled 
on the farm east of Portland now occupied by Charles Blossom, later moving 
across the county line on a farm in Westphalia township.   In 1872, when 16 
years of age, he had his first experience in merchandising.  In May of that 
year he was employed as clerk by C. H. and D. F. Hunter.  It was their desire 
to find a young dependable farmer’s boy who could be expected to master the 
intricacies of the business that gave him his start, how well he upheld their 
judgment in selecting him for the position is told in the story of his life 
and his gradual raise from farmer boy to leading merchant of Portland.  In the 
first five years of his business career MR. McClelland earned a reputation for 
honesty and industriousness.  These two attributes remained wit hi as 
characteristics during his after years and was the foundation upon which he 
built his success.


In 1877 he sought a business opportunity where he could have a word in the 
conduct of the enterprise.  Late in that year, with money he had saved from 
his meager salary, he purchased a partnership in a clothing store conducted by 
William Van Duyne, to which later was added a line of dry goods.

In November 1877 Mr. McClelland made a journey to Harbor Sprints, where a 
boyhood friend, Hattie Benjamin, lived with her parents.  Miss Benjamin had 
attended school with him at Portland during the majority of his seventeen 
years before he entered the store of Hunter & Hunter.  The couple were married 
in that northern town and immediately returned to Portland.  From this union 
five children were born, two of whom survive.  They are Mrs. Lou M. Richards 
and William J. McClelland, the latter since 1899, having been associated with 
his father in the firm of J. A. McClelland & Son.  Mrs. McClelland passed away 
in 1916.  Samuel McClelland is a brother and Emma McClelland a sister.

Several years after going into business with Mr. Van Duyne that partnership 
was terminated, Mr. McClelland taking over the entire stock.  In 1887 C. D. 
Woodbury, who owned a stock of goods and who operated another store in town, 
consolidated his goods with that of Mr. McClelland and that year the firm of 
McClelland & Woodbury opened for business.  The firm lasted one year when Mr. 
McClelland purchased the interest of his partner and continued the business 
alone.  Two years later he bought out the stock of W. D. Lakin and with an 
enlarged stock of merchandise he moved to the large building on the corner of 
Kent and Bridge streets, continuing in business there until his death.  
Spurred on by his success in Portland Mr. McClelland bought a store at 
Mulliken and another at Wacousta.  His business, to all likelihood, would have 
expanded to an even greater extent had his health not failed in 1905 when he 
was forced to close his two outlying stores. 

At one time when asked what he thought the secret of success was—what word of 
advice might be passed to the coming generation—Mr. McClelland meditated, “I 
feel,” he said, “that the only real thing that spurred me on, that kept me 
ever cheerful, was the love of my business.  I had no fear of failing; rather, 
the fear of losing a customer was greater to me than the thought of bankruptcy 
and indebtedness.  Tell the young men of today to be optimistic; tell them to 
look ahead; but, above all, if they sincerely desire to succeed, tell them 
that they must intensely love and honor their allotted calling.”



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