MAHONING COUNTY OHIO - BIOS: MCEWEN, James Harris (published 1925)
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History of Ohio
The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925
Volume IV, page 197

        JAMES HARRIS McEWEN, dean of Youngstown bankers, and one of the
most prominent men of Mahoning County, has devoted his life to finance, and
is now a member of the directorate of the Mahoning National Bank, successor
to the Youngstown Savings & Loan Company. He was born at Youngstown,
October 13, 1842, a son of James and Elizabeth (Fitch) McEwen, the former
born on a farm near Elkton, Indiana, and the latter born in New York City.
About 1835 James McEwen came to Youngstown, having been attracted here
during his work as an engineer on the canal. In 1839 he was married and
took up his residence in this city, and following the completion of the
canal, served as its superintendent, and still later was president of the
company. When he died, in 1872, at the age of seventy-three years, he was
holding that office. His wife died in 1869, aged fifty-seven years.
        After a boyhood and youth spent at Youngstown, James Harris McEwen
went, at the age of twenty years, into the Mahoning County Bank as a clerk,
and continued with that old institution until 1868, during that period
laying the foundation for the knowledge of banking which later was to make
him such an authority on finance. In 1868 he entered the Youngstown Savings
& Loan Company as treasurer, and during the turbulent reconstruction period
following the termination of the war, with its numerous problems, a number
of the leading citizens of Youngstown, among whom was Mr. McEwen, whose
names have since been linked with the great industries of the state,
realizing the need for greater banking facilities, organized the Mahoning
National bank in 1877, as the successor to the Youngstown Savings & Loan
Company, with which they had already been connected.
        With the opening of the doors of the new institution Mr. McEwen
assumed the duties of cashier, and ably discharged them until January 14,
1908, at which time he was elected president of the bank, and he served as
such for nearly two years, retiring from the office and from business
generally, January 11, 1910. Although more than ten years over the three
score years and ten of psalmist, he retains his place on the Board of
Directors of the bank, and his wealth of experience, gained through almost
sixty years of constant service, is freely given and gladly availed by the
active officers of the bank. In spite of his age, Mr. McEwen is very active
and visits the bank almost daily. He was an intimate friend of the late
Robert McCurdy, and when the latter died in 1904, Mr. McEwen was named as
executor of his estate, and this, with his personal affairs, he still
successfully administers.
        On February 22, 1883, Mr. McEwen married Miss Florence Rayen, who
was born at Champion, Trumbull County, Ohio, and was a teacher in the Rayen
High School prior to her marriage. This school was named in honor of her
uncle, William Rayen, one of the prominent men of earlier Youngstown. Her
father, John Rayen, was born in Trumbull County, Ohio. Mr. McEwen is
residing at 534 Bryson Street, Youngstown, Mrs. McEwen having died in 1912,
leaving no children. For many years Mr. McEwen was vice president of the
McMillan Library, and he has otherwise been of great service to his
community. One of the old-line republicans, he has followed his party's
fortunes almost from its beginnings, and has met and known intimately some
of its greatest lights. He still enjoys meeting his old friends at the
Youngstown Club. During his long and varied life Mr. McEwen has witnessed
many changes, and has seen most marvelous development in and about
Youngstown, in whose history he is so deeply concerned. The stainless
record of this honorable gentleman proves that a man may achieve prestige
and wealth, and yet never swerve in so doing from the path of strictest
probity.