BIO: Robert McCachran, Cumberland County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/ ______________________________________________________________________ History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania. Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc. Illustrated. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1886. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm ______________________________________________________________________ PART II. HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA. CHAPTER XLI. BOROUGH OF NEWVILLE. 452 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES: ROBERT McCACHRAN, attorney at law, Newville, is a representative of an old Scotch family, who came to this country early in the last century, at which time his great-great-grandfather emigrated, with his wife, three sons and one daughter. His son, James, married Mary Ralston, whom he had known in the old country, and they had three sons: James, John and Robert. In 1790 they purchased a farm on the Brandywine from the Penns, and here they lived until, on the death of his wife, the father, having made other arrangements for his youngest son, divided the farm between James and John, with whom he lived until his death, September 22, 1822, aged eighty-seven. John, the grandfather of Robert McCachran, was born about 1763, and in 1794 or 1795, was married to Isabella, daughter of John Cunningham, who enlisted in the Revolutionary war, and was never again heard of. John McCachran died February 8, 1808, aged about forty-five, leaving five children. His widow died February 12, 1851, at the residence of her son John, near Newville, aged eighty-six. Their children were James, Elizabeth, Robert, John and Isabella. Robert, father of our subject, was born in 1798. He had an ardent desire for a liberal education, which he procured under great difficulties in various places, finally completing the three years' course at the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J. He was licensed to preach in 1827 and given a charge at Middleton, Penn., also attending to the religious wants of the community for miles around. He was ordained May 19, 1829. In 1830 he took a journey in search of health, and in Newville was invited to preach in the Big Spring Church, then without a pastor. This resulted in his becoming pastor of that church in which he labored for twenty- one years, resigning in 1851. In 1834, he married Jane, daughter of Atcheson Laughlin, head of one of the oldest and most widely known and respected families of this region. She was born in 1799. They had two children: Robert, born October 6, 1835, and Mary born in 1837 (wife of James Oliver); she died in 1875. Robert McCachran, Sr., died at Newville, February, 15, 1885, aged eighty-five years; his wife died in 1872. Until 1853, young Robert attended a classical school taught by his father. He then went to Jefferson College, and graduated from Lafayette College, Easton, Penn., the following year. He engaged in teaching and read law in the office of Judge Frederick Watts, of Carlisle, and was admitted in 1857, but did not practice for some years, having the management of his father's property. Having prepared himself for the profession, he, in 1870, became civil engineer on the Harrisburg & Potomac Road, and, in 1872, took a similar position on the Pennsylvania Railroad, resigning in 1875, to look after his father's interests. In 1883 he began practicing as an attorney. In December, 1874, he married Martha McCandish, born in 1847, daughter of Thomas McCandish, of an old Scotch family, who have been in this neighborhood since early in the last century. To this union were born six children: Thomas, born February 16, 1876; Mary, born September 11, 1877; Jane, born October 28, 1878; Margaret, born December 21, 1879; Robert, born November 28, 1881 (deceased) and Russell Atcheson, born March 1, 1886. Mr. McCachran was a member of the Legislature four years, elected in 1878, and again in 1880, and is attorney for the borough. He is a K. T. He is a man of unswerving honesty and is in every way trustworthy.