John C. McVay Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1188-1190 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	JOHN C. McVAY.—This honored citizen of St. Lawrence, Hand county, 
where he is now living practically retired from active business, was 
born on a farm in Knox county, Ohio, on the 18th of October, 1834, so 
that he has nearly attained the age of three score years and ten. He is 
a son of William B. and Sarah (Love) McVay, both representatives of old 
and prominent families of Pennsylvania. The McVay family is of Scotch-
Irish extraction and the original American progenitors came to this 
country in the colonial days, while the name early became linked with 
the history of the old Keystone state. Our subject is one in a family of 
ten children, whose names in order of birth are as follows: Byram B., 
John C., Mary A., Emily P., William M., Leonard S., Rebecca J., Malinda, 
Thomas R. and Columbia. Of the number eight are living at the present 
time. The subject secured his early education in the common schools of 
his native state and then took a course in an excellent academy at 
Chesterville, the same being conducted under the auspices of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. He taught and attended school alternately 
until he had attained the age of twenty-two years. He then, in company 
with his parents and other members of the family, removed to Illinois, 
where he passed about one year looking about for an eligible location, 
and removed to Garden Grove, Decatur county, Iowa, where the honored 
parents passed the remainder of their long and useful lives. There the 
subject devoted his attention principally to teaching until he felt that 
a higher duty called him the nation being engaged in the great civil 
war. In August, 1862, he accordingly enlisted in Company A, Thirty-
fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. His regiment was assigned to the Army of 
the Cumberland and saw much hard service, participating in a number of 
the notable battles incident to the progress of the great conflict. In 
the engagement at Arkansas Post Mr. McVay was wounded in the right foot, 
being permanently disabled. He took part in the first attack on the city 
of Vicksburg, under General Sherman, and later was on detached duty for 
some time, being finally discharged in April, 1863, by reason of 
disabilities resulting from the wounds which he had received. After the 
close of his military career Mr. McVay returned to his home in Iowa, 
where he continued to be engaged principally in the insurance business 
until his removal to the territory of Dakota, in 1882. He settled in 
Hand county, where he took up three quarter sections of government land, 
which he improved and brought under a high state of cultivation, giving 
his attention chiefly to sheep raising. The family now own two entire 
sections of land in the county and the name is one which is honored in 
this section of the state, with whose development and progress it has 
been so intimately linked from the formative period to the present time. 
Mr. McVay has continued to reside on his farm until the present time, 
his home being practically in the village of Miller. He was for many 
years prominently identified with the insurance business, in which he 
met with marked success From this source he laid the foundation for his 
present competency, and also secured the means to provide e:<ceptionally 
good educational advantages for his large family of children, whose 
lives have been such as to amply compensate him for his solicitude and 
care. In politics Mr. McVay has given a stalwart support to the 
Republican party from the time of its organization to the present, but 
he has never had any ambition for public office and has never held such. 
He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for the past 
fifty years, and his wife was likewise a devoted communicant of the 
same. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic, 
at Wessington, South Dakota. 

	On the 4th of July, 1859, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. McVay 
to Miss Hattie Coffin, of Newton, Illinois. She was born in Pennsylvania 
on the 14th of August, 1834, and was a successful and popular teacher in 
Godfrey, Illinois, for a number of years prior to her marriage, having 
been educated in Oberlin College, Ohio. Mrs. McVay was a woman of noble 
character and gracious presence, endearing herself to all with whom she 
came in contact, while she proved a devoted wife and helpmeet during the 
long period of nearly a half century, being summoned into eternal rest 
on the 11th of August 1899. To her loved husband and children the memory 
of her pure and gentle life rests like a permanent benediction and thus 
is granted a measure of compensation for her loss. Of this union were 
born nine children, concerning whom we enter the following brief record: 
Horace M. died at the age of four years; Herbert H. died at the age of 
two and one-half years; and William L. passed away at the age of nine 
months. Bruce graduated at Mitchell University and is principal of the 
public schools at Highmore, Hyde county; Louise, who was formerly a 
popular teacher in the public schools, is now the wife of George B. 
Lincoln, a special agent of the government, in New York City; Winifred 
is a graduate of Mitchell University and took the state oratorical prize 
and second in the interstate contest at Fargo, South Dakota. She was 
likewise a successful teacher and is now the wife of Llewellyn Sage who 
is an extensive ranchmen near Salida, Colorado; Ward B. took a business 
course at Mitchell University and is engaged in farming and stock 
growing in Hand county, South Dakota; Emma Maude is a graduate of 
Highland Park College, Des Moines, Iowa, and is now pursuing her fourth 
year as a teacher in the primary department of the public schools of 
Miller; and Mary Abigail is a successful teacher of music in St. 
Lawrence, using the famous Burrows kindergarten system in her work with 
children. The family is one of prominence in the social, religious and 
educational life of the county and it is eminently gratifying to present 
this sketch in a work which has to do with those who have wrought well 
in the great state to which this history is devoted.