BIOGRAPHIES:  John McCAIN, Pepin, Pepin Co., WI

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Submitted by Nance Sampson, Pepin Co. Archives File Manager on 19 November 2004
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**Posted for informational purposes only - submitter is not related to the
subject of this biography and has no further information.

JOHN McCAIN, farmer, Pepin. Was born in Indiana Co., Pa. Feb. 21,
1814. Afterward he lived in Jefferson County, until he came West, in
1840. Jan., 1841, found him in Rock Island, where he stayed until the
opening of navigation on the Mississippi, when he came to Dubuque, and
joined a party of Government surveyors, and spent the season with them
in Iowa. The last of October he went to Prairie du Chien, and from
there, in company with David Black, took passage in a keel-boat, bound
for Menomonee, Wis., where they arrived the last of November, and
engaged in logging Winters, and piloting on the Chippewa and
Mississippi during the Summers. In the Fall of 1845 he went hunting for
desirable lands, on which to settle; came across and was delighted with
the lands he now lives on, and in the following Spring took formal
possession of them, and in the Fall of 1846 commenced cultivating them.
His farm contains about 600 acres, and is situated about one and one-
half miles above the present village of Pepin, near the lake, and is
called by him "Lakeport." At the time he settled here, the nearest post-
office was at Prairie du Chien, and the nearest farm was at the Indian
agency, at Winona. When the Government surveyors reached "Lakeport,"
Mr. McCain had 130 acres of his farm under cultivation. He continued to
farm, and pilot the river during the season, until 1860, since which
time he has devoted himself exclusively to farming. He was married,
March 28, 1860, to Miss Elizabeth Barry, eldest daughter of Hon.James
Barry, of "Lakeport," formerly of Pittsburgh, Pa. They have one child
living-Maggie. Mr. McCain was one of the three County Commissioners of
Dunn County, when Pepin was a part of Dunn County, and has been
Treasurer of the town of Pepin.

-Transcribed from the "History of Northern Wisconsin, 1881," page 704


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