Greenbrier County, West Virginia    Biography: Rev. John McELHENNEY, D. D.

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Transcribed and submitted by Valerie Crook, <vfcrook @earthlink.net>, 1998.
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REV. JOHN McELHENNEY, D. D., was one of the re-
markable characters in the ministry and citizenship of old
Greenbrier County. For more than sixty-two years he was
pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Lewisburg. This
church itself is one of the oldest in the state, established
in 1796.

Rev. John McElhenney was born in Lancaster District of
South Carolina, March 22, 1781, youngest of the six chil-
dren of John and Ann (Coil) McElhenney. His father
fought as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and died soon
after the close of that struggle. The educational training of
the son was largely directed by his older brother, Rev. J.
McElhenney. Rev. John McElhenney also attended Wash-
ington Academy and the old Liberty Hall Academy, gradu-
ating from the latter in 1804. He was licensed by the Lex-
ington Presbytery in 1808.

In the Spring of 1809 he was assigned to the pastorate
of Lewisburg, in what is now West Virginia. The Presby-
terian Church at that time was the central institution of the
community, and its pastor was not only the recognized
head of the flock, but a leader in every department of the
community's affairs. He had the character that well fitted
him for such responsibility, and his life was a long and
utmost devotion to his church, the cause of Christianity, the
counsel and guidance of his fellow men, and both in Green-
brier County and in wider sections of the state he was
thoroughly beloved. Few men had as many friends. He
administered the affairs of the church and the neighborhood
for over sixty years, though in later years he was given an
assistant.

Mr. McElhenney, who died January 2, 1871, married on
December 7, 1807, Rebecca Walkup. Their children were
James Addison, Elizabeth Ann, John Franklin, Samuel
Washington, Mary Jane and Susan Emily.

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume II, pgs. 639