Converse-Albany County WY Archives Biographies.....McWhinnie, C. H. 1861 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wy/wyfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 28, 2011, 4:08 pm Source: See below Author: A. W. Bowen (Publisher) C. H. McWHINNIE. Man's worth in the world is determined by his success and his usefulness and these are much advanced when by the means of a liberal education, the culture of schools and the advantages of foreign travel he has been brought into contact with all sorts and conditions of men, yet the determinate result of his life and the estimate of his character will even then proceed from what he has accomplished bv the persistent force of his own individuality and the service he has rendered unto others. In analyzing the life of Mr. McWhinnie we find that his is a well-rounded, symmetrical character, his intelligence and scholastic acquirements being of the first order, while his upright manner of life entitles him to esteem, and as his course in business relations has been marked by conformity to the highest ethics of commercial integrity his success is the symmetrical result of his wise efforts. C. H. McWhinnie was born near London, England, on September 7, 1861, the son of John and Mary (King) McWhinnie, the father being a native of Ayrshire, Scotland, while the mother was born in Buckinghamshire, England. His paternal grandfather, William J. McWhinnie, always dwelt in Ayrshire where he was for years engaged in merchandising. The father, John McWhinnie, after studying medicine and receiving his professional degree held for a number of years a commission as fleet surgeon in the British Navy, after his retirement making his home in a villa near London, later removing to Bournemouth, where he is still a resident, enjoying excellent health for a gentleman of 80 years. C. H. McWhinnie, his fourth child, was sent to a boarding school in Germany at the age of six years, there passing four years, thence going to Lucerne, Switzerland, after two years departing thence to an educational institution in Florence, Italy, where two years more of study ensued and thereafter, before his return to England he was a pupil for twelve months in a preparatory school at Zurich, Germany. In England again, he became a student at a military academy, but his knowledge of the English language was so meager through neglect that at the end of a three years course he failed to pass the examinations. He then commenced the study of medicine, but failing to acquire interest in it he threw aside his medical volumes and enlisted as a sailor in the merchant marine service, visiting in the four years he gave to this life, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, China and many other countries. In 1886 he came to Wyoming, first locating at Sherman. In 1892 he purchased a ranch on the La Bonte River and is now possessed of a fine estate of nearly 1000 acres, of which a large proportion is under effective irrigation. On this fertile estate he is raising stock in quite an extensive manner, having some valuable specimens of Hereford cattle of superior breed and raising large annual crops of excellent hay. His residence is one of the attractive homes of a wide extent of country, and here Mr. McWhinnie and his estimable wife, to whom he was married on December 16, 1896, and whose maiden name was Carrie Pollard, unite in dispensing a hospitality as generous and as courteous as was ever bestowed by royalty, the democratic character of the host allowing him to know no distinction between honest men of honest character. Intelligent, popular and public spirited, every public improvement of local or general character finds in him an enthusiastic supporter, while in recognition of his fitness for office he was nominated by the Democratic party in 1898 for member of the State Legislature, receiving a complimentary vote, but not securing an election. Fraternally he is an active and valued member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. McWhinnie's oldest brother, William McWhinnie, is a major in the British army, being connected with the Eighty-sixth Royal Irish Rifles, which wrought such deeds of valor in the Egyptian and Boer wars. In the former the gallant major led a regiment of native troops and fought with them in a number of hotly contested battles, such being his daring that he was honored by the Egyptian government, which conferred upon him the title of Mijidiea of the fourth class, a distinction awarded only to the bravest of men. 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