Joseph W. McClurg | |
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| 19thGovernor of Missouri | |
| In office January 12, 1869 – January 4, 1871 | |
| Lieutenant | Edwin O. Stanard |
| Preceded by | Thomas Clement Fletcher |
| Succeeded by | B. Gratz Brown |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMissouri's5th district | |
| In office March 4, 1863 – July 1868[1][2][3] | |
| Preceded by | Thomas L. Price |
| Succeeded by | John H. Stover |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1818-02-22)February 22, 1818 |
| Died | December 2, 1900(1900-12-02) (aged 82) Lebanon, Missouri, U.S. |
| Political party | Immediate Emancipation(1862–64) Republican |
| Residence(s) | St. Joseph, Missouri |
| Alma mater | Xenia Academy,Oxford College |
| Profession | businessman |
| Signature | .png) |
Joseph Washington McClurg (February 22, 1818 – December 2, 1900) was the19th Governor of Missouri in the decade following theAmerican Civil War. His stepfather was William Murphy.
Born nearSt. Louis, Missouri, McClurg wasorphaned at seven and raised by grandparents inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his grandfather owned the city's first ironfoundry. Educated at Xenia Academy andOxford College inOhio, he taught school briefly inLouisiana andMississippi in the 1830s before returning to St. Louis to serve as deputy for his uncle,Sheriff Marshall Brotherton. At 19, he studied law and was admitted to thebar inTexas, although he never practiced. In 1841, he returned to Missouri to marry Mary Catherine Johnson. He was involved in lead mining and merchandising and created McClurg's Old Salt Road through rural Missouri to assure a supply of salt for his customers. In 1844, he would operate a store in Hazelwood (the first county seat of Webster County), Missouri with his stepfather.
In 1850, McClurg left Missouri for thegold rush inCalifornia, where he opened a miner's store inGeorgetown (12 miles fromSutter's Mill). After two years, he returned to Missouri, this time toLinn Creek (now under theLake of the Ozarks), where he established a thriving business supplying settlers and merchants in Missouri, Arkansas, Texas and theIndian Territory.
An avid unionist, he was a delegate to the historicGamble Convention in March 1861, in which Missouri agreed to stay in the Union. Although he was later to sign the 13th Amendment as a Missouri Representative, Joseph McClurg was a slaveowner until shortly before the issuance of theEmancipation Proclamation.[5] During the Civil War, McClurg was acolonel of the 8th Missouri State Militia Cavalry, until elected to theU.S. House of Representatives in 1862 as an Immediate Emancipationist.[6] McClurg was subsequently re-elected in 1864 and 1866.
He resigned his last term to run for Missouri governor as aRadical Republican, a party against the re-enfranchisement of ex-Confederates. He served a two-year term and with Radical Republicanism falling from favor, lost his bid for re-election. In 1886, he accompanied his son, Joseph, and his daughter, Fannie along with her six children, to homestead in theDakota Territory. It was an entrepreneurial venture made promising on the basis of several years of mild weather; however, the winter of 1886-87 was a famously cruel one that convinced the family to return to Missouri. He was appointed Registrar of Lands atSpringfield before returning toLebanon, Missouri, where he died in 1900.
| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of Missouri 1868,1870 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMissouri's 5th congressional district 1863-1868 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Missouri 1869–1871 | Succeeded by |
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| National | |
| People | |
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