Charles M McClary and wife Jane I Biggs McClary
Photo courtesy of GGGranddaughter, Pamela Sapp Johnson Stryker

Charles M. McClary
Photo courtesy of;
GGGranddaughter Pamela Sapp Johnson Stryker

Charles M McClary was born in Claiborne County, Tennessee on July 15, 1823. He was the second of 10 children born to Robert W. McClary and Mary Polly Karnes. He was the grandson of Andrew McClary and Elizabeth Lynch. In October of 1843, he married Jane Irene Biggs, the daughter of William Madison/McClure Biggs and Margaret Marella Temple of Polk County, Tennesssee.

Seven children were born to Charles and Jane McClary in Benton, Polk County, Tennessee:
Margaret McClary Huffman; Julia McClary Armstrong; Sarah Jane McClary Wells; Josephine McClary (never married); Adeline McClary Wells (Sarah Jane and Adeline married brothers); Robert Biggs McClary, married Bettie Ann Martin; and James Prior McClary, married Sara Isabella Hutchison.

Charles M. McClary was a member in good standing of the Ocoee Masonic Lodge #212 in Benton, TN and served the Confederacy in Company E 5th Tennessee Calvary Regiment with his father and brother, Julius C. McClary in the regiment raised by his father, Robert W. McClary.

After the Civil War, Charles McClary and his brothers, Julius C McClary and Prior Lee McClary came to Texas by wagon from McMinnville, Tenn about 1870. Charles settled his family on the Throckmorton Farm North of McKinney, TX. His granddaughter, Myrtle McClary Gamble told her granddaughter, Sandra Kay Belt Grimes that grandfather Charles (Karles) McClary had been in Texas less than a year when he was going home late one evening and tried to cross the swollen waters of Stiff Creek. He lost his balance and drowned. He was buried not far from where the accident occurred. He died before Myrtle was born and this is the story she was told as a child. His widow, Jane Irene Biggs McClary, moved to the Shepard Ranch and later bought a farm in Hebron, TX which is said to have cost her $500 and two wagons. Charles McClary is buried in Stiff Chapel Cemetery in Melissa, TX. Jane Irene Biggs McClary is buried in Frankford Cemetery in Collin Co. TX.