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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
THOMAS McBRIDE (deceased), merchant, Elgin, Ill., born in County Monaghan, Ireland, in 1808, was educated and prepared for a mercantile life in his native land; came to the United States in 1850, with the intention of making his home as far west as the railroads would carry him. This located him at Elgin, at that time the terminus of the Chicago & Galena Union Railroad. His first business was selling osage orange hedge plants to farmers, at that timely widely used for hedges; later bought grain and other farm produce very extensively for the Chicago markets, and still later became a dealer in coal and lumber, and operated a large farm, becoming one of the early dairymen and shippers of milk to Chicago. His wife, Rebecca (Robinson) McBride, was born in County Tyrone, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and (1903) is still living. Mr. McBride died in 1888.
ALEXANDER McCARNACK (deceased), pioneer settler, born in Newton Stewart, Wigton-shire, Scotland, Nov. 11, 1811; obtained a good education in the public schools, and was trained to agricultural pursuits on a Scotch sheep farm; came with his father's family to the United States in 1838, locating with them in Rutland Township, Kane County. Mr. McCarnack was an intelligent and successful farmer, who passed all the years of his mature life in Kane County. He was at various times a member of the Kane County Board of Supervisors and held other local offices. He died Feb. 1, 1887. His wife, whose maiden name was Margaret E. Eakin, was born in Londonderry, Ireland.
EDWIN A. McCARNACK, physician and surgeon, Elgin, Ill., born in Rutland Township, Kane County, Feb. 8, 1854; educated in the public schools and Elgin Academy; graduated from Bennett Medical College in 1881, and from the medical department of the University of Illinois in 1889; took a post-graduate course at the New York Polyclinic in 1890; located in Elgin in the latter year, where he has built up an extensive practice. He was married in 1883 to Miss Rhoda E. Harrison, daughter of William R. Harrison, of Bethlehem, Conn.
JOSEPH McCARTY (deceased), Aurora, pioneer, was born in Morristown, N. J., in 1808, son of Charles and Mary (Scudder) McCarty, and was reared in the State of New York, his parents having located on a farm near Elmira, while he was still a small boy. His education was secured in the public schools, and he was trained to a farming career. In the fall of 1833 he started for Illinois, and after a tedious and eventful journey, he arrived in Kane County the following spring, where he filed a claim on a tract of land containing about three hundred acres on the Fox River. In company with his brother, Samuel McCarty, who had soon followed him to the West, he founded the city of Aurora in 1835. Active in promoting the growth of the town, he displayed those business qualities that make for large success, and had promise of a brilliant future. However, all this went for naught, as his health failed in a short time, and he passed away in Aurora in 1839.
SAMUEL McCARTY (deceased), pioneer, Aurora, was born in Morristown, N. J., March 9, 1810, son of Charles and Mary (Scudder) McCarty, and when two years old was taken by them to a farm near Elmira, N. Y. where he was reared and educated in the public schools. He learned the trade of millwright, and in 1834 came to the West to join his older brother, who had preceded him a few months, and had taken up a land claim of 300 acres on Which