History of Summit Hill, (Carbon County) Pennsylvania United States of America

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Biographies:

A Short Biography of Samuel McLean

Samuel McLean, delegate, was born in Summit Hill, Carbon county, Pa., Aug. 7, 1826; son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Swan) McLean; and grandson of James and Martha (Leslie) McLean, who came from county Antrim early in the nineteenth century and settled in the Wyoming Valley, Pa. His maternal grandparents, Samuel and Mary (Smith) Swan, came from the north of Ireland in 1720 and were staunch Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. He was matriculated at Lafayette college in the class of 1848; studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1849, practising in Mauch Chunk. He went to California in 1849 by way of Cape Horn and returned to Pennsylvania in 1854, where he was married, Jan. 23, 1855, to Jane Wilson of Easton. He was district attorney of Carbon county, 1855-60: attorney-general of the provisional government of Colorado in 1861 and one of the founders and the first delegate from Montana Territory to congress, serving in the 38th and 39th congresses, 1863-67. He served as colonel of a border regiment against the Indians and was several times wounded. He named Helena, Mont., for his infant daughter Helen. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Lafayette in 1857. He purchased a plantation in Nottoway county, Va., in 1869, and removed his family to Burkeville, Va., where he died, July 16, 1877.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor