A source of Info on McVeytown:
GRAPHICAL SKETCHES, COUNTY AND TOWN HISTORIES, PUBLISHED FAMILY HISTORIES.
From: Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, PA, J. M. Runk Co., 1897. p. 535:
JOHN R. McVey
John R. McVey, retired farmer, of Wayne Township,
Mifflin County, PA, was born September 18, 1821, near McVeytown. He is a son of
Elijah and Mary (
Yost)
McVey. His grandfather, John
McVey, born near
Philadelphia, of a Quaker family, was a teamster with the Revolutionary army. He came to
Mifflin, then Cumberland, county, when a young man, and settled where McVeytown now is, owning all the land in that vicinity. He was an extensive farmer and stock-raiser. He married Mary
Wakefield, of
English and
German descent. Their seven children were as follows:
William; John; Eliel; Elijah; Rachel (Mrs. Jacobs); Sarah (Mrs. Lewis Bond); and Mary (Mrs. Humphries). John
McVey died in McVeytown. He was an old-line Whig, and a member of the Presbyterian Church. His wife died in Wayne Township. Elijah, son of John
McVey, born in McVeytown, in 1799, received a common school education. He was a farmer all his life. Moving from McVeytown to Wayne Township, he cultivated one of his father's farms there, for many years, after which he sold it, and bought the farm where John R. McVey now resides. He was celebrated for the fine stock he raised. He married Mary
Yost, born near Lewistown, of
German and
English descent, whose family had been among the early settlers of that section. They had six children: John R., of Wayne township; Mary H. (Mrs. Samuel
Wharton), of Wayne township, deceased; Eliel, who died in youth; Sarah, who died in early life; Eliel (2), who was drowned when thirteen years old; and Sarah (Mrs. John D. Miller), deceased. Elijah
McVey was a Whig, and died a Republican. He was an active member of the Presbyterian Church, taking a keen interest in all church matters. He held the office of supervisor of roads, and overseer of the poor. He died in Wayne Township,. His widow died at the age of seventy-three, Dec. 4, 1871.
John R. McVey obtained his education in the public schools of Shirley Township,
Huntingdon County, and of Wayne Township,
Mifflin County. He began life on the farm with his father, working also on his farms in Wayne Township. At the age of twenty-three he went west, driving a two-horse team to
Iowa, with his uncle. Returning to
Pennsylvania after a year, he assisted his father in the cultivation of the homestead farm, at the same time cultivating for himself 200 acres of land which his grandfather had given him. He also operated on the farm, a saw-mill, turning out a very large amount of lumber, for which there was a ready demand. He has continued at farming during his entire life, taking charge of the homestead after the death of his father, and giving much attention to the raising of fine stock.
Mr. McVey was married in 1848, in Sugar valley, Wayne Township, to Mary A. Gibson, born in
Huntingdon County. They have twelve children as follows: Elizabeth (Mrs. George
Fields), of
Newton Hamilton;
Elijah, residing in Oregon; William, of
Newton Hamilton; Ellen (Mrs. Charles
Flott), residing in Kansas; Annie (Mrs. George
Fields), deceased; John, a farmer in Sugar valley; Laura M. (Mrs. James Heart), Residing in Nebraska; Juniata (Mrs. William
McClay), residing in Oregon;
Flora M., deceased; Nanie M. (Mrs. James
Morrison), resides on the homestead farm; Alice W. (Mrs. David
Caldwell), of Long Hollow; and James, residing in Sugar valley, Wayne township. Mr. McVey had been all his life an industrious, hardworking man, who in his old days enjoys the respect and confidence of all in the community. He owns over five hundred acres of land in Wayne Township. He has fill the office of township supervisor. Mr. McVey is a Republican; he was in the olden days, a member of the "Know Nothings." He is a consistent, zealous member of the Presbyterian Church.
