Submitted by Descendants: Elizabeth Louise McClellan SKILLMAN and Linda Colleen SKILLMAN-MITCHELL
Only sixteen when his father died, Samuel McClellan clearly inherited his father’s work ethic as well as his religious beliefs. Moving in with his eldest sister, Margaret Stephens, Samuel worked on her farm until he was at least 28, for the 1850 Census lists her as head of a household which included her own three children, her brother Samuel and sister Adeline. Like his father, Samuel became a farmer, settling down initially in Jefferson County and then moving on to Columbia and Marion Counties. In fact, Samuel is listed as a voter in Precinct I, Monticello, Jefferson County during Florida’s first state elections in 1845.
By the next census, in 1860, however, Sam had acquired real estate worth $500 and a personal worth of $1200—all needed to help provide for his wife Margaret McClaren McClellan and his two small children, Howard Tyson, just two and Lizzie, a newborn. At this time, he lived in Columbia County, near Lake City, where son Howard attended Peabody Academy—until his father’s premature death at 45. History of Florida, Past and Present, a biography on Howard Tyson McClellan provides insight into his father’s beliefs which ran contrary to those of many, “He was opposed to session and slavery” (28). For that reason, and perhaps in deference to his religious beliefs, he did not fight in the Civil War. He died just a few years afterward, in 1867.
Samuel R. McClellan was first identified as a Pioneer by Margaret Ann Callon Lyons in 1996.
Samuel R. McClellan was first established as a Florida Pioneer in 1996