Ralph McClure
Ralph McClure was one of the old-time characters in West Union. He owned and occupied the property where Mrs. Sarah W. Bradford now resides, and dug the well there which was famous in his time and which is known as Ralph McClure's well to this day. Judge Byrd extolled the properties of the water in his diary.
Our subject was a north of Ireland Irishman with a rich brogue. He was a schoolteacher in West Union before public schools were organized. He taught many years in the home where he resided and all his schools were subscription schools. The first school David Dunbar, of Manchester, ever attended was at Ralph McClure's. The latter offered young David six and one-fourth cents if he would learn the alphabet in three days and David accomplished the task. McClure once had a horse-mill on the rear of Mrs. Bradford's lot, opposite the Lawler residence, and at one time he had a distillery just south of his residence, but it was burned. He was a bachelor and never attended church. He was of medium stature and had a sharp face. He was very fond of smoking and raised his own tobacco and made his own cigars. His neighbors seemed to have a great deal of confidence in him for they elected him Justice of the Peace in 1820, 1826, 1829, 1838, 1841 and in 1844. He and Nelson Barrere were great friends, The latter would often state a suppositious case to him and get his opinion. If the opinion pleased Barrere. he would immediately bring the real case before the Justice and win it, as McClure was never known to go back on any opinion he ever expressed.
He died April 24, 1846, while holding the office of Justice of the Peace. We do not know the place of his interment or whether he left any relatives.
From "History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time"- by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900