General Notes

Two sons located in Clarion County, William in Salem Township, and became the progenitor of the McCall family of that section. Many of his descendants are still living.
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William McCall Biography
by Garry and Carol Cundiff

    Jane McCall related that the original ancestor of the Clarion County McCalls came to America about 1790 and she identified four children, Robert, William, Nellie and Sarah. She stated that Robert and William located in present day Clarion County, with William locating in Salem Township.1 William became the progenitor of the McCall family in that section and many of his descendants were still living in 1912.

    Since Salem Township was not formed until 1856, we find the William McCall family in the 1850 Census in Richland Twonship, Clarion County. In the 1840 Census we find the family in Richland Township, Venango County. William was also in Richland Township in Venango County in 1820 and 1830. Subsequent census information in 1860, 1870 and 1880 list the descendants of William in Salem Township, Clarion County. The major source for establishing the family is from census data.

    We have chosen to hazard a guess that William was born about 1782,2 but it is far from conclusive. We do know that he was born in Ireland from his son Robert's Census information in 1880 when he listed has father as being born in Ireland.

    We have been unable to locate William in the 1810 census but it it appears he married Margaret (Maiden Name Unknown), who was born in Pennsylvania, about 1808 and they had a daughter by 1810. By 1820 he and Margaret were living in Richland Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania and they had five children, four girls and one boy. We have tentatively identified three of the girls as Sarah, Mary and Elizabeth and the boy as John. By 1830 another boy Robert was born.

    The identification of Sarah as a child of William and Margaret is tenuous but it does fit. Sarah E. McCall was born July 9, 1813 and she died May 10, 1834 at the age of 20 years, 10 months and 1 day. She is buried in the Old Concord Cemetery in Clarion County. This individual doesn't fit in Robert McCall's family and she may have been William's daughter. Although there are no later family burials for William's family in Concord, in 1834 the churches and cemeteries were in their early stages and William's family was not that far from the Concord Church and Cemetery. William's brother Robert was involved with the church and some of his family had already been buried there.

    The identification of Elizabeth is also tenuous. We find her and her husband James Cochran in the 1880 census and Mary McCall, William's unmarried daughter, is living with them. Mary is identified as an Aunt of James. Looking at the ages and the McCall last name, it seems terribly unlikely that Mary could have been an aunt of James. It seems much more likely that she was his sister-in-law.

    William apparently died between the 1840 and the 1850 census. In 1850, we find his youngest son Robert as the head of the household and he was living with his mother Margaret and his sister Mary. John the oldest son was married to Catherine (Maiden Name Unknown) and they had four children. Another proposed daughter, Elizbeth, was recently married to James Cochran. All were living in Richland Township, Clarion County.

    We have identified ten children born to John and Catherine McCall; Mary, William, Samuel, Sarah, Harriet, Lemuel, Lydia, John, Robert and Alma. Robert and Mary had five children; Louisa, William, Leonard, John and Harriet. Their sister Mary apparently never married. James and Elizabeth Cochran had two children: Lemuel and Mary.

    There may be cemetery information around Salem Township and perhaps even a probate for William McCall that would clarify the family. The above provides un with a framework for additional research on William's family.
    Footnotes:

       1. Salem township was formed in 1856 from parts of Richland and Beaver townships in Clarion County. Previously Clarion County was formed from portions of Venago and Armstrong and Counties in 1839. Although Clarion County formed in 1839, the 1840 U. S. Census did not include it. Rather, households were enumerated in the parent counties' (Armstrong and Venango) township.
       2. It is not known when William was born and the early census information may be questionable and gives us very little to go on. In 1840 he was listed as 60-70 and in 1830, he was listed as 40-50. This might indicate he was born about 1780. Nellie was born about 1780 and Robert was born about 1777.