Of William McClure and his wife, Cynthia Evans McClure, we read: "They grew up under like influences, both their fathers (John McClure and Isaac Evans) being ruling elders in their respective churches (at Greenfield and South Salem, Ohio) and both charter members of the same. They were converted at an early age and joined the church of their parents. William was converted under the ministry of Rev. Samuel Carrothers, who was pastor of that church (Greenfield First) for over forty years. Cynthia was converted under the ministry of Rev. Hugh Fullerton, who also was pastor of the South Salem Church for over forty years."
By the marriage of William McClure and Cynthia Evans four nationalities were combined : the Scotch and Irish on the McClure side, and the German and Welsh on the Evans side. Their first child, Martha, was born in Ohio, "but they soon caught the western fever, and in the summer of 1836 started westward to seek their fortune. They halted for a short sojourn in La Salle County, Illinois, near Hennepin, where they remained for two winters and one summer." Here their second child, John A., was born. They then moved on to Iowa and settled on the John McBride Farm, half a mile south of Northfield, in Des Moines County, where they were soon joined by relatives and old neighbors from Ohio.
The McClures, like the Evanses, were devoted Presbyterians, and no sooner were William and Cynthia settled than they looked about for a church home. The only Presbyterian churches in Iowa in that spring of 1838 when they arrived were those at West Point, Ft. Madison and Burlington, quite too far away for the settlers in and around Northfield. They must have one in their own neighborhood. So it happened that on August 14, 1839, the Round Prairie Church at Kossuth, a reasonable driving distance from Northfield, was organized. [See "One Hundred Years of the Iowa Presbyterian Church", Laurence Press Company, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1932. 551 pp.] The organization meeting was held in a log house in Kossuth, built "for school and public uses," described later as "near where R. S. Hedges now lives." There were thirteen charter members, and among them we find the names of William McClure and Cynthia McClure. "John Waddle and William McClure were chosen Elders." Two years later, in 1841, they erected their first rude building. "It was built of logs 2 5 x2 5 feet, its roof of lap shingles, and Nichols’ saw mill furnished plank for a very rough floor." Another gleam of family interest! Reuben Nichols was the husband of William McClure’s sister Nancy, and had brought his family to Northfield in the fall of 1837, and had, as we see, set up a saw mill.
This rough log building, located two miles north-east of Kossuth, was only used two years, for in 1843 it was replaced with a larger one, 40x50 feet, on a new site "in or at the edge of the village of Kossuth," at a cost of about $1,300.00. Here, on a hill top overlooking the village, the old church has stood for almost a hundred years, and still stands, looking down on the sleeping village, and dreaming of the days when, in the pastorate of Rev. Alexander Scott, a congregation of 3 00 members worshipped within its walls, and it ranked as one of the strong churches of the state. When, in 1870, the Round Prairie Church united with the Yellow Springs Church, and the building was enlarged, the name was changed to the Kossuth Presbyterian Church. Today, passed by when the railroad came, two miles away, the little village sleeps in decay with its ghosts and memories. No regular services have been held in the church since 1922, but until a year or two ago there was a Presbyterian Community Homecoming each year on the first Sunday of July, when the people brought their lunch baskets and spent the day in worship and reminiscence.
William McClure became clerk of the Round Prairie Church in 1847, and continued as an elder until his death in 1864. His father, John McClure, was made a deacon in 184 1 . Reuben Nichols became a deacon in the Yellow Spring Church in 1846, and both John and William McClure served as elders in the Yellow Spring Church.
Such, then, was the church life into which William and Cynthia McClure entered when they found themselves established as pioneer settlers on their Iowa farm at Northfield.
Of the pioneer experiences of those days the record says : "Our parents endured all the hardships and privations of an early pioneer life, being often harassed by Indians and always dreading the prairie fires which were sure to break out in the fall, and often came near destroying their homes and crops."
William McClure was a man of positive convictions and always ready to carry out those convictions in action. He was a radical abolitionist previous to the Civil War and always active in opposing slavery. He was a conductor on the Underground Railway of those times, and helped many a poor fugitive on his way from bondage to freedom." He died at the comparatively early age of fifty. He had been in failing health about two years with spinal trouble "causing curvature and resulting in quick consumption." He left a farm of 1 86 acres stocked and unencumbered, a "proof of no mean measure of ability and success." This is especially true, says the record, "when we remember that he began without any possession of land and could not afford two horses, but traded his one horse for a yoke of oxen."
"He lived an earnest consistent Christian life. He never neglected family prayers; he drilled his children in the Shorter Catechism; he took them regularly to church on the Lord’s Day; and he required a stñct observance of the Sabbath His home was noted for the entertainment of ministers." His social instincts were strong. "He loved to visit his friends and neighbors. He freely discussed all matters of public interest, and he was strong in argument. Probably he was disliked by some on account of these things, and he certainly had his faults. But he occupied an important place in his community and his influence was always on the side of righteousness."
