Representative Addison S. McClure

Addison Smith McClure (October 10, 1839 – April 17, 1903) was an American lawyer, Civil War officer, and Republican politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Ohio in the late nineteenth century. He represented his Ohio constituency in the United States House of Representatives for two non-consecutive terms, participating in the legislative and democratic processes during a significant period in American history.

McClure was born in Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, on October 10, 1839. He pursued an academic course at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, an institution that later became part of Washington & Jefferson College. After his studies, he returned to Ohio and read law in the office of Martin Welker, a prominent local attorney who would later serve in Congress and on the federal bench. McClure was admitted to the bar in 1861 and commenced the practice of law in his native Wooster.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, McClure entered the Union Army as a private in April 1861. In October of that year he was elected captain of Company H, Sixteenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He saw active service in the Western theater and was captured on December 29, 1862, during the Vicksburg Campaign. Held as a prisoner of war for several months, he was exchanged in May 1863 and subsequently returned to duty. McClure was discharged from military service in August 1864, after more than three years in uniform.

Following the war, McClure resumed his legal career in Wooster and quickly became active in local public affairs. In 1867 he was elected recorder of Wayne County, Ohio. That same year he was appointed postmaster of Wooster, a position he held with reappointments in 1872 and 1876, reflecting both his administrative competence and his standing within the Republican Party. He further advanced his political profile by serving as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1868 and again in 1876, participating in the selection of the party’s national leadership and presidential nominees.

On September 26, 1866, McClure married Mary L. Brigham of Vienna Township, Michigan. The couple made their home in Wooster and had one son. McClure’s family life ran parallel to his expanding legal and political responsibilities, and his household remained based in the community where he had been born and where he conducted most of his professional work.

McClure was elected as a Republican to the Forty-seventh Congress, serving from March 4, 1881, to March 3, 1883. As a member of the House of Representatives, he represented the interests of his Ohio constituents and contributed to the legislative process during a period marked by post–Civil War reconstruction policies, industrial expansion, and evolving national economic issues. Although he was not reelected in 1882, he remained an influential Republican in his district and continued his legal practice in Wooster. He later returned to national office when he was elected to the Fifty-fourth Congress, serving from March 4, 1895, to March 3, 1897. Again failing to secure reelection in 1896, McClure’s service in Congress ultimately comprised two non-consecutive terms between 1881 and 1897, during which he participated in the governance of a rapidly changing nation.

After his final term in Congress, McClure resumed the full-time practice of law in Wooster. He remained a respected figure in local and state Republican circles and continued to be identified with the civic and political life of his hometown. He lived in Wooster until his death on April 17, 1903. Addison S. McClure was interred in Wooster Cemetery, closing a life closely tied to the community in which he was born, practiced law, and from which he rose to national office.