Family Members Who Served in the Iowa Legislature:Nephew: George W. McCrary; GAs 7, 9, 10
Abner Harrison McCrary
Van Buren County
Born in Vanderburg County, Ind., on the 23d of February, 1814. In that early period in the history of the Indiana Territory the facilities for securing an education were very poor, and as he had no means with which to attend the colleges of the East, his advantages were necessarily limited. His boyhood days were spent in a manner similar to that of all lads in a like condition, and on attaining to mature years he started out in life for himself. On the 6th of February, 1834, he was united in marriage with Miss Nercissa Mangum, and they began their domestic life in Gibson County. From there they started for the West. They first made a location in McDonough County, Illinois. In the spring of 1837, accompanied by his faithful wife, Mr. McCrary started for the new home in the wilds of the Black Hawk purchase. They have prospered since coming to Van Buren County, and Mr. McCrary is numbered among the substantial citizens of the community. Mr. McCrary has not labored alone for his own interests, but has been a prominent man in public places, and while serving in official capacities has aided greatly in the advancement of the county's interests. In the year 1841 he was elected Justice of the Peace. In 1848 he represented Van Buren County in the State Legislature, being the first to hold the office after the adoption of the constitution. He was a member of the General Assembly when the difficulties arose in relation to the boundary between Iowa and Missouri. He was an opposer of the first constitution of Iowa in consequence of its limitation of the western boundary line of the State, and voted for the constitution which is now in vogue. In 1850 Mr. McCrary was again elected a member of the General Assembly, and during that session the revised code was adopted. So ably did he represent his constituents in the Lower House that in 1852 he was elected to the State Senate. During that term provisions were made for removing the capital to Des Moines, and making an appropriation of the old State House in Iowa City for a State University. In 1860 he again served as State Senator, in the term which embraced the period of the war, and when the duties of the legislators were fraught with deep interest and often times with peril. He was chairman of the Senate committee to which was referred the first bill in Iowa asking for a Sunday law. On the same committee, and opposed to Mr. McCrary as a Christian man, was a radical infidel, who did all in his power to prevent the passage of the bill, but through the instrumentality of our subject and other friends of the measure it became a law. Mr. McCreary is a member of the Christian Church.
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