I saw a recent posting about folks trying to sort out the Mahaska County McCLURES. I am descended from one of those McClures, and may have information that could help other researchers. I also have some information about the related JENKINS and McCOWN surnames in Mahaska County. I am descended from a Nathaniel McCLURE, who was born in PA or MD in 1802, moved to Ohio, then to Iowa, and when he was in his late 70s moved to Mendocino County, California. Nathaniel McClure (b. 1802) had a first wife back in Ohio named Mary Stump. I descend from their daughter Phebe, wife of Ira Harman. Phebe and Ira went back and forth between Ohio and California, never really locating permanently in one state or the other. By the early 1900s, Ira and Phebe (McClure) Harman had descendants in both states (including northwestern Ohio and southern California). The surnames of their descendants include Harman/Harmon and Montgomery. Nathaniel McClure's second wife, whom he married in Ohio, was Lomenda Ferry. Several of her children lived in Iowa, and one or two of them married there, also. As adults, some of the children of Nathaniel and Lomenda are known to have lived in Missouri, Colorado and California (Ukiah and Stockton). Nathaniel McClure's known children with Lomenda Ferry were: Electa (b. 1840, married in Mahaska County to J.C. McCown), Mary Jane (b. 1842 d. 1860), Nathaniel (b. 1843 d. 1862), Edwin L. (b. 1845 d. 1872), William (b. 1848, husband of Melissa Jenkins), Thomas R. (b. 1850, husband of Henrietta (Grant/Myers?)), Lomenda (middle name Melissa?)(b. 1856, wife of a John R. Henry and apparently later a Mr. Alexander), and Katie (b. 1859 d. 1863). Nathaniel's third wife was the widow Eliza Jenkins of Mahaska County. So, there are apparently two connections for Nathaniel McClure to a Jenkins family -- this wife's previous husband and a daughter-in-law. Eliza had at least one or more children from her earlier marriage. I am not sure whether she went to California. She is listed on the 1880 census for Mahaska with Nathaniel. Nathaniel was, however, enumerated again in 1880, the second time in Mendocino County, California. Eliza was not enumerated in California. I have not found a tombstone for Eliza in Iowa or California. Perhaps this information will be useful to those of you working on Mahaska McClure lines. I would appreciate further information about my Nathaniel McClure, including connections to known relatives such as his parents and siblings. David Shaw