Tulare County Biographies

HARRY B. McCLURE

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
        Harry B. McClure, one of the best known attorneys of Visalia, 
California, was born in Fremont county, Iowa, January 15, 1873. In 1884 he came 
with his parents, E. B. and Harriette Ann (Brittan) McClure, to Visalia, where 
his father engaged in farming. Both parents are deceased.
        Harry B. McClure was educated in the public schools of Visalia. At the 
age of nineteen he passed the examination and obtained a certificate authorizing 
him to teach in the public schools of California. He then taught for three 
years, employing his spare time in the study of law. Before the electric railway 
was built, he owned and operated a stage between Visalia and Exeter for one 
year. In 1896, at the age of twenty-three years, he took the bar examination and 
was admitted by the supreme court to practice in all courts of the state.
        The struggles of the young lawyer to build up a paying practice have 
become proverbial. Mr. McClure was no exception. After two years in practice, 
during which time his clients and fees were few, he accepted a position as 
deputy county clerk under John Cutler and held that position for four years. 
While in the clerk's office he formed a number of new acquaintances among the 
substantial men of the county and upon resuming the practice of his profession 
he found his progress more satisfactory. In 1913 he became associated with Mr. 
Farnsworth. A little later Mr. Burke joined them and the law firm of Farnsworth, 
McClure, Burke & Maddox is one of the best known and most successful in Tulare 
county. The offices of the firm in the Bank of Italy building are well furnished 
and the visitor is impressed with the busy air which he encounters, as the firm 
handles much of the legal business of the county, and does a general practice in 
all branches of the law.
        Mr. McClure is a member of the State Bar Association and is president of 
the County Bar Association. In Masonic circles he is a prominent figure, being a 
past worshipful master of his lodge, a Knight Templar, a thirty-second degree 
member of the Scottish Rite, and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a past 
exalted ruler of the Visalia Lodge. of Elks. In all these fraternal bodies he is 
popular as he is a good mixer and everybody knows Harry McClure.
        It seems to be the tendency of the average lawyer to become interested 
in political affairs. Mr. McClure occupies a high place in the councils of the 
republican party. In 1924 he was a delegate to the Republican National 
convention at Cleveland, Ohio, which nominated Coolidge and Dawes for the 
presidency and vice presidency.
        Besides his law practice Mr. McClure is interested in citrus fruit 
culture. He owns a farm of one hundred acres near Visalia, upon which he has one 
of the best orange and lemon groves in Tulare county. Being a good marksman with 
the shotgun, he is fond of hunting and he can frequently be seen at the trap 
matches, where he breaks his share of the clay birds.
        On November 3, 1891, Mr. McClure was married to Miss Virginia D. Fowler, 
a native of Tulare county and a daughter of A. J. Fowler, one of the well known 
citizens. Mr. McClure is a director of the California Fruit Growers Exchange, 
and is chairman of the board of directors of the New First National Bank and the 
Security Savings Bank of Visalia.
 
Source:  History of Tulare County and Kings County, California � Kathleen 
Edwards Small & J. Larry Smith, Vol. II, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1926., p. 226