Alney McLean

Alney McLean (June 10, 1779 – December 30, 1841) was a United States Representative from Kentucky, a state legislator, War of 1812 officer, and later a circuit judge. A member of the Republican Party in the early national period, he represented Kentucky for two terms in Congress and participated actively in the political realignments that followed the War of 1812. McLean County, Kentucky, created in 1854 from Muhlenberg and other counties, was named in his honor.

McLean was born in Burke County, North Carolina, on June 10, 1779, the son of Ephraim and Elizabeth (Davidson) McLean. His father, Ephraim McLean, a descendant of Clan Maclean of the Isle of Mull, served as a captain at the Battle of Kings Mountain during the American Revolution and received a 600-acre land grant in what is now East Nashville, Tennessee, in payment for his service. Ephraim McLean became one of the earliest public officials in the Nashville area, representing what was then Nashville, North Carolina, in the North Carolina General Assembly in 1784 alongside Colonel Elijah Robertson, brother of explorer James Robertson. McLean’s mother, Elizabeth Davidson, was a first cousin of Brigadier General William Lee Davidson, who was killed fighting British forces under Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Cowan’s Ford, further rooting the family in Revolutionary-era military and civic service.

McLean pursued preparatory studies, likely at Davidson Academy (later Peabody College) in Nashville, where his father served as a trustee. In his youth he showed little early inclination toward politics, but he received a practical education suited to frontier legal and surveying work. At age twenty he relocated to Kentucky, where he was appointed surveyor of Muhlenberg County. In this capacity he laid out the town of Greenville, the county seat, and was elected a trustee of the new town when it was formed in 1799. He subsequently studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1805, and commenced practice in Greenville, establishing himself as a lawyer and local civic leader.

On November 16, 1805, McLean married Tabitha Russell Campbell, daughter of Revolutionary War General William Campbell. The couple had ten children, and the family’s connections extended into several prominent political and religious lineages in the early United States. One of McLean’s grandsons, William C. McLean, later became an associate justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court. His nephews included John McLean, an Illinois politician, and the noted “Kentucky Longrifleman” Ephraim McLean Brank, who served with him under Lieutenant Colonel William Mitchusson at the Battle of New Orleans. Through marriage and kinship he was also closely related to Brigadier General Robert Ewing—who served as Justice of the Davidson County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions during Andrew Jackson’s early legal career in Nashville, was a delegate to the North Carolina convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution, and later became Speaker of the Kentucky State Senate. Surviving correspondence suggests that McLean and Ewing maintained a close relationship. Other close relatives included Linn Boyd, the twenty-fourth Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; the Reverend Finis Ewing, one of the founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church; and William Lee D. Ewing, the fifth governor of Illinois.

McLean’s formal political career began in the context of rising tensions with Great Britain. Although he showed little interest in politics before about 1808, he was first elected to public office in 1812, representing Muhlenberg County in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1812 to 1813. At the outset of the War of 1812, he organized a company of volunteers, which records show was enlisted on September 18, 1812. In 1813 he organized another company that was ultimately commanded by Lewis Kincheloe, and he later raised a further company that he personally commanded under General Samuel Hopkins in campaigns against Native American forces. He again saw service under Lieutenant Colonel William Mitchusson at the Battle of New Orleans. McLean, along with Kentucky Senator John Adair and others, took strong offense at General Andrew Jackson’s subsequent charge that Kentucky troops had “ingloriously fled” from the fighting at New Orleans. This dispute helped shape McLean’s enduring political opposition to Jackson throughout the remainder of his public career.

As a member of the Republican Party representing Kentucky, McLean contributed to the legislative process during two terms in the United States House of Representatives. He was elected as a Republican to the Fourteenth Congress, serving from March 4, 1815, to March 3, 1817, during a significant period in American history marked by postwar settlement and the early “Era of Good Feelings.” After a brief interval out of federal office, he returned to Congress in 1819 and served in the Sixteenth Congress. In these roles he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his Kentucky constituents at a time of westward expansion, economic development, and evolving party alignments. Some contemporaries and later commentators credited McLean with assisting Henry Clay—his colleague in two separate Kentucky congressional delegations—in the formation of the Whig Party in opposition to Jacksonian policies, reflecting his alignment with the emerging anti-Jackson coalition.

After leaving Congress, McLean continued his public service in the judiciary. He was appointed a circuit judge of the fourteenth judicial district of Kentucky, a position he held until his death. His judicial service coincided with a period of rapid growth and legal development in the state, and he remained an influential figure in regional legal affairs. In national politics he remained active as well, serving as a presidential elector in both 1824 and 1832. On each occasion he cast his electoral vote for Kentucky’s “favorite son,” Henry Clay, underscoring his long-standing support for Clay’s American System and his opposition to Andrew Jackson’s presidency.

In addition to his legal and political work, McLean played a role in the early industrial development of western Kentucky. Around 1820, he and his son William discovered coal on the family farm near the now-defunct town of Paradise in Muhlenberg County. At the time, wood remained the more plentiful and convenient fuel, and the discovery attracted limited immediate attention. By 1830, however, the McLeans began mining the coal and transporting it by ox wagon to Russellville, Kentucky, and by barge down the Green River to Owensboro, Kentucky, and Evansville, Indiana. The McLean mine became one of the first commercial coal operations in Muhlenberg County and was later valued above other mines in the area because of its advantageous transportation connections, foreshadowing the region’s later prominence in coal production.

Alney McLean died of pneumonia near Greenville, Kentucky, on December 30, 1841. He was buried in Old Caney Station Cemetery near Greenville. Thirteen years after his death, in 1854, McLean County, Kentucky, was formed from portions of Muhlenberg and other counties and named in his honor, commemorating his service as a surveyor, legislator, congressman, judge, and early promoter of the region’s development.