Thomas W. McClure was a wheelwright, also skilled in the art of cabinet making. He 
arrived in the village at the age of nineteen to begin a long career. He found ready 
market for the wheels he made for spinning jennies. He set up a shop, west of Mill 
St., and produced wheels for many years. Later he manufactured chairs, bedsteads, 
tables, dressers, etc. for the settler's homes.

He married Mary Hedges of Adams Co., who was born Oct. 5, 1805 and succumbed 
Sept. 12, 1830, after the birth of the following children: Mary Jane, Elizabeth, Sarah, 
who died Aug. 21, 1831, at the age of 11 months; Wilson, Sarah, named for her 
sister; Martha, one who died an infant, and James McClure, 1838-62.

After the death of his first wife, Thomas married Martha, widow of the early 
merchant, James McCague. They were the parents of seven more children making 
him the father of sixteen children. The children by the second marriage were 
Margaret, Joseph W., Robert D., George W. Thomas, and two who died at an early 
age.

Wilson, eldest son of Thomas an Mary (Hedges) McClure, married Ellen Jane, 
daughter of George W., and Eva Belleson. when his father died in 1871, Wilson 
McClure took over the business. He was already a licensed embalmer and added a 
new line of furniture. The McClures kept a good stable in connection with their 
funeral parlor. Wilson McClure had taken time out to enlist as a member of Co. B, 
175th Reg., O.V.I., during the Civil War.

Wilson and Ellen (Belleson)McClure were the parents of four children: George E., 
James A., Thomas H. and Wilson G. McClure. Wilson McClure died in 1909, his 
wife survived until 1920. Thomas H. McClure took over the family business and 
continued to sell furniture and hardware. They also became experts in all the types of 
tin work, slate and iron roofing. The McClures, Galls, and Wickerhams are no longer 
in business in Sinking Spring, but for many years they, or their relatives, dominated 
the business life of "the village among the hills."