My Genealogy Hound

Wiley Paul McNair, agent at Fayetteville, Ark., of the ‘Frisco Railway, was born in Charleston, Tallahatchee Co., Miss., June 21, 1849, and is a son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Scallion) McNair. The father was born near Edinburgh, Scotland, and at an early day came to America with his parents, who made a settlement in North Carolina near Wilmington. In 1854 Daniel McNair removed with his family to Gibson County, Tenn., where he spent the remainder of his days. His wife was a daughter of Jesse Scallion, a native of Ireland. Wiley Paul McNair was reared in Tennessee, and after acquiring a good education in the common schools began teaching school in order to obtain means to complete his education. He entered Bryant & Stratton’s Commercial College at Nashville, Tenn., from which institution he graduated in 1868. He had gained a fair knowledge of telegraphy in the meantime, and upon leaving college applied himself to this work, and after spending five years as clerk in a retail house, in 1873 entered the employ of the Atlantic & Pacific (now the ‘Frisco) Railroad, at the Ozark Iron Works, Missouri, now Newburg, Phelps Co., Mo., and in 1883 came to Fayetteville, where he remained two years, and then went to Peirce City, Mo., but the following year came back to Fayetteville, where he has since made his home. He is a Mason and is a worthy Sir Knight of Baldwin Commandery No. 4, and is also a member of the K. of P. and S. K. He is a stock­holder in the Building and Loan Association of Fayetteville. While a resident of Tennessee he was married to Miss Nancy A. Flippin, a daughter of James A. Flippin, of Gibson County, Tenn., and their union has resulted in the birth of two sons and two daughters: William Daniel, a telegraph operator at Fayetteville and a student in the A.. I. U.; Maud and May, who are also attending that institution, and Wiley Paul, Jr. The mother is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, which house of worship the family attend.