Chronicling the McNairs

Andrew McNair | Patriarch of McNair Geneolgy

Miles McNair 5th generation, and his children 6th

Family Overview...

For those new to Lap of Legends, here is a jump start on the McNair Family:

Miles M. McNair was a successful businessman and pioneer in Brodhead, WI. He lived 90 glorious years. His first wife, Elizabeth Lozer, passed away in 1858 at the age of 38. 

They had three children together: Mary Helen, Laura Allen, and Theodore Thomas. Miles & Elizabeth Lozer's children unfortunately all lived brief lives.

Mary Helen died in infancy, Laura Allen died 24, and Theodore Thomas was lost at sea and died at the age 17.

Miles remarried 1860 (date approximated). He had three children with his second wife, Elizabeth R. Melendy: Frances de Lancy, W. Grant, and Grace Elizabeth. 

Frances went on to marry a successful lawyer and legislator, and settled in Wauwatosa.

More information is coming soon on Grace, and I am in the earliest stages of researching Grant.

Family Impressions...

Miles was an extremely successful in business, and active in both business and travel through his life. I am still researching Miles' various businesses, but they include owning the lumberyard in Brodhead, being an elective official in Brodhead, and he appears to also have owned a furniture and funeral goods business. 

Miles owned a few notable homes in Brodhead, the last being Sunnyside, which he built when he was 73 years of age.

As Frances went on to be a well documented socialite through her marriage to Charles B Perry, I have found several news clippings announcing the visits of family members to Wauwatosa to stay with her. 

Elizabeth R. died at Frances' house after an extended stay in which she was unable to leave her bedroom, and was returned to Brodhead for burial in the family plot at Greenwood Cemetery.

Frances lived to be 64, and is buried in Wauwatosa. Grace lived to be 58 and is buried with Grant, who lived to be 59, in the McNair family plot. 

Where They Lived...

Miles lived in Brodhead until he died, but I have found he traveled with visits to daughter, Frances, in Wauwatosa, as well as on business trips documented up to nearly the year of his death.

Frances settled in Wauwatosa...

Grace appears to have stayed in Brodhead and the Madison area, with the expection of her studies at Bryn Mawr in Pennsylvania...

Grant is buried in the family plot, but I have also found documentation that he was addressed as living in New York City ...

And the Adventure Continues...

As I am able to bring together genealogies, I am most excited to dive in to get more about the individuals, the people they were, their professions, and interests. Stay tuned, as I am preparing a post to start introducing Grace Elizabeth tomorrow :)

Sources 

• portrait of Andrew McNair by M. Leon Bracker
• wvancestry
• Wauwatosa & New York City maps via World Maps online
• Brodhead map via Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center

*as Lap of Legends documents ongoing research, please utilize the post "tags" for the most recent and accurate information