MCNAIRY, JOHN HAMILTON (1804–1853). John Hamilton McNairy, farmer and early Texas legislator, was born in 1804 in Guildford County, North Carolina. McNairy lived for a time in Tennessee before settling in Shelby County, Texas, in 1837. He moved to the newly formed Upshur County in 1847 after the Regulator-Moderator War ceased. McNairy, a representative for the Regulators, was one of the men who signed the peace treaty. He bought land near Coffeyville and began farming. He was the first elected representative from the county in 1848, serving in the Third Texas Legislature from 1849 to 1850. He was married twice and had eleven children. He died in Old Coffeyville, Upshur County, on January 7, 1853, and is buried in Old Coffeyville Cemetery.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Upshur County Cemeteries (http://www.cemeteries-of-tx.com/Etx/Upshur/cemetery/ocoffeevill.htm), accessed July 21, 2006.
