R.J. McElhany and Cordelia Margaret Bunch were married in Polk Co, MO o Feb 15, 1838 and they lived in Springfield, Greene Co, Mo. They were parents of nine children, with only four living to adulthood:

Margaret Muse McElhany who married Col Sempronius Boyd*
Martha Elvira McElhany who married Homer Frank Fellows
Robert L McElhany who married Pattie D Fisher
Lucy McElhany who married Col Leonidas A Campbell

**********************

Robert McElhany (sometimes spelled McElhany) was the son of George McElhany and Lucy POLLARD, both his parents were born in Virginia and were married on Aug 3, 1813, in Grainger Co TN. They were parents of five children who lived in Missouri and raised families in the Springfield area. The names of R J McElhany's brothers are: William P, Warham A (m. Stilly Jane ROBERTSON), John M ( m. Margaret BARNES), Emmer Lazarus (m. Biddy Ann BARNES and after her death, Margaret Ann JACKSON)

Robert's mother, Lucy POLLARD McElhany, was married a second time before coming to Missouri. On Oct 3 1823, she married Joel Phillips in Grainger County and they were parents of 5 children, all born in Tennessee: Nathan J, Louise, Thomas, Elizabeth, and Columbus C.


Lucy POLLARD McElhany Phillips died on Jul 1, 1865, she and Joel are buried in Phillips Cemetery, Battlefield Greene Co.

****************************************


Bio of Maj. R.J. McElhany
From the HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY (1883)

"This gentleman was born in Grainger county, Tennessee, about the year 1815, the family records being lost upon his father's death, when young Robert was seven years of age. Being thrown upon his own resources when a mere child, he faced the world and fought through all obstacles, and came out victorious. He would carry his book in his hat, and read at noon and other odd times, while his horse was resting during the day, and took advantage of every spare hour he had to improve himself intellectually. He came to Missouri in 1835, penniless, in company with a blacksmith. He helped the blacksmith burn a coal pit, and then secured a position on the U.S. survey at forty-five dollars per month, for three months. He soon returned to Springfield and accepted a position as clerk in a store, where he worked for one year. Then three friends advanced him one hundred dollars each, and with that sum he bought a stock of groceries, and opened out in the business here, which he followed three or four years, and next engaged in the dry goods business, which be followed until 1865. He then sold out, engaged in banking, organizing the first national bank of Springfield in 1870, and has been its president to the present.

He was postmaster of Springfield, under Polk's administration, and had been a major of militia in 1840. During the late civil war he was captain of Co. A, 46th infantry; the company was called out late and saw no active service. He was one of the prime movers in the wagon-factory enterprise of Springfield, which is one of the noted industries of the place.

Major McElhany was married November 9, 1838, to Miss Cordelia M., daughter of John and Margaret Bunch, of Polk County, Missouri, Mrs. McElhany is a native of Grainger County, Tenn., and is a neice of Gen. Clement C. Clay, one of Alabama's senators, who resigned his seat at the commencement of the late war.
They have three children living, viz.: Margaret M., wife of Hon. S. H. Boyd, Robt. L., and Lucy, wife of the late Col. L. A. Campbell, of Mississippi. Major McElhany is a Royal Arch Mason, and has been a member of the Methodist church for thirty-four years. He is one of Greene's most substantial citizens, and upright in all dealings with his fellow-man."