Note: James, named after his grandfather--James McNair, Sr., spent his boyhood days on a farm. In Nov. 1847 he joined company "C", 5th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry for service in the Mexican War. The boat on which these troops were being transported was wrecked at Muscles Shoals, and the soldiers were forced to march on foot to a point below Florence, AL, where they took another boat. He located permanently in Searcy County, Arkansas 26 Mar. 1866 after two months travel by wagon. He located on a farm which became his home, with the exception of two years during the war which was spent in Greene Co., MO. He was one of the leading farmers of Searcy Co., his estate embracing 240 acres, and regarded an authority on agriculture. He was a Union man during the war, but took no part in the struggle. When the war broke out he was ordered to the county seat to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States. Instead of obeying the command he resigned his local offfices and took refuge in the mountains. In 1864 he went to MO, and on 1 May 1866 he returned home. He was active in the Methodist Church, as was his wife. He served as a school director, justice of the peace, and overseer of roads. After returning home from military service he married Harriet Manes. She bore him 14 children. James Claiborne is the great grandfather of Daniel Howard McNair who resides in OK and is researching the McNair line