Rev. James McLain was an Indiana County pioneer and early county official. Born around 1758 in Antrim, Cumberland County, McLain was the son of James and Christian Brown McLene. He was an important figure in early Indiana County history. According to a Pennsylvania, US Veterans Burial Card, 1770-2012, McClain served as a second lieutenant in Col. Sam Culbertson’s Cumberland County Militia. He was discharged in 1783. According to Stephenson’s History of Indiana County, McLain served briefly as a missionary in the Southern states.
In 1801, he married Barbara Campbell, the daughter of Gen. Charles Campbell, a notable early settler of Indiana County. McLain and his father-in-law, Gen. Campbell, mapped out land given by George Clymer, that, in 1803, would become Indiana County. In 1806, Governor McKean appointed McLain as the first Prothonotary of Indiana County. McLain died in 1835.