Alney McLean

Alney McLean (June 10, 1779 – December 30, 1841) was a United States representative from Kentucky. McLean County, Kentucky, is named in his honor.

Early life Alney McLean was born to Ephraim and Elizabeth (Davidson) McLean in Burke County, North Carolina, on June 10, 1779. Alney McLean's father, Ephraim, a descendant of Clan Maclean of Isle of Mull, served as a captain at the Battle of Kings Mountain, and received a 600-acre land grant in what is now East Nashville, Nashville Tennessee in payment for his service. Along with Colonel Elijah Robertson, brother of James Robertson (explorer), Ephraim McLean represented what was then Nashville, North Carolina, to the North Carolina General Assembly in 1784, making him one of the earliest officials in what would soon become the state of Tennessee.

Alney McLean's mother, Elizabeth Davidson, was the first cousin of Brigadier General William Lee Davidson, who died fighting Cornwallis at the Battle of Cowan's Ford.

McLean pursued preparatory studies, likely at Davidson Academy (later Peabody College) where Ephraim was a trustee.

At age twenty McLean relocated to Kentucky where he was appointed surveyor of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. One of McLean's grandsons, William C. McLean, became an Associate Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court. served as a delegate to the North Carolina Convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution and became Speaker of the Kentucky State Senate. He was first elected to office in 1812, representing Muhlenberg County in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1812 to 1813. Records show that the company was enlisted September 18, 1812. and again under Lieutenant Colonel William Mitchusson at the Battle of New Orleans.

McLean, along with Kentucky Senator John Adair and others, later took offense to General Andrew Jackson's charge that Kentuckians "ingloriously fled" from fighting at New Orleans; he remained a political opponent of Jackson's for the remainder of his career.

McLean died of pneumonia near Greenville, Kentucky, in 1841 and was buried in Old Caney Station Cemetery, near Greenville, Kentucky. McLean County, Kentucky, was formed from Muhlenberg and other counties in 1854 and named in honor of Alney McLean.