NORTH CARROLLTON — It was a decade ago. On a fall Saturday morning, I took my daughter, Kate, on her first trip to the Merrill Museum in Carrollton.
Jane Blackmon was there showing the memorabilia of history preserved with the stories behind them. It was evident that the McCain family’s roots in Carroll County and its patriotism ran deep.
When the news came Saturday that U.S. Sen. John Sidney McCain III, 81, had died after a yearlong battle with brain cancer, I thought about his Mississippi roots. The Vietnam War hero with more than 35 years of public service became one of America’s most distinctive figures in modern politics as a conservative maverick.
His great-grandfather, John Sidney McCain, known as “J.S.,” was born in Teoc and once served as Carroll County sheriff, and later as president of the Carroll County Board of Supervisors. Sen. McCain’s ties to Mississippi actually go back to 1848, when ancestor William McCain moved from North Carolina to Carroll County, according to information provided by Sen. McCain’s book, “Faith of My Fathers.”
His grandfather, John Sidney McCain Sr., grew up in Carroll County, attended the University of Mississippi and then left the state in 1902 to enter the U.S. Naval Academy.
Former U.S. Sen. Trent Lott’s family also hails from Carroll County, and at one time Lott’s kinfolk lived near the McCains in this area. The last McCain to live at the family’s Carroll County home called Teoc was John McCain’s grandfather's brother. He died in 1952.
It was during John McCain’s second presidential campaign in 2008 that I took Kate to the Merrill Museum, which houses one of the largest collections of McCain family memorabilia. Camp McCain Training Center, south of Grenada, which was established for the purpose of training Army National Guard and Reserve organizations, was named for Sen. McCain’s uncle, Maj. Gen. Henry Pinchney McCain.
According to Barbara Duke Sheppard of North Carrollton, Sen. McCain, as a child growing up, stayed with family in Carroll County and attended the one-room schoolhouse in Teoc while his father was serving in the military.
In 2000, when Sen. McCain was running in his first presidential race, I remember television news crews came to Carrollton and North Carrollton and reported on his family’s Carroll County connections and service to our country.
Sure there were those who didn’t agree with Sen. McCain on some of his decisions, but that comes with the territory of being in politics and especially being the “maverick” that he was.
After the death of Sen. McCain, who served as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, praise has come from both sides of the aisle for his straight talk and ability to work in a bipartisan manner.
Sen. McCain was an American hero who left a legacy from the battlefields to the halls of Congress. His public service career was a commitment to the national security of the United States.
He and his family’s service to our country is a legacy that will live on for generations. One needs to look no further for evidence than the Merrill Museum.
• Ken Strachan is a North Carrollton alderman.
