The Founding Family of Dr. George S. McClellan As told to Bud Garner by Novice McClellan Balazs Dr. George Sterling McClellan Sr. was born in Wellborn Florida located in Suwannee County in North Florida in the year, 1890. His wife, Novice Collier McClellan was born in Orangeburg County, SC on May 16, 1893. There is a reference in the history of Suwannee County of a George E. McClellan who lived in Wellborn sometime in the early 1800’s and Novice McClellan Balazs, the McClellan’s only daughter says she is pretty sure this was her Grandfather, the father of Dr. George, her father. Dr. George attended grammar and high school in Wellborn, he studied medicine in Atlanta Georgia at the University that is now known as Emory University. Dr. George met his future wife, Novice Collier, who had left Orangeburg County South Carolina and had been employed in the Millinery department of Rhodes dept. store in Atlanta Ga. She relocated to Wellborn because of the proximity of the Railroad that ran from Jacksonville to Tallahassee through Wellborn, it was a hub and there was a great demand for “trimmed” hats at this time. This is where she met Dr. George and they were married in the year 1916. War was declared and Dr. George went into the Army in 1917 serving as an officer and surgeon. He was sent to New York and Novice McClellan returned to Orangeburg SC where their oldest son George Sterling McClellan Jr. was born in January 1918. Dr. George was sent to France, serving as surgeon and in this field, he served on troop transports returning wounded soldiers back to the United States for further treatment. After the armistice, Dr. George returned to Wellborn in 1919 and resumed his medical practice. Novice was born in Jasper, Florida in 1920. She says “Things were very slow” and money was scarce, they had an abundance of “dead chickens, eggs, ham, beef, pork, beans and potatoes.” This didn’t pay the bills and Dr. George decided to take a trip to South Florida with his brother Phil. They stopped in Pompano where there were people that Dr. George knew from Suwannee County and at this time only about four or five hundred people were living in Pompano, and the townspeople asked Dr. George to please stay because they needed a doctor Dr. George had distant relatives in Oakland Park, they were the Goodbread family. After returning to Wellborn, Dr. George asked His wife, Novice, how would she like to move to Pompano. Mrs. McClellan answered, “I will be ready in five minutes.” The McClellan family left North Florida and Pompano was their new home in 1921. They rented a house from Clyde Bland in Monticello located just West of Dixie highway in the first block on NW 8th Street. They were across the street North of the Tom Chapman Sr. home which was in the middle of the block and just East of the Wise family. Ben Turner lived directly behind the Wise House. Their next to oldest son, Billy was born in Pompano on April 7, 1922, Bobby was born in November 1926. The McClellan’s lived there until 1923 when they built the house on NE 2nd Street and it is still standing. The little office building was started and finished in 1926, being finished just in time for the 1926 hurricane that caused widespread damage in Pompano and South Florida. The family stayed in this office during this hurricane. Dr. George settled into his practice, there were few paved roads in residential areas of Pompano, mostly sand or rock roads. Novice said this is where she learned to drive a car, taking Dr. George on house calls up and down sand roads and at all hours of the day and night. Dr. George tried to maintain office hours but the make-up of the community was not really suited to this type of practice. There were so many people that worked on the farms that were located miles away from town and if someone was injured or became sick, it was usually late in the day or night before they arrived at his office and he never turned anyone away regardless of the time of day or night. The nearest hospital was in Ft. Lauderdale on South Andrews Ave., and traveling in that time seemed like it took forever to get there, especially if someone was injured or in much pain. Novice said another problem encountered in certain parts of town was the lack of a systematic numbering system for houses, if they were on a call then many times, the patients didn’t know their addresses and if their neighbors couldn’t or wouldn’t give them directions then many times they were left untreated. Accident victims were brought to his office for treatment, there was no EMS or police services that could treat victims, the fire dept which was a volunteer unit did not respond to accidents, unlike today, their only function was to fight fires and not potential fires. When Dr. George arrived in Pompano there were two Doctors that were or had recently been practicing in Pompano but both had moved elsewhere. One, Dr. Levy, moved his practice to Miami and Dr. Kennedy to Ft. Lauderdale. He was the developer and builder of the Dr. Kennedy homes in Ft. Lauderdale. Dr. George at one time delivered babies but he gave this up because many times an expectant mother would call him in the last few days or sometimes hours before delivering and Dr. George always asked what doctor they had been seeing and most times their answer was he was the first one they had contact with. If there was a problem in the delivery, or maybe a Cesarean delivery, then the doctor had to take the blame for the neglect of the patient, so he decided to give up his maternity practice. Mrs. McClellan was Dr. George’s nurse however she never had formal training in this field she was perfectly capable to assist him in his practice. She usually remained in the house until Dr. George called her and it was just a few feet from her back door to the back door of the office and she knew where all the supplies and instruments were and was a very capable, competent assistant. Mrs. McClellan was the oldest child in a family with ten children, She was the first one of her family in Pompano and seven of her brothers or sisters came to Pompano and lived with them for a time, and over the years every one of her brothers and sisters either lived in Pompano or Deerfield. All the siblings had active lives and raised their families in Pompano or Deerfield, their legacy lives with their children and grandchildren and even great grandchildren. They were, Lorraine Hinson, Rae, Emma, Raine, Joyce, Georgia, Glenny, Pelham, and Harry Collier. Their Mother came down from Orangeburg SC and lived the last seven years of her life with Dr George and Novice. Dr. George spent many hours in his small office that bordered on the sidewalk at the corner of NE 1st Ave. and NE 2nd St. His huge desk backed-up to the window that looked out on NE 2nd Street. He had his examination table in the center of the room and his glass enclosed medicinal supplies along the side wall. His large swivel chair that he sat in had its own built in squeak and at his every move it would emit its unearthly protest and you would know that Dr. George, who was a very large man, was “in his place, and in command.” The dual waiting rooms were facing the sidewalk on NE 1st Ave, signs over the door read “ White” and “Colored” there was nothing much dividing the two waiting rooms and each contained the same kind and number of seats. Both waiting rooms were open to Dr. McClellan’s view and Novice said, although Dr. McClellan despised the division the State laws required it but he was fair in his admittance of the next patient, whoever was first in the waiting room, they were the first into his office and it didn’t matter to him what color they were. Novice recalls the times she had growing up in Pompano, notable, Mr. Tom Chapman Sr. pulling them in a wagon when they lived across the street from him and her mother washing clothes in a tub in the back yard. There were no washing machines and it was all done by scrub brush and hand wringing. Novice also recalls that during World War II, they raised chickens and rabbits for food and also that they bought a cow, kept it in their back yard for the milk and butter so they at least had milk and eggs every day. Novice also recalls that Louise Keene, who lived next door to them, would keep the cow milked when at times they had to be gone a few days. Novice remembers that Dr. George was a registered pharmacist and he built a drugstore on the corner of the block diagonally across from their house and operated it. Mr. S.C. Rabbit) Fox (Mr. Fox was the first Pompano High School principal and later became a County Commissioner,) approached him and wanted to buy the store. Dr. George agreed to sell it to him but under the stipulation that if he ever wanted to sell it that he would get first chance to buy it back and that he would always keep a jar of cherries on the back counter so if any of his children bought a soda, they would have a cherry to top it off. This did happen and Dr. George regained the drugstore. He eventually sold it to “Doc Shorty” Hamilton. The McClellan family endured their share of grief during World War II. Their oldest son, Sterling, was shot down while flying a B-17 bomber on a mission deep into Germany and killed. His next son, Billy, was shot down flying out of Italy in a B-24 Bomber two weeks after his brother Sterling was killed. Billy was seriously wounded and after parachuting out of the crippled bomber he was found by civilians and they tried to help him but he was too badly wounded and they had to give him up so he could be treated. Billy was informed of Sterling’s death while a prisoner of war and Billy told me he talked with two members of Sterling’s crew that were being held in the same prison camp he was in and they gave him an account of the tragedy of that occasion. George Sterling McClellan Jr. was the first man from Pompano to die in combat in World War II. The American Legion Post in Pompano Beach is named “The Sterling McClellan Post 142" in his honor. The McClellan family has endured many hardships, and misfortunes and victories and successes in their long and arduous journey through the years and they leave with us the legacy of hard work, patience, understanding and most of all compassion for their fellow man. Dr. George S. McClellan Sr. 1890-1958 Mrs. Novice McClellan, 1893-1981 George Sterling McClellan Jr. 1918-1944 Robert “Bobby” McClellan 1926-1991 All are buried in the Pompano Beach Cemetery.