[1] He was noted as being generous, and probably had previously contracted smallpox, because at the age of 13, on October 10, 1783, he was "...allowed five pounds for attending a Continental soldier with the small pox.
[6] McClanahan was a substantial landowner in Virginia, and the owner of most of the land that ultimately became the northwest section of Roanoke City.
[7] As early as 1798, he purchased along with his partner and father-in-law, Colonel Andrew Lewis, two plots of land of 92 and 84 acres each along the Little River in Montgomery County, Virginia.
[9] By 1820, McClanahan had built Villa Heights, a two-story house in the Federal style located in what would become Northwest Roanoke City.
The house was expanded and renovated multiple times, and was listed to the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.