McKinney
Vincent McKinney was born about 1806 in Tennessee. He died in Crittenden County, Kentucky, about February 28, 1868 and was buried there the 29th. His parents are unknown, but he was probably the son of another Vincent. He married Nancy Newton, in Jefferson County, Tennessee, January 28, 1834.
Nancy was born in South Carolina about 1816 and died after 1880, probably in Crittenden County, Kentucky. Her parents are also unknown. At the time of the 1880 census her son and daughter, Thomas J. and Martha, were living with her in Union District of Crittenden County, Kentucky.
A farmer by occupation, Vincent left Tennessee around 1850 and migrated to Crittenden County, Kentucky. On January 4, 1853, for the sum of one hundred dollars he received a parcel of about four hundred acres, part of which bordered Claylick Creek. He apparently lived there the rest of his life.
No more is known of Vincent except that the Last Will and Testament of Vincent McKinney was recorded February 14, 1868, and produced in court February 29, 1868 in Crittenden County, Kentucky.
The children of Vincent McKinney and Nancy Newton Child Born Spouse William A. McKinney 26 Nov 1834 Martha Ann Pace John M. McKinney abt 1835 ? Mary E. McKinney abtr 1838 Joseph Newton Brown Mariah J. McKinney 10 Dec 1840 Alfred Newton Durham James Harrison McKinney 11 Dec 1842 Rowenna Jane Childress Prudence V. McKinney abt 1842 ??? Ayers Calvin F. McKinney abt 1845 ? Joseph Newton McKinney 24 Apr 1848 Irene Pearl Bryan Sarah Ann Elizabeth McKinney 25 Dec 1851 James Wesley Grimes Lorena E. McKinney abt 1853 ? Thomas Jefferson McKinney 28 Aug 1856 Martha Attison Howard Martha C. McKinney abt 1858 ?
James Harrison McKinney
James Harrison McKinney, was born December 11, 1842, in Morristown, Jefferson County, Tennessee. He died May 7, 1916, Ponder, Ripley County, Missouri. On October 3, 1865, he was married in Marion, Crittenden County, Kentucky, to Rowenna Jane Childress, born June 23, 1843 and died April 4 , 1923, Gatewood, Ripley County, Missouri. Both are buried in Ponder Cemetery. Her parents were John Childress and Narcissus Meek.
During the Civil War James joined the Union Army on June 30, 1863 at Marion, Kentucky as a Corporal in Co. B, 48th Kentucky Mounted Infantry. He was involved in "only skirmishes" and never wounded. He was discharged after his 12 months enlistment, December 18, 1864 at Bowling Green, Kentucky.
The area in Kentucky where James Harrison lived was Confederate country and his "Northern persuasion" was probably very unpopular. The Childress' were Southern sympathizers, as was Rowenna, and there is reason to believe his family also disapproved of his Union empathy.
Subsequent to the Civil War and his return home, disputes and apparent incidents regarding his sentiments and convictions eventually provoked James to abandon that locality. The last occurrence resulted in the wanton shooting and death of his cherished and pulchritudinous stud horse. To avoid contention and strife over impassioned resentment, he decided to leave Kentucky.
After many years of farming and raising most of his children James and family left Crittenden County, Kentucky in 1879. They journeyed west by foot and Covered Wagon, crossed the Ohio River by Steamboat, and the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau by treadboat.
They remained at Cape Girardeau for a short time, then headed west following the Three Notches Road, the notches being carved on trees beside the wagon trail. It went through Marble Hill and Springfield, Missouri, followed present day routes and Highway 60, then turned south into the Gaither Mountains toward Harrison in Boone County, Arkansas where they located.
While in Boone County, Arkansas James drove freight wagons, sometimes as far away as Springfield, Missouri, and was often away from home three to four weeks. In addition to the difficulties of frontier living there were problems in the area with guerrillas and scalawags.
Five years later, in 1884, they left Arkansas and traveled by foot and wagon through the wilderness, among the "wild varmints," until they came to Ripley County, Missouri and settled in the Wilson Community, four miles west of Doniphan. They also lived in the Briar Creek and Gatewood area.
Rowenna apparently made several trips back to Kentucky to visit the folks, but James Harrison never did.
James H. McKinney, on July 11, 1890, made his Declaration for Invalid Pension. The reason for application was "Rheumatism;" that he "was down in his back" with "misery in his arms and shoulders;" that "he was disabled by fever, resulting in rheumatism contracted at Princeton, Ky in the fall of 1863." He received a federal pension by March 1898.
James and Rowenna were of the Baptist faith and raised their eight living children in a Christian home. James was six feet tall with a fair complexion, dark hair and gray eyes. Rowenna was a "regular sized" woman with light hair and blue eyes.
James Harrison McKinney was a farmer, pioneer and Civil War Veteran. At Ponder, Ripley County, Missouri he farmed and raised horses and cows. One grandchild, Olin Hudson, remembered him with "a long white beard all dressed up, driving around in a one seated buggy pulled by an old gray Morgan."
Children of James and Rowenna McKinney Child Birth Spouse Joseph Ewing McKinney 12 Oct 1866 Mary Ann Ramage Charles Utley McKinney 12 Aug 1868 died young Cora N. L. McKinney 22 Sep 1869 W. Andrew Whitwell
Young P. HudsonWilliam Meek McKinney 6 Aug 1871 Queen Victoria Blake Alma Leona McKinney 3 May 1873 Thomas T. Duncan Elba Ann McKinney 6 Jul 1875 Silas Philbert Hudson Dulcina Angeline McKinney 24 Sep 1877 Lewis Elbert Smithson John Gilliam McKinney 7 Jul 1877 Ethel Goodman Thomas Milton McKinney 28 Jul 1883 Texie Ann Holland