Grayson County TXGenWeb

Jas. A. McKinney
1851 - 1923

Van Alstyne Leader
December 6,1923

JAMES A. McKINNEY

The history of any people or of any section is the history of its pioneers - of the men and women who blazed the trail, laid the foundation and erected the pillars upon which the life of the people, or the section, was formed and fashioned.

The chronicles of this section are rich in the legends of the pioneer. Their recording has not as yet reached the period at which the death of one belonging to the older generation does not occasion sorrow, and cause the minds and memories of the living to wander again in the channels of the days when men with iron in their very souls wrought to the end that their children and their children's children should live happily.

It is in a vein such as this that one would write of James A. McKinney. Born in this community on October 4, 1851, his life, covering a period of 72 years, 1 month and 29 days, was spent within a short distance of the spot on which he first saw the light of day. He literally grew up with this community and during all of his life played a quiet, though unostentatious part, in its development.

Mr. McKinney was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Marcus McKinney and a great-grandson of Mr. and Mrs.
Collin McKinney.

At an early age, he professed a belief in the Savior, and united with the First Christian church remaining all through his life a faithful and devout member of that faith. His Christianity was of the reserved kind; the injunction of pray in secret found all acknowledgment in his method of life; his communion with his Master found free expression in the cloistered sequestration of his individual privacy as well as in the singing of the songs which he loved and the hymns which expressed his sentiments.

In his daily walks, and his contact served. His very quietness caused with people, he was nonetheless rehim to see detached, and yet this element was the most impelling force of his life. For, when one came to know him, the calm reserve amounting almost to shyness was found to cloak conceptions of rare excellence and ideals of sterling worth.

Mr. McKinney was a charter member of Van Alstyne Lodge of Odd Fellows, and the exalted principles of that brotherhood had no more ardent exponent in both word and action than he. The teachings of Odd Fellowship found in him a ready pupil and the demands and constant exemplification through him.

Funeral services were held at the First Christian church on Tuesday afternoon, Revs. Leo Johnston the pastor, and R. C. Hicks, pastor of the Methodist church officiating. The scripture lesson and a prayer were given by Rev. Hicks at the opening of the service. After the singing of Mr. McKinney's favorite hymn, "In the sweet bye-and-bye," prayer was offered by S.H. Pattie. A most eloquent tribute was paid the deceased by Rev. Johnston.

Interment was held at the local cemetery, the body being committed to the earth from whence it came according to the burial service of the Odd Fellows, the local lodge attending in a body.

The large concourse of people present from this community and from other sections, and an abundance of floral offerings attested the esteem in which Mr. McKinney was held by all who knew him.

Mr. McKinney is survived by three sisters and two brothers, as follows: Mrs. Jim Kemp of Whitesboro, Mrs. James Abbott of Alvin, Mrs. M.E. Rollins of Eastland, L.M. McKinney of El Paso, and Will McKinney
of Dodsonville, to whom the sympathy of the entire community goes out.

Van Alstyne Leader
December 6, 1923

ATTENDING THE McKINNEY FUNERAL

The following immediate relatives attended the funeral of James A. McKinney Tuesday:
W.C. McKinney and daughter; Mrs. F.C. Brauns of Dodsonville, Mr. and Mrs. Chas.
Abbott of Alvin, Mrs. M.E. Rollins of Eastland, L.M. McKinney of El Paso, Mr. and Mrs. Jim Kemp
and daughter of Whitesboro, Frank Kemp and Mrs. Minnie Stacks of Fort Worth.