Dallas Morning News
March 16, 1907
P. 13

"DEATH OF A PIONEER. - Rev. Y.S. McKinney Dies at Van Alstyne, Aged Eighty-Seven. - Van Alstyne, Tex., March 15. - Rev. Y.S. McKinney died here this afternoon. Uncle Scott, as he was familiarly called by the people, was in his eighty-eighth year, and had lived here for many years. Born in Kentucky in 1820, he came to Texas with his parents when he was 5 years old. They settled in what is now Bowie County. His father was Collin McKinney, one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence and for whom Collin County and its capital were named. Uncle Scott enlisted in the war for Texas independence, but did not engage in any battle. He came to what is now Collin County in 1849 and later removed to Grayson County, where he has since resided. In his younger days he was a surveyor and did much of the surveying for this section of the State, and even up to his death he evinced a great interest in these old surveys. There are few men that played a more important part in the building up of a country than has this pioneer in the building up of this section of the State. For many miles his name has been for a generation a household word. He has been a licensed preacher in the Methodist Church, South, for nearly sixty years, filling several posts as a supply, but never as a member of the conference. His friends of long ago never tired of telling of his power as a preacher of the gospel, and the uniformly godly life which he lived has been a source of pleasure to his friends and acquaintances and a comfort to his family. Many of the leading ministers of that church throughout North Texas are familiar with the services he has rendered the church and State in the line of work. He became a Mason in Bonham fifty-seven years ago and was the last charter member of Mantua Lodge No. 209 of Van Alstyne.
The children surviving him are S.L. McKinney, J.D.L. McKinney and Mrs. Emma Cave, all of Van Alstyne, and also a large number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren." 


Van Alstyne Public Library family history files

Younger Scott McKinney was the youngest son of Collin McKinney (a member of the convention which declared for Texas Independence in 1836), and Betsey McKinney.  He was born in Todd County, Kentucky December 14, 1819.  He removed with his parents to what is now Miller county, Arkansas in 1824, thinking it was Texas territory, it being their intention to locate in Texas.  Later on in 1831 the family moved to Bowie County, Texas where he married June 6, 1839 to Miss Sarah Jones and with her moved to Clark County, Arkansas in 1843.  In 1849, he moved back from Clark County, stopping for a year with his father who had preceded him to Collin County, finally settling at a point about four and one-half miles east of the present site of Van Alstyne, Grayson County, where he lived for fifty years.  His wife died in 1900.  Ten children were born to this couple.  Three died in infancy, three in mature years and four lived rather long.  One son was named Collin Joe.  Younger Scott McKinney was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, being a member of the original Liberty Class of which the present congregation at Van Alstyne is the successor.  He voted against the division of the Methodist church in 1844.  He died at the home of his son J.D.L. McKinney in Van Alstyne on Friday, March 15, 1907 at 4:15 p.m. and was laid to rest in the Van Alstyne Cemetery.