CHAPTER II The Ancestry of William PR NATIVE AMERICAN STOCK RESIDENT MCKINLEY came from Crawford County, Ohio, stock, his grandfather and great-grandfather having been leading pioneer citizens. Strange to say, they lived in the banner Democratic township of this rock-ribbed Democratic county, and, what was more, the old gentlemen voted the Democratic ticket. In a little German Lutheran cemetery, a few miles north of Bucyrus, on the State road, can be found a modest gravestone, on which is the following inscription: DAVID MCKINLEY Born 1756. Died 1840 The mound is neatly kept, and from the near-by corners of the old rail fence nod wild roses in fragrant profusion. Just beyond runs the Columbus and Sandusky Short Line Railway, with its stream of commerce; but few of the passengers know that in this little cemetery rests the original stock of the nation's late President. Beside the grave of McKinley is a companion mound with a similar headstone, on which is inscribed: HANNAH C. ROSE Born 1757. Died 1840 These are the graves of the predecessors of the President, and throughout this county there still resides a number of their descendants, while the older pioneers remember well McKinley, the revolutionary soldier. Among the closest relatives at the present time there are the Waller family, their homestead being a few miles from the lonely graveyard. Stephen Waller married a sister of the President's father and had many occasions to visit the old home in Canton. While Mr. Waller and the President differed in politics, the former was always high in his praise of the consistency and character of his famous nephew, and spoke most touchingly of the Christian character of McKinley's mother. INCIDENTS IN EARLY LIFE After the death of Mrs. Waller the family visits and correspondence were naturally discontinued, but Mr. Waller related many incidents in the early life of the President which illustrate his early Christian training. On one occasion, during a visit of Mrs. Waller to the home of her brother, William McKinley, Sr., her nephew was a lad of sixteen or seventeen years of age. He was a student at the time, and was poring over his Latin when his brother David, who was superintendent of a coal mine, came rushing into the room and ordered young William to hitch up his horse and have it ready for him by a certain time, as he was in a hurry, and wanted to drive out to a dance several miles in the country. After his brother had left the room, young William turned to his aunt, Mrs. Waller, and said, "Aunt Martha, don't you think it rather humiliating for a Methodist and a Latin scholar to be compelled to hitch up a horse for a brother to go to a dance?" Both the grandfather of the President and his great grandfather were carpenters by trade, and during the early days of the century they were engaged in this work. The village of Chatfield, which is located on the site of the McKinley farm, was largely built by the McKinleys, and many buildings throughout the county and in Bucyrus are their handiwork. Of the original buildings on the McKinley farm only one remains, the others having given place to more modern structures. Upon the site of the old McKinley home has been erected a commodious two-story brick school house, and here the young people of Chatfield are taught in common school branches and imbibe patriotism amidst favorable environments. The only relative bearing the family name who is a resident of this vicinity is William McKinley, of this place, who is in the employ of the Ohio Central. He is an exact counterpart of the President in build and facial mold. Other relatives in Bucyrus are Thomas McCreary and family. The surviving pioneer citizens who remember the McKinleys when they lived in Crawford County all speak of them in terms of highest praise. Those who knew David McKinley say that he was a highly educated and polished gentleman of the old school. He was a teacher for many years, and was familiar with several languages. In religion he was a strict Presbyterian, and in politics a Democrat of the Jeffersonian school, as were also the other McKinleys of Crawford County in that early day, except James, the President's grandfather, who was a Whig. He also fought in the Revolutionary War, and during the closing years of his life drew a pension for wounds received in the service. In order to trace the history of the descendants in this county and show their relation to the late President William McKinley, whose career has been so illustrious, it is necessary to follow the history of the family briefly from its first appearance in America to the present time. The first McKinley to arrive in this country was James, who, with his brother William, emigrated from Ireland early in the eighteenth century. His brother William went South and established the Southern branch of the family, but James remained in York County, where he grew to manhood and was married. Among his children was David McKinley, who was born May 16, 1755, and died in this county in 1840. David's second son was James McKinley, who was in turn the father of William McKinley, Sr., father of the President. A brother of James McKinley, Ephraim by name, also located in Crawford County, settling in Bucyrus a year before James located at Chatfield. He married Hannah McCreary, a sister of Thomas McCreary, well known in Ohio, and they lived in North Bucyrus. Ephraim and family moved from Bucyrus to South Bend, Ind., in 1847, and from there they went to Wisconsin and Dakota, and finally located in Ogden, Ills. When James McKinley located at Chatfield he was accompanied by his children, Hannah, Martha, Ellen and Benjamin, and his son John joined him about two years later, while the other children, including William, father of the President, remained in Columbiana County. In 1844, James sold his Chatfield farm and bought another, but ultimately moved to South Bend, Ind. About the same time Ephraim moved there from Bucyrus. The country about South Bend was then very swampy, new and full of malaria. The old folks both were stricken with malaria shortly after arriving, and both died on the same day in 1847, on the fortieth anniversary of their marriage, and were buried in the same grave, which is marked by a handsome monument put up by their son, William McKinley, Sr. THE PRESIDENT'S GRANDFATHER James McKinley, grandfather of the President, was a remarkable man in many respects, and, like his father, was engaged in fighting England, he having served in the War of 1812. He served under General William Henry Harrison, and was in the battle of Tippecanoe. While in the service Harrison's division passed through this section of the State, and McKinley was so favorably impressed with the country at that time that it led to his locating there. Of their children, Hannah and her husband, Mr. Tilford, continued to live in the vicinity of Lykens for a number of years. and also at Sulphur Springs, finally moving to Bloomville. Ellen and her husband, James Winters, lived in the vicinity of Lykens for a number of years after their marriage and then moved to Minnesota, and finally returned to Ohio. Martha and her husband, Mr. Waller, continued to live at Lykens until her death, October 4, 1880. There her hushand and some of the children still live, |