Collin McKinney
Collin McKinney
By Joy Gough
Collin County is holding several events in April in honor of Collin McKinney’s 250th birthday. Here is a reprint of the history of this man and the events that were happening in Texas at that time.
Most of us know that Collin County and its county seat were named for Collin McKinney, but what else do we know about him? During his lifetime, the United States and Texas were going through great changes in their governments and development. It is said that Collin McKinney lived under eight flags.
Mordecai McKinney emigrated from Scotland to America around 1710 and settled around Lebanon Township in present-day New Jersey. He was married in 1713. His wife was from Raritan, New Jersey and many of their children were baptized there. Raritan and Lebanon are about 12 miles apart.
Collin McKinney was born in Raritan, New Jersey on April 17, 1766. He was the second of ten children and the second son of Daniel McKinney and Mercy Blatchley. Mordecai was his great grandfather. Collin’s father was active in the Revolutionary War. After the war, around 1783, several members of the McKinney family, including Collin’s father, Daniel, moved their families near the end of the Logan Trace of the Wilderness Road in Kentucky. They established a place they called McKinney’s Station, which was in present-day Lincoln County near Crab Orchard. The geography is a little strange here. Kentucky was part of Virginia until 1812, when it became the fifteenth state. So, technically, the families moved to Virginia. Collin would have been 17.
The Indians were still attacking the frontier settlers and there are stories of Collin outsmarting them. Collin’s father Daniel was a member of the Kentucky militia, which helped protect the early settlers. Daniel died in 1809.
In 1794 Collin McKinney married Amy Moore. They had 4 children, two of whom reached adulthood, son Ashley and daughter Polly. Amy died May 6, 1804.
On April 14, 1805, Collin married Betsy Leake Coleman. They were the parents of 6 children: William C., Ama and Margaret (twins), Anna C., Eliza and Younger Scott. Collin was a magistrate in Kentucky from 1805 until the family moved to Arkansas.
Collin McKinney was a deacon at Separate Baptist Church in Crab Orchard, Kentucky. In 1817 he united with the Barton W. Stone Christian Movement, which later became the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ. He and some of his sons became lay ministers. From then on he started Christian churches wherever he was living.
In 1823 Collin McKinney sold his trading post in Elkton, Kentucky, and moved with several other families to a point six miles east of Texarkana, arriving there on September 15, 1824. Later they moved farther west and settled on Hickman's Prairie on the Red River.
A Mexican land grant colony called Wavell’s Colony was established west of Texarkana along the Red River in 1826 with Ben Milam as the agent. The colony included all of present-day Bowie and Red River Counties in Texas. The colony was also called Hickman’s Prairie and Pecan Point.
Up until 1838 the area where he lived was considered part of Miller County, Arkansas. It was also claimed by Mexico as part of Tejas. The residents considered themselves residents of the United States. The area was included in the 1830 census of the United States, as well as the 1830 Mexico list of residents of Wavell’s Colony. Because of the dispute between Mexico and the United States over the area, the settlers did not receive titles to their land until after the Republic of Texas was established. Today it is part of Bowie County, Texas.
The McKinneys moved to Hickman’s Prairie around 1828. A deed to Collin McKinney’s headright was recorded in 1838 listing his property at 24 labors, 209.330 square varas. Varas and labors are old Spanish measurements of land area. That converts to 4251.3 acres. His land was about 1 mile wide. On the west side it was 5.5 miles to the Red River. On the east side it was 8 miles to the river. On the 3 mile twist and turns of the Red River was McKinney landing. Collin’s son Ashley had the headright to his east and his son William had the headright on his west side. Collin was a magistrate in that area of Texas until 1839. He made eleven trips back to Kentucky to escort groups of immigrants to Texas.
As early as 1831 the McKinney family was holding Christian worship services at Pecan Point with a small group of neighbors. This was illegal at the time because, as residents of Mexico, Catholicism was the only religion allowed. In 1842 a Brother Gates of the Christian Church brought a boat load of immigrants to McKinney Landing. He held services at the school for a week and started a church with sixteen members.
In 1835 relations between Texians and Mexico were deteriorating. Santa Anna had become the dictator of Mexico in 1834 and refused to re-instate the Texas Treaty of 1824. By the end of 1835 Texas had created a provisional government, which announced that a convention would be convened on March 1.
On March 1 delegates from all over Texas arrived at Washington-on-the-Brazos for the Convention of 1836. Four delegates from the Red River settlements traveled on horseback over 350 miles to take part in the Convention. One of them was 60-year-old Collin McKinney. He was the oldest delegate at the Convention.
One of the members of the Red River delegation was named President of the Convention. Collin McKinney was one of five delegates appointed to write the Texas Declaration of Independence. The committee was appointed on March 1. The Declaration of Independence was approved unanimously on March 2 and signed by all 60 delegates on March 3. On March 4 Sam Houston was appointed Major General of the Army of the Republic of Texas.
The Convention continued with the delegates writing a Constitution for the new Texas Republic. Collin McKinney was appointed to the committee that wrote the Constitution. He is credited with making the newly formed counties in the northern part of Texas approximately 30 miles square with the county seat within 3 miles of the geographic center of the county. His idea was that a man on horseback could come to the courthouse and go back home in one day if the county was that size. The new Republic of Texas Constitution was adopted on March 16.
At the time that this convention was taking place the Alamo was under siege. The Alamo siege started on February 24 and was over by March 6. Newly appointed Major General Sam Houston gathered an army to rescue the Alamo, but the conflict was already over before he could get there.
After the Alamo battle, the Mexican Army took aim at the Convention being held at Washington-on-the-Brazos. At this time Collin McKinney wrote a letter to his family stating “By the time you get this letter, I will probably be dead. Things are very bad here. The Mexican Army is all around us and they are threatening to kill every man that is attending this Convention.” The Convention delegates rapidly dispersed on March 17. The Battle of San Jacinto occurred on April 21. The Texas Revolution ended on May 14 when Santa Anna signed a treaty with Sam Houston.
The First Congress of the Republic of Texas convened on October 3, 1836 at Columbia, Texas. It consisted of 14 Senators and 30 Representatives. Terms of office were for one year. Collin McKinney served in the First, Second and Fourth terms. One of the things that was decided during the First Congress was the flag for the Republic of Texas.
Before Texas became a Republic, the Collin County area was part of Red River County or the Red River Settlements. After the Republic was founded, Fannin County and Bowie County were formed out of Red River County and the Collin County area was part of Fannin County. Collin County was not formed until statehood in 1845.
In 1840 and 41 the Red River had terrible floods. Several families left the Bowie County area, including some of Collin’s children. They moved to the area around the present-day Grayson/Collin border near present-day Van Alstyne. Ashley McKinney settled east of the present-day town. The Van Alstyne Cemetery was located on land belonging to Younger Scott McKinney and was originally the McKinney Family Cemetery. Ashley McKinney was buried there in 1847. William McKinney settled a few miles south of Ashley in present-day Collin County. Collin McKinney sold his land in Bowie County in 1846 and moved to the Collin County area to be near his family. He was 70 years old. From 1844 to 1846 Collin McKinney acted as guide for people coming from Kentucky and Tennessee to settle in Northern Texas. He made eleven of these trips.
McKinney’s farm was north of present-day Anna. The lumber for his house was planed on on his property by slaves. After his and his wife’s deaths, the house was unused. When Texas was preparing to celebrate the Centennial of the Republic of Texas in 1936, Collin County had the cabin moved to McKinney to be used as a visitor center. After the celebration, it was moved to Finch Park in McKinney. It burned in 1980.
With statehood in 1845, Collin County was formed and named in honor of the man, who helped write the Texas Declaration of Independence and the Texas Constitution. Once the boundary between Grayson and Collin Counties was surveyed, it was found that his farm was only a few miles inside his namesake county. When the county’s first county seat, Buckner, was found to be too far from the center of the county, the new county seat of McKinney was also named in his honor.
The McKinney family helped form the community of Mantua and the Mantua Christian Church in northern Collin County. It is said that the Christian congregation in Bowie County moved to the Collin/Grayson area between 1844 and 1846 to start the Mantua Christian Church.. That church later moved to Van Alstyne and is still active as the First Christian Church of Van Alstyne. Five slaves of the McKinney family are listed as charter members of the Mantua church. Mantua disappeared when the railroad bypassed it in 1872. Van Alstyne, Anna and Melissa were formed by the railroad.
In 1855 Collin wrote a letter to relatives back in Kentucky saying railroad fever was very high and everybody was buying stock in the railroad company. He asked them to send him a pint of clover seeds. He died September 8, 1861 at the age of 95, and is buried in the Van Alstyne Cemetery. Because of the Civil War the railroad did not come through for another 15 years.
During his lifetime Collin McKinney lived under seven different flags (8 if you count 2 different flags for the U. S.). He was born a subject of King George III of England. Afterward he was a citizen Colonial American government of the 13 colonies; a U. S. citizen after the Revolution; a citizen of Mexico; a citizen of the Provisional Government of Texas in 1835; a citizen of the Republic of Texas until it was annexed by the United States; the United States again;, and then the Confederate States of America. He died in 1861.
Sources:
The Pioneers of Pecan Point by J. M. Deaver
McKinney Clan by Clara McKinney Reddell
Bowie County Deed records
Handbook of Texas Online
Weekly Democrat, July 22, 1937
History of Bowie County
Texas Historical Markers
Files of Ridgell McKinney
By Joy Gough
Collin County is holding several events in April in honor of Collin McKinney’s 250th birthday. Here is a reprint of the history of this man and the events that were happening in Texas at that time.
Most of us know that Collin County and its county seat were named for Collin McKinney, but what else do we know about him? During his lifetime, the United States and Texas were going through great changes in their governments and development. It is said that Collin McKinney lived under eight flags.
Mordecai McKinney emigrated from Scotland to America around 1710 and settled around Lebanon Township in present-day New Jersey. He was married in 1713. His wife was from Raritan, New Jersey and many of their children were baptized there. Raritan and Lebanon are about 12 miles apart.
Collin McKinney was born in Raritan, New Jersey on April 17, 1766. He was the second of ten children and the second son of Daniel McKinney and Mercy Blatchley. Mordecai was his great grandfather. Collin’s father was active in the Revolutionary War. After the war, around 1783, several members of the McKinney family, including Collin’s father, Daniel, moved their families near the end of the Logan Trace of the Wilderness Road in Kentucky. They established a place they called McKinney’s Station, which was in present-day Lincoln County near Crab Orchard. The geography is a little strange here. Kentucky was part of Virginia until 1812, when it became the fifteenth state. So, technically, the families moved to Virginia. Collin would have been 17.
The Indians were still attacking the frontier settlers and there are stories of Collin outsmarting them. Collin’s father Daniel was a member of the Kentucky militia, which helped protect the early settlers. Daniel died in 1809.
In 1794 Collin McKinney married Amy Moore. They had 4 children, two of whom reached adulthood, son Ashley and daughter Polly. Amy died May 6, 1804.
On April 14, 1805, Collin married Betsy Leake Coleman. They were the parents of 6 children: William C., Ama and Margaret (twins), Anna C., Eliza and Younger Scott. Collin was a magistrate in Kentucky from 1805 until the family moved to Arkansas.
Collin McKinney was a deacon at Separate Baptist Church in Crab Orchard, Kentucky. In 1817 he united with the Barton W. Stone Christian Movement, which later became the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ. He and some of his sons became lay ministers. From then on he started Christian churches wherever he was living.
In 1823 Collin McKinney sold his trading post in Elkton, Kentucky, and moved with several other families to a point six miles east of Texarkana, arriving there on September 15, 1824. Later they moved farther west and settled on Hickman's Prairie on the Red River.
A Mexican land grant colony called Wavell’s Colony was established west of Texarkana along the Red River in 1826 with Ben Milam as the agent. The colony included all of present-day Bowie and Red River Counties in Texas. The colony was also called Hickman’s Prairie and Pecan Point.
Up until 1838 the area where he lived was considered part of Miller County, Arkansas. It was also claimed by Mexico as part of Tejas. The residents considered themselves residents of the United States. The area was included in the 1830 census of the United States, as well as the 1830 Mexico list of residents of Wavell’s Colony. Because of the dispute between Mexico and the United States over the area, the settlers did not receive titles to their land until after the Republic of Texas was established. Today it is part of Bowie County, Texas.
The McKinneys moved to Hickman’s Prairie around 1828. A deed to Collin McKinney’s headright was recorded in 1838 listing his property at 24 labors, 209.330 square varas. Varas and labors are old Spanish measurements of land area. That converts to 4251.3 acres. His land was about 1 mile wide. On the west side it was 5.5 miles to the Red River. On the east side it was 8 miles to the river. On the 3 mile twist and turns of the Red River was McKinney landing. Collin’s son Ashley had the headright to his east and his son William had the headright on his west side. Collin was a magistrate in that area of Texas until 1839. He made eleven trips back to Kentucky to escort groups of immigrants to Texas.
As early as 1831 the McKinney family was holding Christian worship services at Pecan Point with a small group of neighbors. This was illegal at the time because, as residents of Mexico, Catholicism was the only religion allowed. In 1842 a Brother Gates of the Christian Church brought a boat load of immigrants to McKinney Landing. He held services at the school for a week and started a church with sixteen members.
In 1835 relations between Texians and Mexico were deteriorating. Santa Anna had become the dictator of Mexico in 1834 and refused to re-instate the Texas Treaty of 1824. By the end of 1835 Texas had created a provisional government, which announced that a convention would be convened on March 1.
On March 1 delegates from all over Texas arrived at Washington-on-the-Brazos for the Convention of 1836. Four delegates from the Red River settlements traveled on horseback over 350 miles to take part in the Convention. One of them was 60-year-old Collin McKinney. He was the oldest delegate at the Convention.
One of the members of the Red River delegation was named President of the Convention. Collin McKinney was one of five delegates appointed to write the Texas Declaration of Independence. The committee was appointed on March 1. The Declaration of Independence was approved unanimously on March 2 and signed by all 60 delegates on March 3. On March 4 Sam Houston was appointed Major General of the Army of the Republic of Texas.
The Convention continued with the delegates writing a Constitution for the new Texas Republic. Collin McKinney was appointed to the committee that wrote the Constitution. He is credited with making the newly formed counties in the northern part of Texas approximately 30 miles square with the county seat within 3 miles of the geographic center of the county. His idea was that a man on horseback could come to the courthouse and go back home in one day if the county was that size. The new Republic of Texas Constitution was adopted on March 16.
At the time that this convention was taking place the Alamo was under siege. The Alamo siege started on February 24 and was over by March 6. Newly appointed Major General Sam Houston gathered an army to rescue the Alamo, but the conflict was already over before he could get there.
After the Alamo battle, the Mexican Army took aim at the Convention being held at Washington-on-the-Brazos. At this time Collin McKinney wrote a letter to his family stating “By the time you get this letter, I will probably be dead. Things are very bad here. The Mexican Army is all around us and they are threatening to kill every man that is attending this Convention.” The Convention delegates rapidly dispersed on March 17. The Battle of San Jacinto occurred on April 21. The Texas Revolution ended on May 14 when Santa Anna signed a treaty with Sam Houston.
The First Congress of the Republic of Texas convened on October 3, 1836 at Columbia, Texas. It consisted of 14 Senators and 30 Representatives. Terms of office were for one year. Collin McKinney served in the First, Second and Fourth terms. One of the things that was decided during the First Congress was the flag for the Republic of Texas.
Before Texas became a Republic, the Collin County area was part of Red River County or the Red River Settlements. After the Republic was founded, Fannin County and Bowie County were formed out of Red River County and the Collin County area was part of Fannin County. Collin County was not formed until statehood in 1845.
In 1840 and 41 the Red River had terrible floods. Several families left the Bowie County area, including some of Collin’s children. They moved to the area around the present-day Grayson/Collin border near present-day Van Alstyne. Ashley McKinney settled east of the present-day town. The Van Alstyne Cemetery was located on land belonging to Younger Scott McKinney and was originally the McKinney Family Cemetery. Ashley McKinney was buried there in 1847. William McKinney settled a few miles south of Ashley in present-day Collin County. Collin McKinney sold his land in Bowie County in 1846 and moved to the Collin County area to be near his family. He was 70 years old. From 1844 to 1846 Collin McKinney acted as guide for people coming from Kentucky and Tennessee to settle in Northern Texas. He made eleven of these trips.
McKinney’s farm was north of present-day Anna. The lumber for his house was planed on on his property by slaves. After his and his wife’s deaths, the house was unused. When Texas was preparing to celebrate the Centennial of the Republic of Texas in 1936, Collin County had the cabin moved to McKinney to be used as a visitor center. After the celebration, it was moved to Finch Park in McKinney. It burned in 1980.
With statehood in 1845, Collin County was formed and named in honor of the man, who helped write the Texas Declaration of Independence and the Texas Constitution. Once the boundary between Grayson and Collin Counties was surveyed, it was found that his farm was only a few miles inside his namesake county. When the county’s first county seat, Buckner, was found to be too far from the center of the county, the new county seat of McKinney was also named in his honor.
The McKinney family helped form the community of Mantua and the Mantua Christian Church in northern Collin County. It is said that the Christian congregation in Bowie County moved to the Collin/Grayson area between 1844 and 1846 to start the Mantua Christian Church.. That church later moved to Van Alstyne and is still active as the First Christian Church of Van Alstyne. Five slaves of the McKinney family are listed as charter members of the Mantua church. Mantua disappeared when the railroad bypassed it in 1872. Van Alstyne, Anna and Melissa were formed by the railroad.
In 1855 Collin wrote a letter to relatives back in Kentucky saying railroad fever was very high and everybody was buying stock in the railroad company. He asked them to send him a pint of clover seeds. He died September 8, 1861 at the age of 95, and is buried in the Van Alstyne Cemetery. Because of the Civil War the railroad did not come through for another 15 years.
During his lifetime Collin McKinney lived under seven different flags (8 if you count 2 different flags for the U. S.). He was born a subject of King George III of England. Afterward he was a citizen Colonial American government of the 13 colonies; a U. S. citizen after the Revolution; a citizen of Mexico; a citizen of the Provisional Government of Texas in 1835; a citizen of the Republic of Texas until it was annexed by the United States; the United States again;, and then the Confederate States of America. He died in 1861.
Sources:
The Pioneers of Pecan Point by J. M. Deaver
McKinney Clan by Clara McKinney Reddell
Bowie County Deed records
Handbook of Texas Online
Weekly Democrat, July 22, 1937
History of Bowie County
Texas Historical Markers
Files of Ridgell McKinney
