George Franklin McKinney was born 28 March 1858 at home near Ursa in Adams county, Illinois, to William McKinney, Jr. and Matilda [Dunlap] McKinney. George was their third of three children, the older two siblings being Izora Anne McKinney, aged 3, and Charles Calvin McKinney, aged 1, at the time of George's birth.
George's grandfather and grandmother McKinney died in 1863 and 1864, respectively and within five years of their passing, the family sold their farm and moved from Adams county, Illinois, to Clark county, Missouri, a location that George's father lived and grew as a child. The children grew and flourished in Clark county with Izora marrying Ed T. Stewart in 1877. Shortly after their marriage, Ed T. and Izora headed west to Kansas and her parents and siblings followed settling in Ryan township of Sumner county, Kansas.
George and his father and brother farmed on land George purchased as a patent deed in 1880. George was very successful as a farmer continuing to purchase land and increasing his farm's size and output. Soon, George had settled into a routine and began finding ways he could contribute back to the area. One task he took on was to join the school Board in nearby Harper county. While serving on the school board, George met many students, teachers and principals. One teacher caught his eye. He courted and married Jessie Fremont Booton in 1902. Teachers in that time could not be married and Mrs. McKinney had to resign and begin her new life as a wife, homemaker and soon, a mom. George and Jessie had two children, George Leon in 1904 and Frances Eleanor in 1905.
Between 1880 when George purchased his first land and began farming and 1918 when his mother passed, George was witness to many family activities and issues. During the 1870s, not only did William move his family to Kansas, but William's older and younger brothers both moved to southeastern Kansas. Living within a hundred miles of his two uncles, George did not often see these two men but was aware of their being in the area. His older uncle, known typically as D. M., was an attorney practicing law, as well as serving as county attorney, city judge and deputy county superintendent, at different times and calling various locations home. George's younger uncle, Clark Watson, more commonly referred to as C. W., was a farmer and rancher in Butler county, Kansas, living with his second wife. In 1882, some time after a scuffle with one of his renters, C. W. shot and killed the man, was arrested, jailed, charged with murder, tried, found guilty and convicted to hang in the Kansas State Penitentiary. D. M. found it in his interest to work to appeal C. W.'s conviction. In addition to his own practice and other duties, D. M. spent considerable time in Topeka working on the case and eventually served with three other attorneys representing C. W. before the Kansas Supreme Court where the appeal was denied on all seventeen counts. During the time C. W. was held in prison, his wife left him and the Butler county Sheriff auctioned his land with the county becoming the recipient of the funds to partially cover the costs of trying the case and holding him as a county jail prisoner. In addition, C. W. had a daughter from his first marriage who was living in Illinois with her mom's mother who was elderly and dying. C. W., from his prison confinement tried to encourage George's older brother, Charles Calvin, to speak with his father, William (C. W.'s brother) and ask him to care for C. W.'s daughter. C. W.'s actions created stress in the family as a whole and within several individuals to different degrees. Charles Calvin, who was at this time farming fruit in Newcastle, California, ended up taking his own life in 1896 for no apparent reason to those around him in California. This caused much distress for William and Matilda. In 1897, C. W.'s sentence was commuted to time served, fourteen years, plus three years for good behavior, and he was released. Before 1900, both D. M. and C. W. McKinney had left the area to different parts of the country leaving William and Matilda and their grown children and their families to heal from all the trauma. George's father, William, died in 1913 and his mother passed in 1918. With his sister and her husband successfully farming in central Kansas and all other family members gone, George began to consider leaving the area as well.
Late in the first decade of the twentieth century, another part of the world caught George's eye and he determined it would be best for him and his young family to leave Kansas and move to Balmorhea, Texas. On August 31, 1909, near what was then Crissfield, Kansas, George sold his farm land, the animals and all the equipment he used on the farm and headed to Balmorhea. Balmorhea bore little resemblance to Sumner county, Kansas as it had little water, very sandy soil and much more sunlight and heat compared to Kansas. Determining that farming was not likely to be very successful in Balmorhea, George and Jessie once again packed up their family and belongings and headed out, this time for the land of milk and honey, California in 1923.
George, Jessie and the children never made it to California. They stopped for a visit with friends who had also moved to and out of Balmorhea, in Mesilla Park, New Mexico. George and his family never left, settling down and living out the rest of their lives in the Las Cruces area.
Obituaries.
George Franklin McKinney, 85, who was a resident of Las Cruces for the past twenty years, died at the home of his son, George Leon McKinney, on Highway 85, yesterday, May 15, 1943.
Mr. McKinney engaged in farming when he first came to the valley and later ran the McKinney Store on Highway 28 for several years.
He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Jessie Fremont [Booton] McKinney, one son, George McKinney and a daughter, Mrs. Frances Eleanor [McKinney] Zimmerly, of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Mrs. Zimmerly was at his bedside when death came.
Besides his children, there are four grandchildren, George Franklin, Jr., Daniel Leon and Mary Katherine McKinney and Joseph Louis Zimmerly.
Funeral arrangements are pending at the Las Cruces Mortuary awaiting word from other relatives.
Funeral service for George Franklin McKinney, twenty year resident of Las Cruces, are being held this afternoon at three o'clock from the Las Cruces Mortuary with the Reverend C. A. Ridge officiant.
Mr. McKinney died at the home of his son, George McKinney, Saturday morning.
Pall bearers at the funeral are Ira Petegrew, W. I. Martin, John Phillips, Walter Bamert, Joe Taylor and Ney Armstrong.
Special music in the services is a quartet composed of Mrs. Wallace Johnson, Mrs. William Schneider, Mrs. Fred Hutchinson and Mrs. S. E. McMahon, accompanied by Mrs. Husdon Murrell.
Burial is in the Masonic Cemetery.
George's grandfather and grandmother McKinney died in 1863 and 1864, respectively and within five years of their passing, the family sold their farm and moved from Adams county, Illinois, to Clark county, Missouri, a location that George's father lived and grew as a child. The children grew and flourished in Clark county with Izora marrying Ed T. Stewart in 1877. Shortly after their marriage, Ed T. and Izora headed west to Kansas and her parents and siblings followed settling in Ryan township of Sumner county, Kansas.
George and his father and brother farmed on land George purchased as a patent deed in 1880. George was very successful as a farmer continuing to purchase land and increasing his farm's size and output. Soon, George had settled into a routine and began finding ways he could contribute back to the area. One task he took on was to join the school Board in nearby Harper county. While serving on the school board, George met many students, teachers and principals. One teacher caught his eye. He courted and married Jessie Fremont Booton in 1902. Teachers in that time could not be married and Mrs. McKinney had to resign and begin her new life as a wife, homemaker and soon, a mom. George and Jessie had two children, George Leon in 1904 and Frances Eleanor in 1905.
Between 1880 when George purchased his first land and began farming and 1918 when his mother passed, George was witness to many family activities and issues. During the 1870s, not only did William move his family to Kansas, but William's older and younger brothers both moved to southeastern Kansas. Living within a hundred miles of his two uncles, George did not often see these two men but was aware of their being in the area. His older uncle, known typically as D. M., was an attorney practicing law, as well as serving as county attorney, city judge and deputy county superintendent, at different times and calling various locations home. George's younger uncle, Clark Watson, more commonly referred to as C. W., was a farmer and rancher in Butler county, Kansas, living with his second wife. In 1882, some time after a scuffle with one of his renters, C. W. shot and killed the man, was arrested, jailed, charged with murder, tried, found guilty and convicted to hang in the Kansas State Penitentiary. D. M. found it in his interest to work to appeal C. W.'s conviction. In addition to his own practice and other duties, D. M. spent considerable time in Topeka working on the case and eventually served with three other attorneys representing C. W. before the Kansas Supreme Court where the appeal was denied on all seventeen counts. During the time C. W. was held in prison, his wife left him and the Butler county Sheriff auctioned his land with the county becoming the recipient of the funds to partially cover the costs of trying the case and holding him as a county jail prisoner. In addition, C. W. had a daughter from his first marriage who was living in Illinois with her mom's mother who was elderly and dying. C. W., from his prison confinement tried to encourage George's older brother, Charles Calvin, to speak with his father, William (C. W.'s brother) and ask him to care for C. W.'s daughter. C. W.'s actions created stress in the family as a whole and within several individuals to different degrees. Charles Calvin, who was at this time farming fruit in Newcastle, California, ended up taking his own life in 1896 for no apparent reason to those around him in California. This caused much distress for William and Matilda. In 1897, C. W.'s sentence was commuted to time served, fourteen years, plus three years for good behavior, and he was released. Before 1900, both D. M. and C. W. McKinney had left the area to different parts of the country leaving William and Matilda and their grown children and their families to heal from all the trauma. George's father, William, died in 1913 and his mother passed in 1918. With his sister and her husband successfully farming in central Kansas and all other family members gone, George began to consider leaving the area as well.
Late in the first decade of the twentieth century, another part of the world caught George's eye and he determined it would be best for him and his young family to leave Kansas and move to Balmorhea, Texas. On August 31, 1909, near what was then Crissfield, Kansas, George sold his farm land, the animals and all the equipment he used on the farm and headed to Balmorhea. Balmorhea bore little resemblance to Sumner county, Kansas as it had little water, very sandy soil and much more sunlight and heat compared to Kansas. Determining that farming was not likely to be very successful in Balmorhea, George and Jessie once again packed up their family and belongings and headed out, this time for the land of milk and honey, California in 1923.
George, Jessie and the children never made it to California. They stopped for a visit with friends who had also moved to and out of Balmorhea, in Mesilla Park, New Mexico. George and his family never left, settling down and living out the rest of their lives in the Las Cruces area.
Obituaries.
George Franklin McKinney, 85, who was a resident of Las Cruces for the past twenty years, died at the home of his son, George Leon McKinney, on Highway 85, yesterday, May 15, 1943.
Mr. McKinney engaged in farming when he first came to the valley and later ran the McKinney Store on Highway 28 for several years.
He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Jessie Fremont [Booton] McKinney, one son, George McKinney and a daughter, Mrs. Frances Eleanor [McKinney] Zimmerly, of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Mrs. Zimmerly was at his bedside when death came.
Besides his children, there are four grandchildren, George Franklin, Jr., Daniel Leon and Mary Katherine McKinney and Joseph Louis Zimmerly.
Funeral arrangements are pending at the Las Cruces Mortuary awaiting word from other relatives.
Funeral service for George Franklin McKinney, twenty year resident of Las Cruces, are being held this afternoon at three o'clock from the Las Cruces Mortuary with the Reverend C. A. Ridge officiant.
Mr. McKinney died at the home of his son, George McKinney, Saturday morning.
Pall bearers at the funeral are Ira Petegrew, W. I. Martin, John Phillips, Walter Bamert, Joe Taylor and Ney Armstrong.
Special music in the services is a quartet composed of Mrs. Wallace Johnson, Mrs. William Schneider, Mrs. Fred Hutchinson and Mrs. S. E. McMahon, accompanied by Mrs. Husdon Murrell.
Burial is in the Masonic Cemetery.
George Franklin McKinney was born 28 March 1858 at home near Ursa in Adams county, Illinois, to William McKinney, Jr. and Matilda [Dunlap] McKinney. George was their third of three children, the older two siblings being Izora Anne McKinney, aged 3, and Charles Calvin McKinney, aged 1, at the time of George's birth.
George's grandfather and grandmother McKinney died in 1863 and 1864, respectively and within five years of their passing, the family sold their farm and moved from Adams county, Illinois, to Clark county, Missouri, a location that George's father lived and grew as a child. The children grew and flourished in Clark county with Izora marrying Ed T. Stewart in 1877. Shortly after their marriage, Ed T. and Izora headed west to Kansas and her parents and siblings followed settling in Ryan township of Sumner county, Kansas.
George and his father and brother farmed on land George purchased as a patent deed in 1880. George was very successful as a farmer continuing to purchase land and increasing his farm's size and output. Soon, George had settled into a routine and began finding ways he could contribute back to the area. One task he took on was to join the school Board in nearby Harper county. While serving on the school board, George met many students, teachers and principals. One teacher caught his eye. He courted and married Jessie Fremont Booton in 1902. Teachers in that time could not be married and Mrs. McKinney had to resign and begin her new life as a wife, homemaker and soon, a mom. George and Jessie had two children, George Leon in 1904 and Frances Eleanor in 1905.
Between 1880 when George purchased his first land and began farming and 1918 when his mother passed, George was witness to many family activities and issues. During the 1870s, not only did William move his family to Kansas, but William's older and younger brothers both moved to southeastern Kansas. Living within a hundred miles of his two uncles, George did not often see these two men but was aware of their being in the area. His older uncle, known typically as D. M., was an attorney practicing law, as well as serving as county attorney, city judge and deputy county superintendent, at different times and calling various locations home. George's younger uncle, Clark Watson, more commonly referred to as C. W., was a farmer and rancher in Butler county, Kansas, living with his second wife. In 1882, some time after a scuffle with one of his renters, C. W. shot and killed the man, was arrested, jailed, charged with murder, tried, found guilty and convicted to hang in the Kansas State Penitentiary. D. M. found it in his interest to work to appeal C. W.'s conviction. In addition to his own practice and other duties, D. M. spent considerable time in Topeka working on the case and eventually served with three other attorneys representing C. W. before the Kansas Supreme Court where the appeal was denied on all seventeen counts. During the time C. W. was held in prison, his wife left him and the Butler county Sheriff auctioned his land with the county becoming the recipient of the funds to partially cover the costs of trying the case and holding him as a county jail prisoner. In addition, C. W. had a daughter from his first marriage who was living in Illinois with her mom's mother who was elderly and dying. C. W., from his prison confinement tried to encourage George's older brother, Charles Calvin, to speak with his father, William (C. W.'s brother) and ask him to care for C. W.'s daughter. C. W.'s actions created stress in the family as a whole and within several individuals to different degrees. Charles Calvin, who was at this time farming fruit in Newcastle, California, ended up taking his own life in 1896 for no apparent reason to those around him in California. This caused much distress for William and Matilda. In 1897, C. W.'s sentence was commuted to time served, fourteen years, plus three years for good behavior, and he was released. Before 1900, both D. M. and C. W. McKinney had left the area to different parts of the country leaving William and Matilda and their grown children and their families to heal from all the trauma. George's father, William, died in 1913 and his mother passed in 1918. With his sister and her husband successfully farming in central Kansas and all other family members gone, George began to consider leaving the area as well.
Late in the first decade of the twentieth century, another part of the world caught George's eye and he determined it would be best for him and his young family to leave Kansas and move to Balmorhea, Texas. On August 31, 1909, near what was then Crissfield, Kansas, George sold his farm land, the animals and all the equipment he used on the farm and headed to Balmorhea. Balmorhea bore little resemblance to Sumner county, Kansas as it had little water, very sandy soil and much more sunlight and heat compared to Kansas. Determining that farming was not likely to be very successful in Balmorhea, George and Jessie once again packed up their family and belongings and headed out, this time for the land of milk and honey, California in 1923.
George, Jessie and the children never made it to California. They stopped for a visit with friends who had also moved to and out of Balmorhea, in Mesilla Park, New Mexico. George and his family never left, settling down and living out the rest of their lives in the Las Cruces area.
Obituaries.
George Franklin McKinney, 85, who was a resident of Las Cruces for the past twenty years, died at the home of his son, George Leon McKinney, on Highway 85, yesterday, May 15, 1943.
Mr. McKinney engaged in farming when he first came to the valley and later ran the McKinney Store on Highway 28 for several years.
He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Jessie Fremont [Booton] McKinney, one son, George McKinney and a daughter, Mrs. Frances Eleanor [McKinney] Zimmerly, of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Mrs. Zimmerly was at his bedside when death came.
Besides his children, there are four grandchildren, George Franklin, Jr., Daniel Leon and Mary Katherine McKinney and Joseph Louis Zimmerly.
Funeral arrangements are pending at the Las Cruces Mortuary awaiting word from other relatives.
Funeral service for George Franklin McKinney, twenty year resident of Las Cruces, are being held this afternoon at three o'clock from the Las Cruces Mortuary with the Reverend C. A. Ridge officiant.
Mr. McKinney died at the home of his son, George McKinney, Saturday morning.
Pall bearers at the funeral are Ira Petegrew, W. I. Martin, John Phillips, Walter Bamert, Joe Taylor and Ney Armstrong.
Special music in the services is a quartet composed of Mrs. Wallace Johnson, Mrs. William Schneider, Mrs. Fred Hutchinson and Mrs. S. E. McMahon, accompanied by Mrs. Husdon Murrell.
Burial is in the Masonic Cemetery.
George's grandfather and grandmother McKinney died in 1863 and 1864, respectively and within five years of their passing, the family sold their farm and moved from Adams county, Illinois, to Clark county, Missouri, a location that George's father lived and grew as a child. The children grew and flourished in Clark county with Izora marrying Ed T. Stewart in 1877. Shortly after their marriage, Ed T. and Izora headed west to Kansas and her parents and siblings followed settling in Ryan township of Sumner county, Kansas.
George and his father and brother farmed on land George purchased as a patent deed in 1880. George was very successful as a farmer continuing to purchase land and increasing his farm's size and output. Soon, George had settled into a routine and began finding ways he could contribute back to the area. One task he took on was to join the school Board in nearby Harper county. While serving on the school board, George met many students, teachers and principals. One teacher caught his eye. He courted and married Jessie Fremont Booton in 1902. Teachers in that time could not be married and Mrs. McKinney had to resign and begin her new life as a wife, homemaker and soon, a mom. George and Jessie had two children, George Leon in 1904 and Frances Eleanor in 1905.
Between 1880 when George purchased his first land and began farming and 1918 when his mother passed, George was witness to many family activities and issues. During the 1870s, not only did William move his family to Kansas, but William's older and younger brothers both moved to southeastern Kansas. Living within a hundred miles of his two uncles, George did not often see these two men but was aware of their being in the area. His older uncle, known typically as D. M., was an attorney practicing law, as well as serving as county attorney, city judge and deputy county superintendent, at different times and calling various locations home. George's younger uncle, Clark Watson, more commonly referred to as C. W., was a farmer and rancher in Butler county, Kansas, living with his second wife. In 1882, some time after a scuffle with one of his renters, C. W. shot and killed the man, was arrested, jailed, charged with murder, tried, found guilty and convicted to hang in the Kansas State Penitentiary. D. M. found it in his interest to work to appeal C. W.'s conviction. In addition to his own practice and other duties, D. M. spent considerable time in Topeka working on the case and eventually served with three other attorneys representing C. W. before the Kansas Supreme Court where the appeal was denied on all seventeen counts. During the time C. W. was held in prison, his wife left him and the Butler county Sheriff auctioned his land with the county becoming the recipient of the funds to partially cover the costs of trying the case and holding him as a county jail prisoner. In addition, C. W. had a daughter from his first marriage who was living in Illinois with her mom's mother who was elderly and dying. C. W., from his prison confinement tried to encourage George's older brother, Charles Calvin, to speak with his father, William (C. W.'s brother) and ask him to care for C. W.'s daughter. C. W.'s actions created stress in the family as a whole and within several individuals to different degrees. Charles Calvin, who was at this time farming fruit in Newcastle, California, ended up taking his own life in 1896 for no apparent reason to those around him in California. This caused much distress for William and Matilda. In 1897, C. W.'s sentence was commuted to time served, fourteen years, plus three years for good behavior, and he was released. Before 1900, both D. M. and C. W. McKinney had left the area to different parts of the country leaving William and Matilda and their grown children and their families to heal from all the trauma. George's father, William, died in 1913 and his mother passed in 1918. With his sister and her husband successfully farming in central Kansas and all other family members gone, George began to consider leaving the area as well.
Late in the first decade of the twentieth century, another part of the world caught George's eye and he determined it would be best for him and his young family to leave Kansas and move to Balmorhea, Texas. On August 31, 1909, near what was then Crissfield, Kansas, George sold his farm land, the animals and all the equipment he used on the farm and headed to Balmorhea. Balmorhea bore little resemblance to Sumner county, Kansas as it had little water, very sandy soil and much more sunlight and heat compared to Kansas. Determining that farming was not likely to be very successful in Balmorhea, George and Jessie once again packed up their family and belongings and headed out, this time for the land of milk and honey, California in 1923.
George, Jessie and the children never made it to California. They stopped for a visit with friends who had also moved to and out of Balmorhea, in Mesilla Park, New Mexico. George and his family never left, settling down and living out the rest of their lives in the Las Cruces area.
Obituaries.
George Franklin McKinney, 85, who was a resident of Las Cruces for the past twenty years, died at the home of his son, George Leon McKinney, on Highway 85, yesterday, May 15, 1943.
Mr. McKinney engaged in farming when he first came to the valley and later ran the McKinney Store on Highway 28 for several years.
He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Jessie Fremont [Booton] McKinney, one son, George McKinney and a daughter, Mrs. Frances Eleanor [McKinney] Zimmerly, of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Mrs. Zimmerly was at his bedside when death came.
Besides his children, there are four grandchildren, George Franklin, Jr., Daniel Leon and Mary Katherine McKinney and Joseph Louis Zimmerly.
Funeral arrangements are pending at the Las Cruces Mortuary awaiting word from other relatives.
Funeral service for George Franklin McKinney, twenty year resident of Las Cruces, are being held this afternoon at three o'clock from the Las Cruces Mortuary with the Reverend C. A. Ridge officiant.
Mr. McKinney died at the home of his son, George McKinney, Saturday morning.
Pall bearers at the funeral are Ira Petegrew, W. I. Martin, John Phillips, Walter Bamert, Joe Taylor and Ney Armstrong.
Special music in the services is a quartet composed of Mrs. Wallace Johnson, Mrs. William Schneider, Mrs. Fred Hutchinson and Mrs. S. E. McMahon, accompanied by Mrs. Husdon Murrell.
Burial is in the Masonic Cemetery.
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