William S. (Bill) McGinnis was born in 1810 in Mercer County, Kentucky, son of William McGinnis and Martha (Patsey) Lillard. He, his mother, and his older brothers moved to Sangamon County, Illinois after his father's death. He farmed there, and received a good education. He married Mary Kelley (1812-1835), daughter of John Kelley and Elizabeth Whiteside, in 1833. They had a son, John Greenbury McGinnis, in December 1834 in Springfield, Illinois, but Mary died at 23 in 1835.
Bill remarried on 7 January 1836 to his late wife's cousin, Alta Marilda Kelley (1814-1884), daughter of William Kelley and Dicia Alford, and had a daughter, Harriet Jane McGinnis, born nine months and eight days later in Sangamon County.
Bill McGinnis made the second migration of his life in the summer of 1837, to southwest Missouri. He was a young boy when he made the first migration, and this time he was a young man in his late twenties with a pregnant wife, an infant daughter, and a two and-a-half-year-old son. He traveled with family, accompanying his wife's parents and his wife's youngest sister's family.
They settled just south of current-day Carthage, Missouri, in present-day Jasper County, Missouri. They soon had another daughter, Sally, born in the late winter after their arrival, but she died at seven months. As Bill prospered as a farmer, he prospered also as a parent, as he and Alta had four more daughters: Mollie in 1839, Mattie in 1841, Clem in 1843, and Meck in 1845. Bill also prospered in the estimation of his fellow settlers, and was elected to be Chief Justice of the Jasper County Court in 1842 for a four-year term.
Life expectancy was not high on the American frontier. Bill McGinnis died in 1845 at the age of 35. Cause of death is unknown, whether accident or illness. He was buried in what was then a family burial spot on a hill less than a mile from his own home, a spot that was later called the Fullerton Cemetery.
After more than 150 years of repose, his grave was disturbed by vandals, who smashed his grave marker with a sledge hammer, while vandalizing other markers at the Fullerton Cemetery. Photographs of his marker before and after the vandalism are on this page
Bill remarried on 7 January 1836 to his late wife's cousin, Alta Marilda Kelley (1814-1884), daughter of William Kelley and Dicia Alford, and had a daughter, Harriet Jane McGinnis, born nine months and eight days later in Sangamon County.
Bill McGinnis made the second migration of his life in the summer of 1837, to southwest Missouri. He was a young boy when he made the first migration, and this time he was a young man in his late twenties with a pregnant wife, an infant daughter, and a two and-a-half-year-old son. He traveled with family, accompanying his wife's parents and his wife's youngest sister's family.
They settled just south of current-day Carthage, Missouri, in present-day Jasper County, Missouri. They soon had another daughter, Sally, born in the late winter after their arrival, but she died at seven months. As Bill prospered as a farmer, he prospered also as a parent, as he and Alta had four more daughters: Mollie in 1839, Mattie in 1841, Clem in 1843, and Meck in 1845. Bill also prospered in the estimation of his fellow settlers, and was elected to be Chief Justice of the Jasper County Court in 1842 for a four-year term.
Life expectancy was not high on the American frontier. Bill McGinnis died in 1845 at the age of 35. Cause of death is unknown, whether accident or illness. He was buried in what was then a family burial spot on a hill less than a mile from his own home, a spot that was later called the Fullerton Cemetery.
After more than 150 years of repose, his grave was disturbed by vandals, who smashed his grave marker with a sledge hammer, while vandalizing other markers at the Fullerton Cemetery. Photographs of his marker before and after the vandalism are on this page
William S. (Bill) McGinnis was born in 1810 in Mercer County, Kentucky, son of William McGinnis and Martha (Patsey) Lillard. He, his mother, and his older brothers moved to Sangamon County, Illinois after his father's death. He farmed there, and received a good education. He married Mary Kelley (1812-1835), daughter of John Kelley and Elizabeth Whiteside, in 1833. They had a son, John Greenbury McGinnis, in December 1834 in Springfield, Illinois, but Mary died at 23 in 1835.
Bill remarried on 7 January 1836 to his late wife's cousin, Alta Marilda Kelley (1814-1884), daughter of William Kelley and Dicia Alford, and had a daughter, Harriet Jane McGinnis, born nine months and eight days later in Sangamon County.
Bill McGinnis made the second migration of his life in the summer of 1837, to southwest Missouri. He was a young boy when he made the first migration, and this time he was a young man in his late twenties with a pregnant wife, an infant daughter, and a two and-a-half-year-old son. He traveled with family, accompanying his wife's parents and his wife's youngest sister's family.
They settled just south of current-day Carthage, Missouri, in present-day Jasper County, Missouri. They soon had another daughter, Sally, born in the late winter after their arrival, but she died at seven months. As Bill prospered as a farmer, he prospered also as a parent, as he and Alta had four more daughters: Mollie in 1839, Mattie in 1841, Clem in 1843, and Meck in 1845. Bill also prospered in the estimation of his fellow settlers, and was elected to be Chief Justice of the Jasper County Court in 1842 for a four-year term.
Life expectancy was not high on the American frontier. Bill McGinnis died in 1845 at the age of 35. Cause of death is unknown, whether accident or illness. He was buried in what was then a family burial spot on a hill less than a mile from his own home, a spot that was later called the Fullerton Cemetery.
After more than 150 years of repose, his grave was disturbed by vandals, who smashed his grave marker with a sledge hammer, while vandalizing other markers at the Fullerton Cemetery. Photographs of his marker before and after the vandalism are on this page
Bill remarried on 7 January 1836 to his late wife's cousin, Alta Marilda Kelley (1814-1884), daughter of William Kelley and Dicia Alford, and had a daughter, Harriet Jane McGinnis, born nine months and eight days later in Sangamon County.
Bill McGinnis made the second migration of his life in the summer of 1837, to southwest Missouri. He was a young boy when he made the first migration, and this time he was a young man in his late twenties with a pregnant wife, an infant daughter, and a two and-a-half-year-old son. He traveled with family, accompanying his wife's parents and his wife's youngest sister's family.
They settled just south of current-day Carthage, Missouri, in present-day Jasper County, Missouri. They soon had another daughter, Sally, born in the late winter after their arrival, but she died at seven months. As Bill prospered as a farmer, he prospered also as a parent, as he and Alta had four more daughters: Mollie in 1839, Mattie in 1841, Clem in 1843, and Meck in 1845. Bill also prospered in the estimation of his fellow settlers, and was elected to be Chief Justice of the Jasper County Court in 1842 for a four-year term.
Life expectancy was not high on the American frontier. Bill McGinnis died in 1845 at the age of 35. Cause of death is unknown, whether accident or illness. He was buried in what was then a family burial spot on a hill less than a mile from his own home, a spot that was later called the Fullerton Cemetery.
After more than 150 years of repose, his grave was disturbed by vandals, who smashed his grave marker with a sledge hammer, while vandalizing other markers at the Fullerton Cemetery. Photographs of his marker before and after the vandalism are on this page
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