William A. Mckinzie, retired merchant and farmer, and ex-postmaster of
Durham, Ark., was born in Sevier County, Tenn., in 1826. His parents,
Charles and Sarah (Ellis) McKinzie, were born, reared and married in
South Carolina, and about 1818 located in Tennessee, where they
resided until 1847, then going to Georgia; and after living in Murray
County eleven years they moved to Comanche County, Tex., where the
father was killed by the Indians in 1863. The mother's death occurred
in Georgia, leaving a family of five children: John (residing in
Texas), Nancy (deceased), James, William A. and Kenneth (who was
killed in a battle with the Indians in Comanche County, Tex., in 1858
or 1859). After the mother's death the father married Stacy Murray,
who bore him one child that died in infancy, William A. McKinzie was
reared in Tennessee, but moved with his parents to Georgia, where he
learned the wagon and blacksmith's trade, and also attended school. He
was married at the age of twenty-six, and located on a part of the
home place, where he lived until about 1856, when he came to Arkansas.
After residing near Fayetteville for about a year, he came to
Washington County, where he worked at his trade and farmed until 1878,
and then engaged in the mercantile business at Durham, being appointed
postmaster of the town the same year, and held the position until
1888. He was first married, to Mary Shields, who died October 22,
1873, having borne four children: John H. (deceased), Sarah L.,
Charles S. (deceased) and William J. (deceased). October 29, 1874, Mr.
McKinzie married Mary F. Masters, who died May 19, 1879, and May 29,
1884, he married his present wife. They are members of the church, and
he is a Democrat in politics and a Master Mason. He helped organize
the township in which he resides, and during the late war served two
years in Gen. Cabel's brigade. He has a good farm of 195 acres, with
sixty-five or seventy acres under cultivation.

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