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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Fulton County
Munsell Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908

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The Biography of John McKINLEY 

Transcribed exactly according to the original complete text by Alice Stipak. 

[Surnames: BYERS, FOSETT, KERRAN, LITCHFIELD, McKINLEY] 

[starting on page 987] 

    
McKINLEY, John.--At a very early period in its history John McKinley came to Bond County, Ill., from his native State of Ohio, and while Woodland Township, Fulton County, still bore traces of recent Indian occupation, located on the farm now owned and operated by his grandson, Joseph McKinley. Thus he became the founder of the McKinley family in Central Illinois, and various of its members have steadily contributed to the prosperity and good name of that section by their industrious, well-ordered and creditable careers. With the exception of five years spent in Mason County, this State, Mr. McKinley continued to live in Woodland Township until his death in 1886. When he arrived in what is now Astoria he passed the first night under a spreading elm tree, which probably still does duty in the park, and soon afterward took up 230 acres of land, which he cleared and improved into a beautiful and valuable property. 
    
In the paternal family were five children, of whom but one survives--Julia, wife of Samuel Byers, of Astoria. A sister, Melvina, married [Page 988] a Mr. Litchfield; Mary J. was the wife of a Mr. Fosett and reared quite a family; Alec died on a farm near Astoria; Calvin, in 1847, married Mahala Kerran, daughter of Benjamin Kerran, an early settler of Illinois. 
    
John McKinley was a quiet unobtrusive man and a very devout member of the United Brethren Church. It was largely through his zeal and labor that the church of that denomination in his neighborhood was built and sustained. He was the friend of education and for many years was a member of the School Board. Altogether his life was a credit to the township and an inspiration to the coming generations of young men.