My McKinstry research has taken me to William McKinstry. He was supposedly from Scotland and served in the American Revolution in Virginia. He moved to Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. I believe his wife was Catherine. They supposedly had 12 children - I know of at least John, Hugh, Mary, and Sarah - hoping to find other lines. I am descended from John McKinstry and his wife Charity Gard.
I know there is a large McKinstry line that came from Ireland and settled in Massachusetts and had many descendant lines. I do not believe that my line is connected - my line appears to be from outer space :)
Descended from Nathaniel McKinstry (abt 1843-aft 1911) married Jane Mulvenna) of Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. He's possibly the son of William McKinstry who may have come over from Scotland.
I am doing Y DNA testing on my brother in law's father, who is of the line of William McKinstry who settled in Sturbridge, Massachusetts in the 18th century and married Mary Morse. Willis, who published a family genealogy, thought the three McKinstry families of New England were related. The area they are from is small and it is conceivable they are all related, even if the name does mean "Son of the Family".
I am curious if Nathan has been Y DNA tested, even at SMGF. Someone of his line - John McKinstry and Charity Gard- has been tested at SMGF (and seems to have partial results); this is the only McKinstry I can find who has been Y DNA tested.
I would also like ot know whatever information Nathan can provide on his roots. I don't understand what he wrote.
My John McKinstry was from Kentucky born about 1790 - his wife Charity Gard was born in Pennsylvania in 1792. They married in Butler County, Ohio about 1810 and had many children.
I have to find the article I read on John's lineage. His father was supposedly William (wife Catherine) - was supposedly from Scotland, fought in the American Revolution for Virginia and may have received bounty land in Kentucky. Eventually settled and died in Indiana about 1825.
I have not found any ties to the Massachusetts McKinstrys.
Are you aware of any John and Charity desendants that have had DNA testing?
Meghan, someone in the SMGF database who claims descent from this line was Y DNA tested. The thing is, Margo McKinstry, who is a researcher at LDS, researched this line, and she repeatedly raises questions as to whether the entire direct line consists of men who are really their fathers' sons. That line is I think, John who married Charity Gard, Joseph, a Mahershal, and then James. If I have it right.
I'd really appreciate this article if you can find it.
Megan, I'm just gathering information in case my brother in law's line and yours prove to be linked. What do you know about where in Scotland this William McKinstry of Virginia and Kentucky was from, and how do you know that JOhn who married Charity Gard was his father? Online researchers are acting as if they don't all agree on that.
The ancestors of the subject of this sketch were originally from Scotland. On account of having participated in the Scotch revolution they immigrated to the north of Ireland, and in the year 1760, William McKinstry, the grandfather of our subject, came to America and settled in Virginia. He served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and, at its close removed to Hamilton County, Ohio, where he engaged in farming for several years when he finally settled in Indiana. In connection with farming he established and conducted the first nail-factory west of Cincinnati. He remained in Indiana, until his death, which occured in 1825. Hugh McKinstry, his son, and one of a family of eleven children, was the father of our subject. He was born in Hamilton County in 1804; afterwards moving to Indiana he conducted a merchant tailoring establishment and became a successful businessman. In 1854, he moved to Coles County, Illinois, and there engaged in farming. He died in 1873. The mother of our subject was Miss Cecilia Lewis, whose father emigrated from England to Louisiana and died there of yellow fever in 1810.
James McKinstry was the eighth of ten children born to Hugh and Cecilia McKinstry. He was born in Putnam County, Indiana, November 10, 1845. His education was obtained in common schools, attended during the winter months and in the summer laboring on his father's farm. In 1862 he enlisted in Co. C, 68th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and, in the Army of the Potomac, participated in various engagements until September 1863, when, being disabled from exposure, he was discharged and returned home. Here he regained his health, and in the Spring of 1864 again entered the service. He enlisted this time in Co I, 135 th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for three months service, and until the expiration of the time was stationed in Southern Missouri, guarding the railroads against guerillas. At the expiration of the time returned to Coles County where he again engaged in farming. He then became desirous in obtaining an education, and leaving the farm in 1866, he went to Georgetown, Missouri, and for two years pursued his studies in Forest Grove Academy, when he returned to Illinois and entered the Normal University at Bloomington, where he remained until 1870. After his return to Coles County, he accepted a position of pricipal of the West Side public school at Charleston, and for three years held the position, giving entire satisfaction. He employed his spare moments in the study of law, and by perseverance and energy succeeded in being admitted to the bar in 1873. He then moved to St. Louis an began the practice of his profession. He met with unusual success and soon became attorney for the Cairo Short Line Railroad. The climate not being favorable he gave up his practice and started for the San Juan county in November, 1876 but finding the route across the Rockies blockaded with snow, he returned as far as Hutchinson, Kansas, where he settled and engaged in the practice of law. Here he has since remained, establishing an extensive and lucrative practice in the judicial district, and is recognized as a lawyer of unusual attainments.
In politics Mr McKinstry is a democrat, and takes an active part in the issues of the day. He has been elected delegate to the different state and congression conventions in Kansas, as well as Illinois and Missouri.
He is liberal in his religious views, and is a man of unquestioned integrity. Positive in character, he naturally wields considerable influence and is looked upon as a man who is bound to rise in his profession and attain still greater eminence. Being persevering and energetic in whatever he undertakes, and a close applicant to the duties of his profession, the legal fraternity feel assured of his future brilliant career and continued success.
Mr McKinstry has a fine physical development, is nearly six feet in height, with a robust frame, dark hair and blue eyes, high forehead and fair complexion. Pleasant and affable in manner, and socialable in disposition, he always wins friends, and has gathered about him numerous acquaintances who justly appreciate his many estimable abilities.
This was the sketch for James T McKinstry, son of Hugh McKinstry. Hugh McKinstry was a brother of John McKinstry who married Charity Gard. Would really like to see if anyone has more detail on this William.
There is question about Mahershal's parentage, specifically his father. All documenation indicates Charity was his mother and her parents were John and Charity Gard McKinstry. His father is unknown - references to John, Joseph and Theodore. I have not found all 12 children of William - wondering if there could have been a son who had a son Joseph who married Charity - just a whim thought.
The interesting thing would be to DNA test one of James McKinstry descendants (Margo's family) line and one of Hugh's descendants to see if there is any connection. Unfortunately, my McKinstry lineage was through women....
First I have two questions; do you have any idea where in Scotland William was from or where in Ireland he went? He wouldn't by any chance have gone to that point of land 23 miles from Galloway where Carrickfergus and possible Brodie are, would he?
I am plowing through the John McKinstry/ Charity Gard tree more systematically than I did previously, and some records seem to have come available online at familysearch.org that weren't there even last week. It sounds like you may have found them and be as puzzled as I am, but maybe not.
I have a transcription of the actual death record of Catherine, the mother of Mahershal McKinstry. It states that she was the widow of Joseph McKinstry, and the daughter of JOhn McKinstry and Charity Gard.
Tehre is also a transcription of the death record of Mahershal McKinstry. It gives parents as unavailable.
But there is also two transcriptions of his marriage to Frances P Stephens in West Virginia, from West Virginia Marriages, 1853 - 1970. Says the marriage took pladce in Ohio, West Virginia, US, and since Ohio is where Mahershal lived that is strange in itself. Maybe the bride was from there. It is same Mahershal H; he was born 1840 in Kentucky. The second transcription of this, which is from a different direct source not available online (none of it is available to me online), states that Mahershal's parents were Theadore Mc Kinstry, and Catharine. This has to have come from Mahershal himself, and clearly it has his mother right.
I've found unsourced statements that Joseph was the son of John McKinstry and Charity Gard; none of these give any parents for Catherine.
It is always possible that the death record for Catherine has confused information and some or all of it applies to her husband. She was the widow of Joseph McKinstry, it says, and following is a pair of parents, but is there any chance they got it wrong whose parents. I've seen far stranger things doing surveys with people on a routine basis. Also grief does funny things to peoples' minds. YOu should have seen my brother and sister and me sitting in that funeral home when they made out her death certificate, strictly from information we provided, to be supplemented with the coroner's diagnosis, trying to recall where our mother was born. I'm the family genealogist, and my mother was born and grew up 18 miles from where we lived, and we were very close to our grandparents. My grandmother died when I was in college.
Could there be a Joseph or a Theadore in the family tree that we don't yet know of; I get the idea tehre are more children of both William and JOhn than are known. I didn't know Hugh existed or anything was known of his progeny until now. Cousin marriages were common. On the other hand, Catherine could easily have been McKinstry only by marriage.
HOw much have you and Margo McKinstry been in touch? She's identified as an LDS researcher, with an LDS e-mail address. She cites you frequently as a source on her Rootsweb family tree. Conceivably she's responsible for the James McKinstry Y DNA at SMGF.org. I've written to her several times and never heard back. Not even the fact that I've submitted a McKinstry Y DNA sample seems to have sparked her interest. I seem to have found what city she's in and am about to resort to the telephone. But does she actually know more than you do?
By the way, you mention William fighting in "the Scottish Revolution". Unsubstantiated stories of what Scottish McKinstry's did seem to be everywhere. Have you ever encountered a notion of them being outlawed as border reivers - "well before teh Jacobite Rebellion"? The Jacobite Rebellion was not until I think the 18th century. Past the time of the border reivers, as far as I know. ;)
Meghan, one other thing. Mahershal was head of a major corporation or something - quite prominent, right? I am wondering how the name of his father could be such a mystery? Aren't there any obituaries? If you've not looked for them, I could do that.
I did see something that mentions only that he and his mother were very close and she lived with him or something of the sort. Which raises the possibility neither of them much cared for his father. But how easy could it have been to write him out of history, unless of course, his father WAS his uncle.
Meghan, your line is actually unusually traceable for a Scotch-Irish family; most can't be traced at all. If you know of any male line members of your family you might want to get him Y DNA tested, because the SMGF haplotype is incomplete and missing a half dozen very fundamental markers. Also, that haplotype is for a descendant of Mareschal, and there is serious uncertainty that Mareschal was even a male line McKinstry. If you're descended from another son of the founder, it makes real good sense for some relative who is a male line McKinstry to be Y DNA tested.
Keep in mind, too, that if this SMGF haplotype should happen to agree with mine, since we don't know who Theodore McKinstry was, he could as easily be a New England McKinstry who went west as someone of your family group, and one wants to find evidence that the4 McKinstry families are linked. The paper trail suggests they all come from two adjacent parishes in Galloway.
The Bucks Co Pennsylvania McKinstry family used the name Theodore, often as a middle name, which could make it hard to spot. In Pennsylvania Scotch Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch families mixed heavily, and Pennsylvania Dutch families rather inconsistently used the middle name as a call name, which created massive confusion in mixed families. To this day I've no idea if Mary Magdalena Pluck's name was Mary or Magdalen, and neither has anyone else. She was my 3x great grandmother.
I don't know if this family went to Kentucky or Ohio, but they'd be a strange Pennsylvania family if they didn't.
There was a Theodore Nathan McKinstry, better known as Nathan, b 1818, who had a completely different family, and also a Theadore McKinstry of Wayne, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, b 1818, who also had a completely different family, as nearly as I can tell. Tehre was a Catherine McKinstry, older than he, living in his household, and a much olde rAlex McKinstry, meaning this was probably the Bucks Co family (but not necessarily). There were three children, none of them Masheral.
Hello, Just found your site right at the time I hit the search"brick wall"...course that's how research works I guess...just when you think you can't go any further, a new lead pops up. Anyway, I think I might be descendent of the Bucks Co. PA Mckinstry line but I'm not sure. My Gr-Grandfather was Benjamin Rolston Mckinstry, son of Alexander and Harriet Stivason? Mckinstry that were in Apollo, Armstrong County, PA in 1880 Census and in Cecil Township, Washington County, PA in 1900 Census and then my Connection moved to Hardin County, Texas between 1906 and 1910. I can't seem to find the lineage before Alexander and Harriet Stivason Mckinstry. Do you have any ideas? Thanks, Cindy
I just started researching the McKinstry lines myself. I had some work on the New England lines but not those of Pennsylvania or the midwest. I'm collecting materials and beginning a database, so I could end up with a better idea. Meanwhile there are also McKinstry forums and a list at Rootsweb and at Genforum.
When were Benjamin Rolston McKinstry and Alexander McKinstry born? I take it you don't find any of them in the census before 1870? McKinstry is not a common name, though Alexander was popular with them, so I'd look for Alexander the right age. If he was in Pennsylvania, the odds are good he began there, though there is also New Jersey, New York and New England. I think the New England McKinstry 's had outgrownthe name Alexander by the mid 19th century, but not sure about that one.
I'm looking for male line McKinstry's for Y DNA testing. That is ultimately the best way to connect a family group that has lost its roots. Paper trail suggests they came from two adjacent parishes of Galloway, Scotland, but Willis insists they came from Edinburgh or the Scottish midlands, and if so there'd be two McKinstry family groups. People who did not own property left no trail until recently. Also, even if every McKinstry shares one haplotype, since the family split between 1600 and 1750 it is going to have variations, so it would be possible to tell people which branch of the tree they belong to.
Meghan's working on a line that contains mystery about someone's father. The mother seems to have been a McKinstry, unless it was her husband's info that is on her death record. Papa was too, but the documents are confused on his identity. Now, Mama was of a midwestern McKinstry family if she was a McKinstry, and if her husband was a McKinstry it was more than likely a cousin, but the name, Theadore, spelled that way, was used by the Bucks County PA family, and they were only in Ohio, to where all Pennsylvanians went eventually.
Y DNA testing woulld straighten that out in a hurry, especially since a descendant of this confused family has been Y DNA tested. If you know a Bucks County male line McKinstry, this would help. We'd also need another of the JOhn McKinstry and Charity Gard group, and Meghan is descended from JOhn's brother. Maybe she knows a candidate?
I just got told by Dr. Durie, who co-administers the Scottish genealogy project, that one of his graduate students, Kirsty Wilkerson, runs this web site. It says it's run by Meghan, but if Kirsty is around, I''m looking for any information on any McKinstry's of Midlothian county, Scotland, who actually ever existed. Dr. Durie told me that certainly a whole bunch of McKinstry variants are found in Midlothian in the 1600's, and when pressed for details, he told me that a former student of his, seemingly NOT Kirsty, unearthed a marraige record in Ireland for Roger McKinstry of Midlothian, in Armagh, Ireland, in 1669. I think this is the same person who fathered Rev. JOhn McKinstry in "Brode", Antrim, in 1677, and certainly it would have been a close relative. I want to see this marriage record and any other factual details this student has.
I got the results back on my brother in law's father's Y DNA, 37 markers. It is I2b1a, and strongly appears to be the Scottish subclade. I2b1a, based on SNP M284, is indigenous to Great Britain and dates atleast to 2000 BC. This means that its I2b1 ancestors most likely walked into Britain following herds of large game, while it was still possible to walk into Britain, before 8000 BC.
The Y DNA does not match the R1b1b2 haplotype of the descendant of John McKinstry and Charity Gard of Ohio. That is not a surprise since it very strongly looks like there is a nonpaternity event in that line. If Meghan knows any male line descendants of her ancestor Hugh, she might want to get him tested.
I set up a McKinstry DNA project at Family Tree DNA. One can get small discounts through a project. Also Family Tree DNA is publicizing the notion that when it gets to 5000 Facebook or Twitter (not sure which) friends, from under 4,000 at present, it will give out coupons for new test kits. And something about liking next Tuesday. By Tuesday I can certainly find out which social networking site they're talking about.
have gotten a McKinstry Y DNA project going at Family Tree DNA. I so far have two descendants of William McKinstry and Mary Morse of Sturbridge, Massachusetts, via two different sons, and a descendant of the Bucks County Pennsylvania McKinstry family.
Both of those families may trace to Carrickfergus, Ireland, and both like to claim connections to Roger McKinstry who allegedly left Edinburgh late in the 17th century to flee religious persecution. Thus, these two families could be more closely related to each other than to McKinstry families in general.
Particularly to test the many claims of relationships with Rev. John McKinstry, the son of Roger, this project really needs one or two participants who are male line descendants of Rev. John McKinstry of New England.
Another Bucks County McKinstry, descendants of Captain John, and other McKinstry's would be very useful as well. Some McKinster's are really McKinstry's, and they can join as well. There is also a small Kingstree family who are really McKinstry's.
Chattauqua County New York McKinstry's are descendants of Rev. John. Columbia County, New York McKinstry's are descendants of Captain John.
One can find the project by going to http://www.familytreedna.com, (or google Family Tree DNA), search for and find the McKinstry surname project, and send a request to join it. I am screening to make sure that project members are male line McKinstry's and do intend to do the Y DNA testing. You get $20 off the cost of a Y DNA test for joining a project.
One other thing; Family Tree DNA is doing a sort of promotion. Not a trick. For real. When they get 5000 people on Facebook who "like" them, they will send out a coupon to each person who liked them, good for a certain amount off on a brand new DNA test kit at Family Tree DNA. Two members of the project have so far qualified ourselves for coupons that we won't be using. Family Tree DNA so far has 4,907 people on Facebook who clicked the "like them" button.
You go to Facebook, log in if it doesn't just take you to your own page, search for Family Tree DNA, select the one that has over 4900 likes and not the one that has 80 or so, then, next to the Family Tree DNA name at the top is a teeny tiny thumbs up symbol with tiny words something like "like this". You click on it and the symbol disappears and the count on the left of people who like them goes up.
I know that many McKinstry's, and McKinstry inlaws like me, are constitutionally antagonistic to such a thing, but, hey, it's a discount. (Family Tree DNA customer service had to walk me through how to do it.)
If you don't qualify to test, go "like" Family Tree DNA anyway, and you'll get a coupon that will help someone else test. Or if you prefer you can also do your own non-McKinstry DNA testing.
Meghan, I just realized that you don't specifically say it was William who fought in the "Scottish Revolution" before appearing in Virginia in 1760. Who fought in the "Scottish Revolution", and when did that person go to Ireland?
There was no Scottish Revolution, but there was a very long intermittent period of serious troubles. There were the Covenanters, the Killing Times, and the Scottish Civil War. The Scottish Presbyterians did back Cromwell. I've gotten in touch with a local historian in Galloway, and it would be helpful to know exactly what Scottish Revolution you are talking about. I gave him what you said, and then realized you suggest family history between this Scottish Revolution and where William went in 1760.
I know your ancestors probably called it the Scottish Revolution, but I need to figure out what it really was.
I will have to find that article again - it was from one of Kansas County histories - I simply copied and pasted the article - so I am not sure what the author thought the Scottish Revolution was.
I also need to find a biography I have for Aaron McKinstry (son of John and Charity) - it gives details on John and Charity and all the children. John and Charity were apparently "elders" in the Baptist Church...I have not encountered other Baptist McKinstrys - are you aware of any in your research?
I've encountered sporadic McKinstry Baptists. As I recall from my Scotch Irish reading, the Presbyterian church didn't adequately support the Scotch Irish in the bulk of their communities, especially as they began to move west, so they were forced to join other denominations. Many went Methodist, but I'm thinking of the South Carolina family, and they were a very died in the wool bunch. Fire and brimstone though they might be, the Methodists just didn't believe that God had predestined to damn most of the human race. It's actually surprising the extent to which McKinstry's managed to remain Presbyterian.
I doubt they stayed Presbyterian very long in New England. Particularly William, who evidently was a runaway ship's boy, and then a farm servant. I think they probalby became Congregationalist very quickly. The Baptist churches were their main competition in the 18th century.
To toss around the names and introduce myself, I trace my McKinstry line from Alexander of about 1708 in Ireland, through his son Alexander in Bucks and Cumberland counties, PA (the family arrived in Bucks about 1735). Alexander (the father) wed Mary Samuels. Alexander (the son) wed Sarah Ross. Their son, William wed Elizabeth Ross and their son James Ross McKinstry wed Sallie Jackson. Their son, Alexander Samuel wed Harriet Stivenson (her first husband was killed in the Civil War). Their son, James Sylvester was my grandfather.
About 1737, Nathan McKinstry, brother Samuel and sister Eleanor arrived in Bucks. This line appears to be first cousins to Alexander (the son) and have mostly stayed in and around Bucks.
First, the Bucks County PA McKinstry family, and the William McKinstry of Sturbridge, MA, families, are related at three degrees of genetic difference on two out of 37 markers. This raises the likelihood that other McKinstry families will prove to be related. There is no tradition that I know of, outside of speculation that all McKinstry's are descended from Roger who lived in Ireland in the mid 17th century, that any New England McKinstry families and the Bucks County, PA McKinstry family, are related. There is however old and vague tradition that the three New England McKinstry families were related.
The other two people who tested are descended from William II and Nathan, two sons of Wiliam McKinstry, b 1722 in Carrickfergus, settled in what became Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and married Mary Morse. They are two degrees of genetic difference off from each other.
This William of Virginia is one of hte few McKinstry's who came from Scotland and not from Ireland. It would be really good to test his descendants, other than those of Mahershal, whose Y DNA at SMGF is consistent with the notion that he was illegitimate.
Meghan suggested below testing descendants of Hugh and of Margo's James line, but it isn't clear who Margo's James line is. Is this James a son of William, or James a son of Hugh, or what? Meghan states below that Hugh had a son named James.
You all might be intested - the Bucks County PA McKinstry family and the family of William McKinstry of Sturbridge, MA, are I2b1a1, Isles-Scottish. I got that SNP confirmed.
Your questions about male descendants of John and Hugh McKinstry remind me I need to get back on my McKinstry research (I have been focusing on my Reeds of Loudoun Virginia and Belmont Ohio).
John had several sons: Jacob, William, Joseph, James, Aaron and John. Jacob and William's lines die out or only have female descendants. There are quite a few possiblities with Joseph's line as there were many sons and I am not sure who may have had male children (area to look at). James had many wives not sure about children. As far as I know Aaron did not have children. There is one possibility with John's line.
Hugh also had many sons- I will have to look at this line again. One son was Ira Lewis - he had many sons so there are possibilities there.
That one biography mentioned that John and Hugo may have had 10 other siblings - I know of Mary and Sarah and possibly Jane. It would be nice to find the others.....
But if we could track down a male descendant of one these lines, it would be great to test the DNA results.
Meghan Dewhurst-Conroy
I know there is a large McKinstry line that came from Ireland and settled in Massachusetts and had many descendant lines. I do not believe that my line is connected - my line appears to be from outer space :)
Jul 8, 2009
Liza P.
Jul 19, 2009
Nathan Drew McKinstry
Aug 1, 2009
Dora Smith
I am doing Y DNA testing on my brother in law's father, who is of the line of William McKinstry who settled in Sturbridge, Massachusetts in the 18th century and married Mary Morse. Willis, who published a family genealogy, thought the three McKinstry families of New England were related. The area they are from is small and it is conceivable they are all related, even if the name does mean "Son of the Family".
I am curious if Nathan has been Y DNA tested, even at SMGF. Someone of his line - John McKinstry and Charity Gard- has been tested at SMGF (and seems to have partial results); this is the only McKinstry I can find who has been Y DNA tested.
I would also like ot know whatever information Nathan can provide on his roots. I don't understand what he wrote.
Dec 25, 2010
Dora Smith
Dec 25, 2010
Meghan Dewhurst-Conroy
Hi Dora,
My John McKinstry was from Kentucky born about 1790 - his wife Charity Gard was born in Pennsylvania in 1792. They married in Butler County, Ohio about 1810 and had many children.
I have to find the article I read on John's lineage. His father was supposedly William (wife Catherine) - was supposedly from Scotland, fought in the American Revolution for Virginia and may have received bounty land in Kentucky. Eventually settled and died in Indiana about 1825.
I have not found any ties to the Massachusetts McKinstrys.
Are you aware of any John and Charity desendants that have had DNA testing?
Dec 25, 2010
Dora Smith
Meghan, someone in the SMGF database who claims descent from this line was Y DNA tested. The thing is, Margo McKinstry, who is a researcher at LDS, researched this line, and she repeatedly raises questions as to whether the entire direct line consists of men who are really their fathers' sons. That line is I think, John who married Charity Gard, Joseph, a Mahershal, and then James. If I have it right.
I'd really appreciate this article if you can find it.
Yours,
Dora
Dec 26, 2010
Dora Smith
Forgot to mention where Margo published this research - at Rootsweb Worldconnect.
Dec 26, 2010
Dora Smith
Thanks!
Yours,
Dora
Jan 9, 2011
Meghan Dewhurst-Conroy
Kansas Biographical History, 1879
James McKinstry, Hutchinson
The ancestors of the subject of this sketch were originally from Scotland. On account of having participated in the Scotch revolution they immigrated to the north of Ireland, and in the year 1760, William McKinstry, the grandfather of our subject, came to America and settled in Virginia. He served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and, at its close removed to Hamilton County, Ohio, where he engaged in farming for several years when he finally settled in Indiana. In connection with farming he established and conducted the first nail-factory west of Cincinnati. He remained in Indiana, until his death, which occured in 1825. Hugh McKinstry, his son, and one of a family of eleven children, was the father of our subject. He was born in Hamilton County in 1804; afterwards moving to Indiana he conducted a merchant tailoring establishment and became a successful businessman. In 1854, he moved to Coles County, Illinois, and there engaged in farming. He died in 1873. The mother of our subject was Miss Cecilia Lewis, whose father emigrated from England to Louisiana and died there of yellow fever in 1810.
James McKinstry was the eighth of ten children born to Hugh and Cecilia McKinstry. He was born in Putnam County, Indiana, November 10, 1845. His education was obtained in common schools, attended during the winter months and in the summer laboring on his father's farm. In 1862 he enlisted in Co. C, 68th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and, in the Army of the Potomac, participated in various engagements until September 1863, when, being disabled from exposure, he was discharged and returned home. Here he regained his health, and in the Spring of 1864 again entered the service. He enlisted this time in Co I, 135 th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for three months service, and until the expiration of the time was stationed in Southern Missouri, guarding the railroads against guerillas. At the expiration of the time returned to Coles County where he again engaged in farming. He then became desirous in obtaining an education, and leaving the farm in 1866, he went to Georgetown, Missouri, and for two years pursued his studies in Forest Grove Academy, when he returned to Illinois and entered the Normal University at Bloomington, where he remained until 1870. After his return to Coles County, he accepted a position of pricipal of the West Side public school at Charleston, and for three years held the position, giving entire satisfaction. He employed his spare moments in the study of law, and by perseverance and energy succeeded in being admitted to the bar in 1873. He then moved to St. Louis an began the practice of his profession. He met with unusual success and soon became attorney for the Cairo Short Line Railroad. The climate not being favorable he gave up his practice and started for the San Juan county in November, 1876 but finding the route across the Rockies blockaded with snow, he returned as far as Hutchinson, Kansas, where he settled and engaged in the practice of law. Here he has since remained, establishing an extensive and lucrative practice in the judicial district, and is recognized as a lawyer of unusual attainments.
In politics Mr McKinstry is a democrat, and takes an active part in the issues of the day. He has been elected delegate to the different state and congression conventions in Kansas, as well as Illinois and Missouri.
He is liberal in his religious views, and is a man of unquestioned integrity. Positive in character, he naturally wields considerable influence and is looked upon as a man who is bound to rise in his profession and attain still greater eminence. Being persevering and energetic in whatever he undertakes, and a close applicant to the duties of his profession, the legal fraternity feel assured of his future brilliant career and continued success.
Mr McKinstry has a fine physical development, is nearly six feet in height, with a robust frame, dark hair and blue eyes, high forehead and fair complexion. Pleasant and affable in manner, and socialable in disposition, he always wins friends, and has gathered about him numerous acquaintances who justly appreciate his many estimable abilities.
This was the sketch for James T McKinstry, son of Hugh McKinstry. Hugh McKinstry was a brother of John McKinstry who married Charity Gard. Would really like to see if anyone has more detail on this William.
Jan 9, 2011
Meghan Dewhurst-Conroy
There is question about Mahershal's parentage, specifically his father. All documenation indicates Charity was his mother and her parents were John and Charity Gard McKinstry. His father is unknown - references to John, Joseph and Theodore. I have not found all 12 children of William - wondering if there could have been a son who had a son Joseph who married Charity - just a whim thought.
The interesting thing would be to DNA test one of James McKinstry descendants (Margo's family) line and one of Hugh's descendants to see if there is any connection. Unfortunately, my McKinstry lineage was through women....
Jan 9, 2011
Dora Smith
Thanks, Meghan!
First I have two questions; do you have any idea where in Scotland William was from or where in Ireland he went? He wouldn't by any chance have gone to that point of land 23 miles from Galloway where Carrickfergus and possible Brodie are, would he?
I am plowing through the John McKinstry/ Charity Gard tree more systematically than I did previously, and some records seem to have come available online at familysearch.org that weren't there even last week. It sounds like you may have found them and be as puzzled as I am, but maybe not.
I have a transcription of the actual death record of Catherine, the mother of Mahershal McKinstry. It states that she was the widow of Joseph McKinstry, and the daughter of JOhn McKinstry and Charity Gard.
Tehre is also a transcription of the death record of Mahershal McKinstry. It gives parents as unavailable.
But there is also two transcriptions of his marriage to Frances P Stephens in West Virginia, from West Virginia Marriages, 1853 - 1970. Says the marriage took pladce in Ohio, West Virginia, US, and since Ohio is where Mahershal lived that is strange in itself. Maybe the bride was from there. It is same Mahershal H; he was born 1840 in Kentucky. The second transcription of this, which is from a different direct source not available online (none of it is available to me online), states that Mahershal's parents were Theadore Mc Kinstry, and Catharine. This has to have come from Mahershal himself, and clearly it has his mother right.
I've found unsourced statements that Joseph was the son of John McKinstry and Charity Gard; none of these give any parents for Catherine.
It is always possible that the death record for Catherine has confused information and some or all of it applies to her husband. She was the widow of Joseph McKinstry, it says, and following is a pair of parents, but is there any chance they got it wrong whose parents. I've seen far stranger things doing surveys with people on a routine basis. Also grief does funny things to peoples' minds. YOu should have seen my brother and sister and me sitting in that funeral home when they made out her death certificate, strictly from information we provided, to be supplemented with the coroner's diagnosis, trying to recall where our mother was born. I'm the family genealogist, and my mother was born and grew up 18 miles from where we lived, and we were very close to our grandparents. My grandmother died when I was in college.
Could there be a Joseph or a Theadore in the family tree that we don't yet know of; I get the idea tehre are more children of both William and JOhn than are known. I didn't know Hugh existed or anything was known of his progeny until now. Cousin marriages were common. On the other hand, Catherine could easily have been McKinstry only by marriage.
HOw much have you and Margo McKinstry been in touch? She's identified as an LDS researcher, with an LDS e-mail address. She cites you frequently as a source on her Rootsweb family tree. Conceivably she's responsible for the James McKinstry Y DNA at SMGF.org. I've written to her several times and never heard back. Not even the fact that I've submitted a McKinstry Y DNA sample seems to have sparked her interest. I seem to have found what city she's in and am about to resort to the telephone. But does she actually know more than you do?
By the way, you mention William fighting in "the Scottish Revolution". Unsubstantiated stories of what Scottish McKinstry's did seem to be everywhere. Have you ever encountered a notion of them being outlawed as border reivers - "well before teh Jacobite Rebellion"? The Jacobite Rebellion was not until I think the 18th century. Past the time of the border reivers, as far as I know. ;)
Thanks!
Yours,
Dora
Jan 10, 2011
Dora Smith
Meghan, one other thing. Mahershal was head of a major corporation or something - quite prominent, right? I am wondering how the name of his father could be such a mystery? Aren't there any obituaries? If you've not looked for them, I could do that.
I did see something that mentions only that he and his mother were very close and she lived with him or something of the sort. Which raises the possibility neither of them much cared for his father. But how easy could it have been to write him out of history, unless of course, his father WAS his uncle.
Jan 10, 2011
Dora Smith
Meghan, your line is actually unusually traceable for a Scotch-Irish family; most can't be traced at all. If you know of any male line members of your family you might want to get him Y DNA tested, because the SMGF haplotype is incomplete and missing a half dozen very fundamental markers. Also, that haplotype is for a descendant of Mareschal, and there is serious uncertainty that Mareschal was even a male line McKinstry. If you're descended from another son of the founder, it makes real good sense for some relative who is a male line McKinstry to be Y DNA tested.
Keep in mind, too, that if this SMGF haplotype should happen to agree with mine, since we don't know who Theodore McKinstry was, he could as easily be a New England McKinstry who went west as someone of your family group, and one wants to find evidence that the4 McKinstry families are linked. The paper trail suggests they all come from two adjacent parishes in Galloway.
Dora
Jan 10, 2011
Dora Smith
The Bucks Co Pennsylvania McKinstry family used the name Theodore, often as a middle name, which could make it hard to spot. In Pennsylvania Scotch Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch families mixed heavily, and Pennsylvania Dutch families rather inconsistently used the middle name as a call name, which created massive confusion in mixed families. To this day I've no idea if Mary Magdalena Pluck's name was Mary or Magdalen, and neither has anyone else. She was my 3x great grandmother.
I don't know if this family went to Kentucky or Ohio, but they'd be a strange Pennsylvania family if they didn't.
There was a Theodore Nathan McKinstry, better known as Nathan, b 1818, who had a completely different family, and also a Theadore McKinstry of Wayne, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, b 1818, who also had a completely different family, as nearly as I can tell. Tehre was a Catherine McKinstry, older than he, living in his household, and a much olde rAlex McKinstry, meaning this was probably the Bucks Co family (but not necessarily). There were three children, none of them Masheral.
Jan 10, 2011
Cindy L. Carroll
Jan 10, 2011
Dora Smith
I just started researching the McKinstry lines myself. I had some work on the New England lines but not those of Pennsylvania or the midwest. I'm collecting materials and beginning a database, so I could end up with a better idea. Meanwhile there are also McKinstry forums and a list at Rootsweb and at Genforum.
When were Benjamin Rolston McKinstry and Alexander McKinstry born? I take it you don't find any of them in the census before 1870? McKinstry is not a common name, though Alexander was popular with them, so I'd look for Alexander the right age. If he was in Pennsylvania, the odds are good he began there, though there is also New Jersey, New York and New England. I think the New England McKinstry 's had outgrownthe name Alexander by the mid 19th century, but not sure about that one.
I'm looking for male line McKinstry's for Y DNA testing. That is ultimately the best way to connect a family group that has lost its roots. Paper trail suggests they came from two adjacent parishes of Galloway, Scotland, but Willis insists they came from Edinburgh or the Scottish midlands, and if so there'd be two McKinstry family groups. People who did not own property left no trail until recently. Also, even if every McKinstry shares one haplotype, since the family split between 1600 and 1750 it is going to have variations, so it would be possible to tell people which branch of the tree they belong to.
Meghan's working on a line that contains mystery about someone's father. The mother seems to have been a McKinstry, unless it was her husband's info that is on her death record. Papa was too, but the documents are confused on his identity. Now, Mama was of a midwestern McKinstry family if she was a McKinstry, and if her husband was a McKinstry it was more than likely a cousin, but the name, Theadore, spelled that way, was used by the Bucks County PA family, and they were only in Ohio, to where all Pennsylvanians went eventually.
Y DNA testing woulld straighten that out in a hurry, especially since a descendant of this confused family has been Y DNA tested. If you know a Bucks County male line McKinstry, this would help. We'd also need another of the JOhn McKinstry and Charity Gard group, and Meghan is descended from JOhn's brother. Maybe she knows a candidate?
Jan 11, 2011
Dora Smith
Jan 30, 2011
Dora Smith
I got the results back on my brother in law's father's Y DNA, 37 markers. It is I2b1a, and strongly appears to be the Scottish subclade. I2b1a, based on SNP M284, is indigenous to Great Britain and dates atleast to 2000 BC. This means that its I2b1 ancestors most likely walked into Britain following herds of large game, while it was still possible to walk into Britain, before 8000 BC.
The Y DNA does not match the R1b1b2 haplotype of the descendant of John McKinstry and Charity Gard of Ohio. That is not a surprise since it very strongly looks like there is a nonpaternity event in that line. If Meghan knows any male line descendants of her ancestor Hugh, she might want to get him tested.
I set up a McKinstry DNA project at Family Tree DNA. One can get small discounts through a project. Also Family Tree DNA is publicizing the notion that when it gets to 5000 Facebook or Twitter (not sure which) friends, from under 4,000 at present, it will give out coupons for new test kits. And something about liking next Tuesday. By Tuesday I can certainly find out which social networking site they're talking about.
Jan 30, 2011
Dora Smith
Feb 15, 2011
Dora Smith
Meghan, I just realized that you don't specifically say it was William who fought in the "Scottish Revolution" before appearing in Virginia in 1760. Who fought in the "Scottish Revolution", and when did that person go to Ireland?
There was no Scottish Revolution, but there was a very long intermittent period of serious troubles. There were the Covenanters, the Killing Times, and the Scottish Civil War. The Scottish Presbyterians did back Cromwell. I've gotten in touch with a local historian in Galloway, and it would be helpful to know exactly what Scottish Revolution you are talking about. I gave him what you said, and then realized you suggest family history between this Scottish Revolution and where William went in 1760.
I know your ancestors probably called it the Scottish Revolution, but I need to figure out what it really was.
Feb 21, 2011
Meghan Dewhurst-Conroy
Dora,
I will have to find that article again - it was from one of Kansas County histories - I simply copied and pasted the article - so I am not sure what the author thought the Scottish Revolution was.
I also need to find a biography I have for Aaron McKinstry (son of John and Charity) - it gives details on John and Charity and all the children. John and Charity were apparently "elders" in the Baptist Church...I have not encountered other Baptist McKinstrys - are you aware of any in your research?
Meghan
Mar 9, 2011
Dora Smith
I've encountered sporadic McKinstry Baptists. As I recall from my Scotch Irish reading, the Presbyterian church didn't adequately support the Scotch Irish in the bulk of their communities, especially as they began to move west, so they were forced to join other denominations. Many went Methodist, but I'm thinking of the South Carolina family, and they were a very died in the wool bunch. Fire and brimstone though they might be, the Methodists just didn't believe that God had predestined to damn most of the human race. It's actually surprising the extent to which McKinstry's managed to remain Presbyterian.
I doubt they stayed Presbyterian very long in New England. Particularly William, who evidently was a runaway ship's boy, and then a farm servant. I think they probalby became Congregationalist very quickly. The Baptist churches were their main competition in the 18th century.
Mar 9, 2011
Robert McKinstry
To toss around the names and introduce myself, I trace my McKinstry line from Alexander of about 1708 in Ireland, through his son Alexander in Bucks and Cumberland counties, PA (the family arrived in Bucks about 1735). Alexander (the father) wed Mary Samuels. Alexander (the son) wed Sarah Ross. Their son, William wed Elizabeth Ross and their son James Ross McKinstry wed Sallie Jackson. Their son, Alexander Samuel wed Harriet Stivenson (her first husband was killed in the Civil War). Their son, James Sylvester was my grandfather.
About 1737, Nathan McKinstry, brother Samuel and sister Eleanor arrived in Bucks. This line appears to be first cousins to Alexander (the son) and have mostly stayed in and around Bucks.
Mar 19, 2011
Dora Smith
First, the Bucks County PA McKinstry family, and the William McKinstry of Sturbridge, MA, families, are related at three degrees of genetic difference on two out of 37 markers. This raises the likelihood that other McKinstry families will prove to be related. There is no tradition that I know of, outside of speculation that all McKinstry's are descended from Roger who lived in Ireland in the mid 17th century, that any New England McKinstry families and the Bucks County, PA McKinstry family, are related. There is however old and vague tradition that the three New England McKinstry families were related.
The other two people who tested are descended from William II and Nathan, two sons of Wiliam McKinstry, b 1722 in Carrickfergus, settled in what became Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and married Mary Morse. They are two degrees of genetic difference off from each other.
This William of Virginia is one of hte few McKinstry's who came from Scotland and not from Ireland. It would be really good to test his descendants, other than those of Mahershal, whose Y DNA at SMGF is consistent with the notion that he was illegitimate.
Meghan suggested below testing descendants of Hugh and of Margo's James line, but it isn't clear who Margo's James line is. Is this James a son of William, or James a son of Hugh, or what? Meghan states below that Hugh had a son named James.
Yours,
Dora Smith
May 4, 2011
Dora Smith
May 4, 2011
Meghan Dewhurst-Conroy
Hi Dora,
Your questions about male descendants of John and Hugh McKinstry remind me I need to get back on my McKinstry research (I have been focusing on my Reeds of Loudoun Virginia and Belmont Ohio).
John had several sons: Jacob, William, Joseph, James, Aaron and John. Jacob and William's lines die out or only have female descendants. There are quite a few possiblities with Joseph's line as there were many sons and I am not sure who may have had male children (area to look at). James had many wives not sure about children. As far as I know Aaron did not have children. There is one possibility with John's line.
Hugh also had many sons- I will have to look at this line again. One son was Ira Lewis - he had many sons so there are possibilities there.
That one biography mentioned that John and Hugo may have had 10 other siblings - I know of Mary and Sarah and possibly Jane. It would be nice to find the others.....
But if we could track down a male descendant of one these lines, it would be great to test the DNA results.
Meghan
May 4, 2011