Beech Tree News Network

James McKinney (McKenney), my 5^th great grandfather, on my paternal grandmother’s side.  He was born about 1759 in Virginia (now West Virginia) and died August 18, 1831 and was buried in the McKinney Cemetery in the Sugar Grove community of Butler County, Kentucky.  James married Mary Polly Beaty on 23 November 1785 in Harrison County, Virginia.  Mary Polly Beaty was the daughter of Patrick Beaty, another Revolutionary War patriot.  They had 11 children, one of which was my 4^th great grandfather, Archibald McKinney, who married Sarah Fugate on 3 August 1813 in Gallatin, Kentucky.  Archibald and Sarah had John W. McKinney on 15 January 1823 in Kentucky.  John, my 3^rd great grandfather, married Sarah F. Thornton on 12 May 1852 in Butler County, Kentucky.  John and Sarah had Francis (Frank) McKinney, my 2^nd great grandfather, on 31 March 1856 in Butler County.  John died in 1877 in Butler County.  Frank married Mollie Hatcher of Wilson County, Tennessee in 1877 in Butler County.  Mary Catherine “Mollie” Hatcher was the daughter of Robert Powell Hatcher and Nancy Payne.  Frank and Mollie had Nova Belle McKinney, my grandmother, in 1885, and she married Robert Ellis Evans in 1907 in Butler County.  Nova Belle and Robert had my father, Roye “Chick” Evans in 1912 in Provo, Butler County, Kentucky.  Chick married Arrah Wanna Pendley also of Provo in 1936.  They had two sons and a daughter and spent most of their life in the Provo community.

James McKinney served in the American Revolution as a Private in the Virginia Continental Line.  He served in Lieut. Col. Campbell’s Company, 9^th Regiment, commanded by Col. John Gibson.  He enlisted and served for a term of 3 years from 1 February 1782 to 10 May 1785.  For this service he received bounty land warrants from Virginia as listed in the National Archives Service Record Land – Office Military Warrants in the Virginia State Library.  The family moved to Kentucky around 1795 only 3 years after Kentucky became a state, being broken off from Virginia.  

By: Linda Evans Deweese