The Tenative Chain of McKinseys

The farthest back proven ancestor in the McKinsey line is Charles William "Chas" McKinsey, Sr. who was born Nov. 1926 in Kentucky maybe. The year is known and month is from a census record (though not proven) and the states vary from census to census, but Kentucky and Virginia are the most common places mentioned. 

Charles is known and his children and wife are known and her parents are known and recorded well enough for my liking so far. But Charles Sr. is of less certain parentage. He is agreed by all who have connection to him to be the son of Douglas McKinsey and Elizabeth (Palmer) McKinsey, but no records have I found to PROVE this relationship. I have records of Charles in photographs and letters and family pedigrees and trees of both good and questionable quality, but no known death place or certificate for Charles only his grave marker in Oklahoma (where the family moved to and it is not certain that he died there and not somewhere else. For such a thing has happened before where an ancestor died in one state but was buried in another closer to family even in long past generations).

Charles William McKinsey, Sr b. 1824 d. 1901 is assumed to be the son of Douglas and Elizabeth (Palmer) McKinsey. The only evidence of such a couple is their marriage license. While census records do show proof of Charles mother being named Elizabeth (she is living with him in one census and another with her brother and her maiden name proven to be Palmer). However nothing of the presumed father 'Douglas' in the census nor any other place save perhaps a tax list. No will of either Charles nor this Douglas have been found as yet either. 

Charles did have a son named John Douglas and it is possible that his assumed father Douglas went by another name for nothing comes up when searching for a Douglas McKinsey (of any spelling) in Virginia where he was known to live nor in Kentucky or other places the later generations lived. It is thought that if the link is true and his is Charles' father that he died during the Civil War or soon after it for he does not seem to appear in the later censuses and Charles' mother is a presumably a widow living with her grown son and later her brother and his family.

Douglas is assumed to be the son of Charles McKinsey and Elizabeth Isabel (Jett) McKinsey who are known by Charles and maybe Douglas being on a tax list and Charles and Isabel's marriage license.

Charles of Virginia as I will call him to differate him from his assumed grandson is also one of few records. There is a Charles McKinsey born in Virginia in 1772 the son of Scottish immigrants Benjamin and Agnes (Broadfoot) McKinsey and it is further thought that Benjamin may be the son of William and Mary (McIntosh) McKinsey of Scotland but again this is all assumed for this was the only Benjamin who turned up in the searches of the right age to be the same as was father to Charles b 1772.

Charles b. 1772 might be the same who married Isabel Jett, but it is not proven.

Charles of Virginia whether he be the same as Charles 1772 or not might be father of Douglas and Douglas might be father of Charles Wm Sr. but naught has been PROVEN other than the mother of Charles was named Elizabeth and her maiden name was likely Palmer and this could be the same as married Douglas - yet beyond that it is all guesses and 'this fits' without PROOF.

Family is more than blood

I was adding some people to my tree on ancestry from my master copy of my tree most names with birth and death years to flesh out later. One family is too unconventional for ancestry to understand and so unrelated people show up as half-siblings. Probably partly my fault for having the step-dad attached to all his step-kids from his four wives so step kids with no bio connection to each other are listed as half siblings.

It's a fun puzzle. I always try to include the step-families and adopted and similar in my trees as I feel that they are still part of the family even if not by blood. One of the main reasons is to honor the Nance family in my own way. And the other being that my grandmother's Culpepper line are actually the descendants of the step-son of a Culpepper (bio-father not known).

Edmun (also spelled as Edmund) Nance was born in St. Clair Missouri in 1845 and married Matilda Bradley. 

They had three children : William Henry Nance, James Nance and Laura (Nance) Owens.

Matilda died and Edmun remarried. 

His second(?) wife was Mary J.

Mary J. had two sons from a prior relationship: Greeley R "Horace" Graham b 1872 and William Henry Graham b 1875 - the brothers are recorded with the Nance surname in 1880 instead of Graham.

Edmun Mary J. and all the kids are in the 1880 census Arkansas.

1880 Census has Mary's sons with Edmun's surname but 1900 has it as Graham 

- Greeley in Edmun's household as step-son and William Henry Graham next door in step-brother William Henry Nance's household as step-brother.

Edmun and Mary had one known child together: Elizabeth (Nance) Griffin b 1882.

Mary J. is assumed to have died sometime before 1900 as I have not found her in that census and Edmun is listed as a widower.

By 1900 Edmun is a widower with two 'new' step-children: Mary Elizabeth Ridgley and John H Christ.

John H Christ was a boy maybe a teenager when his older brother Greeley married in 1901 and the three Greeley, his bride Amanda Davis and his step-brother John are all in a wedding photo together, that was taken in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).

Greeley R Graham married Amanda Delina Davis and his brother William Henry "Bill" Graham married Amanda's sister Norma Ellen "Nan" Davis.

Greeley and Amanda had 12 children together and all of them lived to adulthood married and had children. One of two families in my tree that can boast such a feat.

I had never heard of the Nance family before but when I brought them up in conversation with my grandmother's brother (a grandson of Greeley Graham) he recalled hearing his father Harper  (Greeley's eldest) and his grandfather (Greeley) talk about "Old Man Nance" when he was young, but did not know who it was they were talking about.

Gotcha! Glen Curtis Death Certificate from Oklahoma! (Also Harper Graham had bad luck with having sons)

I ordered and received the death certificate for my late great uncle Glen Curtis Graham. He was the second child and second son of his parents Harper Harlis Graham and Emma Irene (Rice) Graham.

Their first child Jerald William Graham was born the 31st day of October in the year of 1927. He was born in Snowmack, Seminole County, Oklahoma, USA (one of many little towns that popped up and was torn down during the 1920s and 1930s as oil well workers moved from work site to work site).

Glen Curtis Graham was born in Snowmack on the 30th day of November in the year of 1928.
Jerald had just turned a year old shortly before his brother Curtis was born.

Jerald died the 4th day of January in the year 1929. Curtis was about 13 months old (1 year and a little over 1 month old) when his older brother died and may not have remembered him as he grew older (it is unclear if he remembered him or not as I never thought to ask about such things before my grandmother their sister died and it is doubtful their surviving brother who was born long after both his older brothers had died would know about such things).

My paternal grandmother Helen Irene Graham was born the 30th day of January in the year 1930. The exact date according to Helen was not known as she claimed that the doctor that delivered her was drunk and died in a car accident that night on the way back from their house, so for that reason she did not have a birth certificate. She went back and forth between which year she was born in depending if she wanted to be year younger or older until settling on January 30th of 1930 to be her official date of birth, and that is the date given on her death certificate and the date the family celebrated her birthday during the time I knew her from mid my birth in 1984 until her death in 2009.

Going with the agreed upon year of 1930 for Helen's birth - Curtis would have been a little over two years old when his sister was born. This is the most likely date for her birth as if she were born the previous year on January 29th or 30th there would not have been enough time passing between her brother's birth in November of 1928 for Helen to have been conceived and carried to term before her supposed earlier birth date.

A photograph of Curtis and Helen Graham from 1931 when she was a year old shows Curtis looking much older than one year old Helen supporting that there was more than a year difference in their ages also if Helen were born in 1929 they two would have only been two months apart in age which is not physically possible (for full blooded siblings). So birth certificate or not it is more reasonable that my grandmother was born in 1930 as she eventually settled on. Given that she waffled on the year mostly in her teen years it is doubtful she bothered to work out if the math worked between her birth and Curtis' or that anyone would have noticed the error.

                                               My grandma Helen (at a year old) being
                                               so small next to Curtis (about age two). It has
                                               always looked, in this photo to me, much like
                                               she was a toy doll. (Photo taken in 1931 most
                                               likely during the Spring or Summer based on
                                               the children's clothing).


After Helen was born three more Graham siblings joined the family.
(All three are still alive as of posting this on the 26th day of August in the year of 2017).

Sister W. was born in mid February of 1932. Curtis was three at that time and Helen was two.

Curtis died the 14th day of February of the year 1934 of 'Organic Heart Trouble'. Organic meaning some type of physical deformation of the heart. The exact nature of the condition is not known. However it is noted that Curtis had this condition for the last eleven months of his life and had been seen by a doctor for this condition from October 3rd of 1933 up until February 13th of 1934. This same doctor was questioned (so it seems from Curtis' death certificate) and gave the date and time of death for the boy as Feb. 14th 1934 at 7 PM. Curtis died in Wewoka (sic), Seminole County, Oklahoma and his father Harper H Graham was the informant on his little son's death certificate.

Glen Curtis Graham was 5 years old when he died.

Harper and Emma's third and last son M (still living) was born April 1934, about three months after Curtis' death. Emma was six months pregnant when Curtis' died. This last third son survived childhood - a feat that his two older brothers were unable to do because of illness and the harshness of living the late 20's and early 30's of rural Oklahoma (a possibly genetic abnormalities in Curtis' case with his heart problem).

Harper Harlis Graham with his children Glen Curtis Graham and baby Helen Irene Graham.

According to a story his daughter Helen Irene (Graham) Bradford told (while in the hospital in about 2007) Harper did the work meant for a two man team which could have easily killed him.

It is possible that his job was that of driller and tool helper/toolie where one man was the driller and the other the toolie and Harper did both jobs by himself by choice as he was able to and would get paid more(I think) doing things that way.

Harper worked for the Blackwell Oil Company in Seminole County, Oklahoma from about 1926/7 - 1944.

The census for 1930 gives his occupation as Pumper - Oil Fields. 1940 gives it as Roustabout - Oil.
Emma Graham went to have an operation (I don't recall exact what she needed removed). The doctor gave her caster oil even though she told him she was allergic to it. She passed out after being given caster oil and while passed out the doctor administered ether and she died afterward.

After his wife's death Harper quit his job with Blackwell Oil Company and took his family west by car to California where he got a job working as a cannery worker for California Frozen Foods.
Harper later remarried by which time his daughter Helen (the oldest surviving child) was already married herself (having married in February 8th of 1948) and moved into her own home.

Given their very young ages at death neither Jerald William Graham nor Glen Curtis Graham ever fathered any children (dying at the ages of two and five respectively) and their surviving brother and his wife never had any biological children (though they did adopt to two unrelated children both of whom had children of their own and they in turn also had children - mostly girls). So the Graham line has already died out through Harper's branch.

However Harper was the eldest of his father's twelve children and in addition to having four younger sisters he also had seven younger brothers - the youngest of which at age 88 and is still living in Oklahoma as of August 2017 and has a son of his own, also living. (Update 2018 - Harper's youngest brother and the youngest of his siblings, Robert Edmund Graham, has died since this post was first written).

Ancestry is a pain but thankfully there are other sources if you look hard enough

I have transcripts of a few censuses and no images of them. Among which was the 1930 US census for Harper H. Graham and family.

I know Ancestry has the image but they wont let me see it for free. So after much internet searching I found a site: https://archive.org/

I looked under the below link after clicking around (though there may be a better way to find census records through the search then using the below link)


https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22U.S.+Census+Bureau%22



Which has microfilm images for many things including census records. The catch being that they are divided into chunks by state and county and are listed in a random order. So you really have to know which county and which Enumeration District you're looking for ahead of time and have lots of time to sift through pages of titles before you find the chunk of images you want. Then you go page by page to try and find the page you want.

I got lucky and found the 1930 US Census page for Harper Graham and family.

Now the transcript I had already - had put Harper's name down as Arther which is obviously wrong.

However I now understand why that is, as the image has 'Graham, Arther H.' written clear as day on the page. As his wife Emma and two children Curtis and Helen(my grandmother) are there and everything else is correct or near enough to be correct, I must assume that someone misheard the name "Harper' as 'Arther' or something because no where else has Harper's name been spelled wrong nor has he ever gone by any name other than Harper or H. H. Graham.

Harper and his family are lines 18 - 21 and at the time Harper was a Pumper in the Oil Fields.
In 1940 he'd be a Roustabout for the same or a similar company. He worked for Blackwell Oil but in 1930 it seems to have worked for Gilmore Gasoline Plant Number 10 (I don't know if Blackwell owned Gilmore or if they were separate companies. Blackwell Oil is listed right after Gilmore in the census).

I saved several pages of the Oil Field workers from this census but then my mouse slipped and lost my place so I didn't get them all. I may put them up somewhere if there is interest in them.

I should look up stuff about the oil fields in Oklahoma sometime soon to get a better idea of what Harper did for a living.

About Time!

While digging around in the GRAHAMs I naturally ended up in the NANCEs as the two are quite interlinked through marriage and such. So I was looking up things to confirm bits I had and maybe get some new info on certain key relations - namely I was looking for a death certificate for Elizabeth (Nance) Griffin half-sister of Greeley and William Graham.

Well I didn't find what I wanted, but I did find three separate online obituaries for Elizabeth's daughter Mary Elizabeth (Griffin) Peloquin who died April 19, 2005 at age 95. She died in California and had an obit in two of my local newspapers (those things that occasionally land on your driveway between dawn and dusk if you remembered to pay the random children they send to the door every so often). Well according to the obituaries Mary Elizabeth (Griffin) Peloquin was a elementary school teacher in California not too far from myself in the same state.

Also she had a Catholic funeral service and burial which makes her the first Catholic blood relative I've found so far in my family. I'm surprised I haven't found any before but the Bradfords have been Baptists since time began just about and the Millers were Anabaptists, then Mennonites and Amish(the two intermixed or were confused for each other from what I've seen written by other relatives) before some of their descendants (namely my direct line) switched over to being Methodists and then Presbyterians.

Not much to say just an interesting find for me.

Edit: 

I have since ordered and received the death certificate of Elizabeth (Nance) Griffin. It did not give a name for her mother as I'd hoped it would but it did confirm the year I had for her birth, and date of her death, and give a reason for her death - Typhoid (which I already had been told beforehand by a distant cousin on a genealogy forum - I don't recall exactly which one at this time). A lot of information  - parents' names and place of birth, informant, day and month of birth, place of burial and undertaker's name were all left blank.

Where Did We Get Texas From?

I got an email from a Graham cousin and got to digging through census records on the GRAHAMs again.

The family story which should be taken with a good dose of salt says that Greeley's birth father may have been named Reuben Graham. The reasoning is that Greeley's middle initial is R. which could have stood for Reuben. (Sarcasm: The reasoning is so solid and scientific)

Greeley put Texas as his father's place of birth a few times in census records as did his brother William. Edmun Nance, their stepfather, was born in Missouri so it is possible that Greeley' and William's birth father whoever he was may have been was born in Texas.

I checked the records and see how often Texas pops up in the father's birthplace for the Graham brothers.

In the 1880 Census with the Graham brothers living with Edmun Nance (their stepfather) the columns for parents' birthplaces are blank. Both Greeley and William are marked as being born in Arkansas as is Edmun's wife (their supposed mother) Mary J. Nance and their step-siblings. Edmun Nance was recorded as being born in Missouri in 1880 which is correct for him.

In 1900 Greeley was living with his stepfather and his step/half siblings. Greely has Texas as his father's birthplace and Arkansas as his mother's birthplace. Greeley has himself as being born in Arkansas as well. Edmun S. Nance's birthplace is listed as Missouri for himself in 1900 as it should be.

Next door Greeley's brother William Graham has Arkansas for his birthplace and for both his parents.

In 1910 Greeley Graham has Texas as his father's birthplace and Virginia as his mother's birthplace.

William Graham has Virginia for both his parents and Texas as his own birthplace (he could have been born there, but seems very unlikely).

In 1920 Horace G. Graham (same person as Greeley R Graham) has Texas for his father's birthplace and Tennessee for his mother's birthplace.
Again Greeley's birthplace given as Arkansas.

William Graham again has Texas as his own birthplace and United States for both his parents.
All of William's children have Texas as their father's place of birth as well.

In 1930 Greeley Graham has Texas as his father's birthplace and Kentucky as his mother's birthplace and Arkansas as his own birthplace.

In 1930 William Graham has Texas as his birthplace and for both of his parents.

In 1940 there is no column for parents' birthplaces.

It is not clear if Greeley and William Graham gave the information for their and their parent's birthplaces themselves every time or if another family member or neighbor answered the questions once in a while.

It does appear that Greeley Graham believed he was born in Arkansas and that his birth father was born in Texas also he was not sure where his mother was born, though when she was living (assuming she is Mary J.) it was recorded as Arkansas.

William Graham believed he was born in Texas from 1910 (abt. age 35) onwards and seems unclear on where either of his parents were born.

As Greeley was the older brother, as best I can tell, it is a bit more likely that he would know where their parents were from more than William would have, though I could be wrong on this point Greeley is more consistent on the places than William is.

It is known that the brother's step-father Edmun S. Nance was born in Missouri so it seems doubtful that either Graham brother would be referring to him in these census records.

It seems odd that neither seemed to know where their mother was born once they were grown.

I do not know when Mary J. Nance died but it had to have been between 1880 and 1900 as she is not with the family in 1900 and Edmun S. Nance was marked a widower in both 1900 and 1910.

If Mary J. died closer to 1900 Greeley would have been in his late 20s. 

If she died earlier he may have been as young as 10 or 11, which could explain why Greeley and William seemed to have no idea where she was born.

EDIT: I had theorized Greeley could have been as young as 8 when Mary J. died, but Greeley had to have been at least 10 or 11 when his mother died as she had to have lived long enough to give birth to his half-sister Elizabeth in 1883.

If Mary was also the mother of Edmun Nance's youngest child Edmun Jr. she would have died in 1889 or later though it is not clear if she was Edmun Jr.'s mother or not as Edmun Jr. could have been the son of Mary Ridgley's mother or John Christ's mother (instead of assuming each step child of Edmun Nance had a different mother than his bio-kids).

Before the Brady Bunch there was the Nances

The 18th day of  December in the year of 1845 in St. Clair, St. Clair County, Missouri - Edmun S Nance was born to parents William and Elizabeth Nance. Edmun was their (assumed) first son and fourth child. He lived with his parents and sisters Martha, Nancy and Mary.

When the census taker came around in 1850 the family had grown adding little brothers William and Pleasant - Edmun was about 5 year old at the time.

By the time the census taker came back around ten years later Edmun was about 15 and the family had grown again with the addition of sisters Elizabeth, Lesenby and Oney and also another brother, James. In 1860 Martha Nance had left the family home and the children of William and Elizabeth totaled 10 in all.

By 1870 Elizabeth Nance was a widowed farmer. She seemed to have shared the farm with her son James as both are listed as farmers in the census. A new child is living in the house by the name of Ignatius A Nance, a relation is not given and the child is marked down as 'female' so it is unclear if this was a son or daughter. James is also widowed with a young son living with Elizabeth. It is not 100% clear who's child Ignatius is.

Edmun Nance is living in his own place in 1870 at the age of 25 with his young bride 17 year old Matilda D and their 1 year old son William H Nance. Edmun like his mother is still living in Missouri at this time.

By 1880 however Edmun S Nance is in Scott County, Arkansas with a wife named Mary J. It is assumed that Matilda died some time between 1870 and 1880.

Edmun and Mary seem to be the parents of four children (William H. Nance is known to be Edmun's son by his first wife Matilda). These children are: James born in abt. 1871, Lorry born abt. 1874, William H. born abt. 1875 (not the same as Matilda's son) and Greeley/Goreley born abt. 1872. All the children are listed under the surname Nance and as sons and daughters of Edmun Nance. (It is known that William H. born abt. 1875 and his brother Greeley were Edmun's step-sons and had their own surname (GRAHAM) they are presumed to be the sons of Mary J. - My cousin in Oklahoma is working on getting a copy of Greeley's death certificate to find out more about his parentage.)

(Edit: No luck finding Greeley's death certificate though I have one for his brother William and their half-sister Elizabeth - neither give names for Greeley's parents.)

We jump over the burnt decade of 1890 to 1900 to meet up with the Nance family again.

Edmun is now a widower living in Indian Territory(later called Oklahoma) with step-daughter Mary Ridgley born abt. 1881, daughter Elizabeth Nance born 1883(known to be half-sister of the Graham brothers), step-son John H. Christ born abt. 1884, son Edmun Nance Jr. born abt. 1889 and step-son Greeley Graham.

Next door to Edmun is his grown son William H. Nance with his wife Arnie or Annie Bell (Ester) Nance and their children Tenie Bell, William, James and Albert. Also living with the farmer, William H. Nance, is his step-brother William H. Graham, and his brother-in-law William Ester.

Edmun S Nance, Sr. does not appear in the 1910 Census and is assumed to have died sometime between 1901 and 1910.

-----------

Edmun(d) S. Nance, Sr. is known from Census records to have lived with a woman Matilda D. Nance as husband and wife and are assumed to be the parents of William H. Nance who at a year old lived with them in Missouri in 1870.

Edmun(d) S. Nance, Sr. presumably fathered son James and daughter Laura aka Lorry with Matilda or Mary J.

Edmun was living as husband and wife with Mary J. Nance in 1880 in Arkansas with all his known children plus the Graham brothers who are assumed to have been Mary J.'s sons from a prior marriage or relationship.

It is known that Elizabeth Nance (Edmun Sr's daughter) was a half-sister to the Graham brothers and it is assumed that she is the daughter of Mary J. Nance.

James and Laura Nance are assumed to be children of Matilda Nance as their ages are too close to the Graham brothers for them to share the same mother with them and Elizabeth. However IF it can be shown that Mary J. was not the mother of the Graham brothers she may yet be the mother of James and Laura Nance.

It is assumed that Edmun S. Nance, Sr. married two widows who later died thus leaving him with the step-children Mary Ridgely and John H. Christ (it is just as possible he married a widow and had children with her and some of his younger children are half-siblings to one or the other of his step-children named here).

It is assumed that Edmun's son Edmun S. Nance, Jr. was a half-brother to John, Mary or the Graham brothers as his birth date of abt. 1889 make is nearly impossible for him to be the child of Matilda D. Nance who is assumed to have died or been divorced from Edmun, Sr. before 1880. It is also assumed that Mary J. Nance died sometime between 1880 and 1900. Mary J. Nance was born abt. 1852 and so would have been abt. 48 years old in 1900. If she was the mother of Edmun, Jr. she would have been abt. 37 when he was born. This is plausible, but there is nothing yet to say who the mother of most of Edmun Nance's children and step-children were (to say nothing of the step-children's birth fathers).

(It is possible that some of the step-children had the same mother but different fathers but the closeness in their ages makes it seem less likely to me.)

In 1910 Edmun Nance, Jr. is living in McIntosh County, Oklahoma as a boarder of J. H. Crice and wife Josie Crice. It is assumed due to the similarity in name, age and birth place as well as occupation that J. H. Crice is the same as John H. Christ and thus a step-brother of Edmun, Jr. (more research needed  - though the parents' birth places do not match those of  John H. Cress son of John and Sarah Cress, who was born abt. the same time as J. H. Crice and John H. Christ ).

Sources:
1850 US Census Missouri;
1860 US Census Missouri;
1870 US Census Missouri;
1880 US Census Mountain Township, Scott County, Arkansas;
1900 US Census Indian Territory, Creek Nation;
An account of Edmun S. Nance, Sr.'s wives and children by Patsy Fink(a granddaughter of Greeley Graham) on the rootsweb message board;
1910 US Census McIntosh County, Oklahoma