Mckinley
Mckinley
■came Chanceford township, York county, Pa.
David, the immigrant, a weaver by trade, died in
1759. His eldest son, John, was a wagonmaster
for the committee of safety, and died on his estate
(the homestead purchased from the heirs), Feb.
18, 1779, and his widow married Thomas Mc-
•Ciilloch and died in the winter of 1781. John's
•only son David was born on the homestead. May
16, 1755. He enlisted in Captain Reed's company
of ferrymen in the war of the Revolution and was
drafted several times for active service, and after
the close of the war became an ironmaster in
Westmoreland county. He married Hannah C.
Rose, who was born in 1757 and died in Chatfield,
'Crawford county, Ohio, in 1840. He purchased a
th£ aaj<e<stral home of the m'kinleys
//^ i pre L,/N /vj i> ■
farm in Crawford county, Ohio, in 1814, and died there in 1840. David's son James, born Sept. 19, 1783, married Mary (" Polly ") Rose, of Pine town- -ship, Mercer county, Pa., about 1805, and re- moved to Lisbon, Columbiana county, Ohio. His son William was born in Pine township, Nov. 15, 1807, was married in 1829 to Nancy Camp- bell Allison (who died at Canton, Ohio, Dec. 12, 1897) and was an ironmaster at New Wilming- ton, Ohio, and at Niles, Ohio, where William, the President, was born, the seventh of a family •of nine children. He attended Union seminary, Poland, Ohio, until 1860, when he entered the junior class of Allegheny college, Meadville, Pa., but before closing his class year was obliged to leave on account of a severe illness. He then taught a district school and was clerk in the Poland post-office. On June 11, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company E, 23d Ohio volunteer infantry, Rutherford B. Hayes being lieutenant- 'colonel of the regiment. He was inspected and mustered in by Gen. John C. Fremont, served in western Virginia, and saw his first battle at Carnifex Ferry, Sept. 10, 1861. On April 15, 1862, he was promoted commissary sergeant while in camp at Fayetteville, western Virginia, and he served in the battle of Antietam with such con- spicuous gallantry as to win for him promotion,
- Sept. 23, 1862, to the rank of 2d lieutenant of
Company D. On Feb. 7, 1863, he was made 1st lieutenant of Company E, and on July 25, 1864,
was raised to the rank of captain of Company
for gallantry at the battle of Kernstown, July 24,
1864. He served successively on the staffs of
Generals Hayes, Crook, and Hancock, and his
engagements after Carnif ex Ferry were : Clarke's
Hollow, May 1, 1862 ; Princeton, W. Va., May
16, 1862 ; South Mountain, Md., Sept. 14, 1862*;
Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862; Buffington Island, O.,
in Morgan's raid, July 19, 1863 ; Cloyd's Moun-
tain, W. Va., May 9, 1864 ; New River Bridge,
Va., May 9, 1864 ; Buffalo Gap, Va., June 6. 1864 •
Lexington, Va., June 10, 1864 ; Buchanan, Va. ;
June 14, 1864 ; Otter Creek, Va., June 16, 1864 ;
Buford's Gap, Va., July 21, 1864 ; Kernstown,
Va., July 24, 1864 ; Berryville, Va., Sept. 3, 1864 ;
Winchester, Va., Sept. 19, 1864 ; Fisher's Hill, Va..
Sept. 22, 1864, and Cedar Creek, Va., Oct. 19.
1864. He was brevetted major, March 13, 1865,
for gallantry at Opequon, Cedar Creek and
Fisher's Hill, and was serving as acting assistant
adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. Samuel
S. Carroll, commanding the veteran reserve corps
(1st division, first army corps) at Washington,
D.C., when he was mustered out with his regi-
ment, July 26, 1865. He returned home and
studied law at Youngstown, Ohio, and at the
Albany Law school, 186&-67, and was admitted to
the Ohio bar at Warren in March, 1867, and
settled in practice in Canton, Ohio, through the
advice of an elder sister, then teaching school in
that place. He was elected by the Republicans
of Stark county prosecuting attorney, and served
1870-71, but was defeated for re-election. He
was married, Jan. 25, 1871, to Ida, daughter of
James A. and Catherine (Dewalt) Saxton of
Canton, Ohio. He was a representative from the
seventeenth district of Ohio in the 45th congress
(1877-79), defeating Leslie L. Lanborn ; from
the sixteenth district in the 46th congress (1879-
81), defeating Gen. Aquila Wiley, and from the
seventeenth district in the 47th congress (1881-
83), defeating Leroy D. Thoman. His party
claimed that he was elected from the eighteenth
district to the 48th congress in 1882 by a majority
of eight votes, and he was given the certificate of
election, but his seat was successfully contested
by Jonathan H. Wallace, of Columbiana county,
who was seated in June, 1884. Mr. McKinley
was elected in 1884 a representative from the
twentieth district to the 49th congress (1885-87),
defeating David R. Paige, and in 1886 and 1888
was elected from the eighteenth district to the
50th and 51st congresses, defeating Wallace H.
Phelps and George P. Ikert, respectively, serving
1887-91, but was defeated in the sixteenth dis-
trict for representative in the 52d congress in
1890 by John G. Warwick, of Massillon, Democrat,
by 302 votes. The changes in the congressional
districts were due to political expedients used by