Wayne County, North Carolina:  Articles

Early Wayne McKinnes

Reprinted with permission of the News-Argus and cannot be reproduced without permission.

Goldsboro News-Argus Sunday, April 27, 1975 Bicentennial Series

Editor's Note: This is the 3rd in a series of articles on Wayne County's history from 1700 to 1900. It is being presented as a part of the observance of the American Revolution Bicentennial.

By Bob Johnson

Wayne County's shape & size & the political persuasion of its people have
evolved primarily from one man of Scottish descent, William McKinne, Sr.
McKinne & his sons who followed him were giants among men.

He was a true revolutionary, serving as a member of the North Carolina
Assembly, during which he voted for & signed the Halifax Resolves, and also
as a Minute Man, fighting for American freedom.

McKinne was born in Bertie County (now Edgecombe) about 1728. He first
settled on 300 acres in 1749 in what was then Johnston County but is now
Wayne County.

The first land was located on South Roundabout Creek south of the Neuse
River. He later acquired sizeable tracts on Walnut Creek & Bogue Marsh in
Dobbs County, which are now in Wayne. Some of the property has been traced
to the present.

Construction of what is known as the Marshall Cox house, located south of
the Neuse, west of the Bentonville Road & near the Johnston County line,
was started by a McKinne, probably Richard, William's son.

According to a document still extant, the property was deeded in 1805 by
Barnabas McKinne, administrator of the estate of William McKinne, Sr., to
Joseph Everett. Everett was married to Barnabas' niece, Anny McKinne.

The house passed from Everett to his daughter, Anny, who married William
B. Smith. Then from Smith to Julius Cox, who married his daughter, Fanny
Smith.

>From Julius Cox, his brother Richard in turn sold it to another brother,
Marshall, father of the present owners & occupiers of the house. Haywood
Cox & his sister, Miss Sue Cox.

William McKinne, Sr. was an early conservationist. While in the Assembly,
he presented bills to prevent the burning of woods & limit the killing of
deer.

Another of his bills led to the establishment of Raleigh as the state
capitol. It called for "erecting part of Johnston, Cumberland & Orange
counties into a separate & distinct county by the new name of Wake &
St. Margaret's Parrish."

Simultaneously while serving in the Assembly, he was "High Sheriff" of
Dobbs County, now Wayne.

He served in the militia from 1771 to 1789 when he resigned as a colonel.
While a Minute Man Captain, he was involved in the march on the Regulators
in the western part of the colony.

McKinne, while in the Assembly in 1776, helped fashion the Halifax Resolves,
the first official expression by any colony of independence from the
crown. The Resolves were presented to the Continental Congress in
Philadelphia.

In 1779, McKinne was again in the Assembly & was appointed to a commission
charged with dividing Dobbs County. It was then that Wayne County was
formed.

McKinne was given the contract for building the first courthouse at Wayne
County's first seat of government, Waynesborough, which was incorporated
in 1787. He was among the directors & trustees of the town.

Shortly after ending nearly 40 years of public life, William McKinne, Sr.
was dead. It is not known where he is buried.

Three of Col. McKinne's sons had very distinguished careers. They were
William, Jr., a founder of Waynesborough & militia colonel; Barnabas,
member of the Assembly & militia colonel; & Richard, a county & state
official & militia general.

A tombstone on William McKinne, Jr.'s old plantation, now the "Old Kentucky
Farm" off the Old Grantham Road owned by Bill Smith, marks the graves
of William McKinne, Jr. (he is designated William McKinne Sr., because he
had a son named William McKinne, Jr.), his wife, sons, daughters-in-law
& grandsons. On each side of the tombstone are the names of McKinne's kin.

One side reads, William McKinne, Sr., Feb. 19, 1749-Sep. 17, 1796.
His wife, Mary, Apr. 5, 1752-June 4, 1814

Another reads, Ann Eliza Whitfield, wife of D. M. McK., Oct. 21, 1816-
Sep. 22, 1894
Their sons, William Haywood, Aug. 23, 1845-Oct. 11, 1864
Alonzo Jerkins, Sep. 15, 1858-Dec. 23, 1858
Jerkins is believed to be a misspelling of the name, Jernigan.

A third side of the stone states: William McKinne, Jr. Oct. 29, 1771-
Feb 12, 1842
His wife, Elizabeth Fulghum, Sep. 5, 1779-Jan. 13, 1816
His second wife, Barbara Herring Smith, June 17, 1778-Feb. 25, 1865

Mrs. Graham Hood, now living in Goldsboro, traces her ancestry to Elizabeth
Fulghum, who was her great-great grandmother.

The daughter of Elizabeth Fulghum & William McKinne, Jr., Annie Elizabeth
Whitfield, married David Fulghum McKinne; their daughter, Annie Elizabeth
Barbara McKinne, married W. R. Hollowell; & their daughter, Mine Deems
Hollowell, married David M. Prince, the parents of Mrs. Hood.

The fourth side of the tombstone is etched: Sons of William McKinne, Jr.,
Barnabas, May 22, 1799-July 21, 1825
Raiford, Sep. 4, 1805-June 16, 1808
John, May 1, 1809-July 18, 1834
Richard, July 1, 1815-Sep. 4, 1820
David Fulghum, Aug. 13, 1813-Aug. 30, 1867

Barnabas McKinne lived on a plantation willed to him by his father "on the
Savannah between Walnut Creek & Mr. Green's." It joined the land where the
Old Dobbs Courthouse stood & contained a mill & a pond.

He is believed to be buried in a private burying ground near the Old Dobbs
Courthouse with his daughter, Elizabeth & her husband, Gen. Nicholson
Washington.

Richard McKinne served as a justice in the county court, a county
commissioner & a justice of the peace. He was one of the justices attending
the first court held at Waynesborough.

Richard was a member of the State House of Commons & State Senate. He voted
for the federal Constitution as North Carolina became the 12th state to
join the Union.

An early Wayne County map marks the lands of Gen. Richard McKinne & the
Whitfields. Richard & his wife, Sarah Fellows, had eight children.

From the McKinnes came the names of many who have made contributions to
Wayne County. They include Fellows, Coor, Everett, Smith, Sasser, Whitfield,
Kennedy, Borden, Jernigan, Blackman, Wooten, Pope & Washington.

Contributed by Guy Potts of Raleigh, NC  August 2000      Return to History page

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Wayne County, NC Genealogy Project is solely owned by Diana Holland Faust.  The information contained herein is copyrighted and used only on this website.  It is not sold or re-published anywhere else.  Comments and suggestions to author: thefolks@betterthanmost.com.  All contents copyright © 1996-2011 Diana Holland Faust.  All rights reserved. This site published 10 November 1996.  This page added 8 August 2000.  Last updated 24 January 2011. URL: http://www.betterthanmost.com/wayne/articles/McKinnies.htm