William McKinley, son of Archibald Carlisle McKinley and his wife, Elizabeth Cummins, was born in Abbeville district, South Carolina, November 30, 1809. In his early childhood his parents moved to Georgia, and his life up until 1849 became mostly identified with Lexington. He was an honor graduate of Franklin College; studied law under Judge Joseph Henry Lumpkin; and, in 1835, was elected to the legislature from Oglethorpe County.
In Milledgeville, as a member of the Legislature, he met Miss Patience Barrow, recently returned from a Young Ladies' Institute in New Haven, Conn. She was a native of Baldwin County, daughter of a prominent planter, James Barrow and his wife, Patience Crenshaw. She, and her brother, David Crenshaw Barrow, were orphans under the guardianship of old and well-known citizens of Milledgeville, Thomas W Stubbs and Dr Benjamin White. Mr. McKinley saw her for the first time as she entered the old Presbyterian church, became her favored suitor, and they were married Feb. 23, 1836, making their home in Lexington. There, in a house still standing, their five children were born; Katherine, Caroline, Archibald Carlisle, Mary, and Sarah Barrow, and there, in 1847, shortly after the birth of her youngest child, the mother died, and the home was broken up. During this residence in Lexington both husband and wife were among its most esteemed and beloved citizens, active in church and social life, and sorely missed when they were gone.
Colonel McKinley was later married to Mrs. L. Anne Sims, widow of Prof. Edward Dromgoole Sims, a Virginian, and Professor at Chapel Hill, N. C. She is a direct descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Connecticut. She was born in New Britian, Conn., and was a daughter of Prof. E. A. Andrews, a well-known educator and author of Latin text books, and his wife, Lucy Cowles. It was at his school that Patience Barrow had been educated, and it was from letters between her and Mrs. Sims, that Col. McKinley's acquaintance sprang. They moved to Baldwin county in 1850, where the remainder of their useful and honored lives were passed.
Mrs McKinley had one daughter, Grace Sims, and the children of her second marriage were Julia, William, Andrews and Guy Cummins. They had moved first to the old home of James Barrow, known as Beulah, but afterwards Col. McKinley built just across the Oconee River from Milledgeville, and it is in this home that he is best remembered. An interseting fact regarding the house is that the brick used were all made by his own negroes in a yard opened for that purpose.
He took very great interest in agriculture, devoting to it all the time that could be spared from an active law practice in town. It was said of him that he sank in the soil what was made in the office, but this was only an exaggerated way of telling his fondness for experimental farming. Each new discovery in any field roused his enthusiasm, so one can fancy what his delight would have been in the wonders of our day. He possessed fine literary taste, being not only a reader, but always something of a student. He was an able lawyer, and taught law occasionally to young men in his office, and said it was a work he loved perhaps above all others, and was best fitted for.
His title as Colonel was from the militia, but in the war between the States he was an ardent Southerner, giving of his energies and means to the Confederate cause. He' was over age for military service, but belonged to the Governor's Horse Guards, liable to be called out. As the war began, his eldest son, Archibald Carlisle, graduated as Captain of cadets at the Military Institute, at Marietta. His first work was drilling a company in Hancock county, and then he helped raise one in Baldwin, of which he was made 1st Lieutenant. The father's heart was with the boy through all vicissitudes, as he went forth to make his gallant and faithful record as a soldier, as he lay severely wounded in a trench at Vicksburg, and finally as he tramped home, weary and spent, after the surrender.
At the time of Sherman's march through Georgia, Col. McKinley's house was made headquarters of his forces at Milledgeville, and 10,000 Federal soldiers encamped around it. They brought with them terror; they left devastation, fields and orchards destroyed; horses, cattle and hogs and everything in the way of provision taken; negro men carried away, crippling labor. It was a furlorn situation yet might have been worse, for the house escaped burning. Preparations for setting it on fire were fortunately discovered, as the last of them marched away. This was thought to be the work of stragglers for it is but justice to say that the officers in the house had not been ill-behaved. The family was not large, the young ladies having been sent away in advance of their coming, but those left subsisted for many days on peas, picked up by the little boys, in the deserted camp.
In political questions Col McKinley felt the strong interest of every intelligent citizen, but in maturer years he never sought office. During the dark days of reconstruction, however, he went once more to the legislature, at the request of friends. He was a fine speaker, and his counsels were always wise and conservative. He was known as the "Chesterfield of the legislature." There are those who can still recall the beautiful courtesy of his manner, how "He bore without abuse, The grand old name of gentleman."
He was of a deeply religious and spiritual nature, for many years an elder in the Presbyterian church, and recognized in church and community as a power for righteousness, yet ever leaning toward mercy, a man of broad sympathies, with malice to none and charity to all.
He died May 2, 1878, and was followed to the grave by his wife, April 22, 1882. - History of Baldwin County - McKinley Biography 1925