Collin McKinney

Collin McKinney (April 17, 1766 – September 9, 1861) was a land surveyor, merchant, politician, and lay preacher. He is best known as an important figure in the Texas Revolution, as one of the five individuals who drafted the Texas Declaration of Independence and the oldest person to sign it.

McKinney was born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, the second of 10 children born to Daniel and Mercy (Blatchley) McKinney. The family moved to Virginia in the 1770s, and while Daniel fought in the American Revolutionary War, Collin McKinney supported the family; thus, he had no formal schooling. After the war, the family moved to an outpost in what is now Lincoln County, Kentucky.

McKinney married twice in his lifetime, first to Annie (Amy) Moore on Feb 10, 1794, with whom he had four children (James, Ashley, Polly, and Emeline) before her death in 1804, and then again in 1805 to Elizabeth Leek, with whom he had seven more children (William C, twins Amy and Margaret, Anna C, Samuel L, Eliza S, and Younger S).

From 1818 to 1821, McKinney managed the Tennessee estates of Senator George W. Campbell, who was serving as minister to Russia at the time. He also opened a trading post before giving it up and returning to Kentucky. Later, McKinney and many of his relatives moved to Hempstead County, Arkansas, where he was elected as a justice of the peace.

In 1826, McKinney became a friend of Benjamin R. Milam, who was recruiting settlers for the Red River Colony in Northeast Texas of Empressario and British General Arthur G. Wavell. The land grant was an area claimed by both the United States settlers as part of Miller County, Arkansas, as well as by Mexico.

...
Wikipedia