Thomas F. McKinney
| Thomas F. McKinney | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Thomas Freeman McKinney November 1, 1801 Lincoln County, Kentucky |
| Died | October 2, 1873 (aged 71) Travis County, Texas |
| Citizenship | American, Mexican, Texan |
| Occupation | Trader, merchant, rancher |
| Spouse(s) | Nancy Watts (divorced in 1843), Anna Gibbs (from 1843) |
Thomas Freeman McKinney (1801–1873) was a trader, merchant, and a co-founder of Galveston, Texas.
Thomas Freeman McKinney was born on November 1, 1801, in Lincoln County, Kentucky, to Abraham and Eleanor Prather McKinney. His family lived in Christian County, Kentucky from 1811 to 1818. Around 1822, he moved with his family first to southern Illinois, then to Randolph County, Missouri.
In 1823, McKinney struck out on his own to Mexico, including stops at Chihuahua City, Durango City, Saltillo, and San Antonio. He received a land grant of a league on the Brazos River in the Austin Colony in 1824. However, he left this area to follow his uncle, Stephen Prather, who operated a trading post near Nacogdoches, Texas. In 1827, McKinney married Nancy Watts, settling in Nacogdoches and operating a store through 1830. She moved to San Felipe de Austin that year while McKinney continued dispatching loads of cotton overland and by water. McKinney first formed his partnership of McKinney and Williams in 1834, operating a warehouse with Samuel May Williams at the mouth of the Brazos River. First located at Velasco, then Quintana, they sold groceries, supplies, and equipment. By 1835, they had acquired three steamships and ran packets between their warehouse at Quintana and New Orleans.
The McKinney and Williams partnership lent $99,000 to the cause for Texas Independence. In September 1835, McKinney used his own schooner San Felipe to capture the Correo de Mexico. He borrowed against the credit of the partnership to buy the schooner Liberty in support of the rebellion. McKinney, with Williams and Michel Menard, were the original investors in the Galveston City Company. Acting for the McKinney and Williams partnership, McKinney supervised construction of the new facilities at Galveston in 1838. They established a warehouse in the new city at the northwest corner of 24th Street and the Strand. Their wharf stood at the foot of 24th Street. McKinney and Williams financed the construction of the original Tremont Hotel building at the corner of Post Office and Tremont Streets. In 1839, McKinney supervised the construction of a house for his family, and an identical house for the Samuel May Williams family a few blocks away. 1842 McKinney split from the partnership of McKinney and Williams. Thomas and Nancy Watts McKinney had separated prior to 1840 and divorced in 1843. He married twenty-one-year-old Anna Gibbs the same year.
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