The Irish standard., 1898-03-19
McKlNLEYS FAMILY TREE.


The Chicago Times Herald, whose
proprietor, II. H. Kohlsaat, stands close
to President Mckinley, took occasion TO
deny some time ago that the man from
Canton is related in the remotest degree
to the Mckinley who was shot in the
market place at Coleraine as a United
lrishman In 1898. About month ago
the Chicago Inter Ocean contained an in
teresting sketch of the McKinleys of
Dervock, in the county of Antrim, in
which the writer declares that the pres
ident of the United States is the great
grand nephew Of David Mckinley, of Co.
lumbiana, Ohio. son of James Mckinley
who emgrated from Ireland, and was
the urcle Of the Irish patriot arrested
by Capt Hanna. of the Orange yeo-
many, and shot to death for being iden-
titled with Henry Joy McCracken. the
leader of the Ulster rebels.
The New York Journal of March 3
says that a young lady named Miss
Martha Craig recently called on the
president, and presented him with TN
genealogical tree of the McKinleys.
She also gave him an old horse shoe and
a piece of peat from the old Mckinley
homestead. According to Miss Craig
the president is descended from the Nc
klnleys Of COnagher respectable farm
ers, and Presbyterians in religion. She
hot L
tried and hanged in Cc!eraine on infor-
nation furnished to the government by
an intimate acquaintance named Smith,
Miss Craig said that the uncle of Francis
Mckinley came to America before any
OF the others and was the grandfather of
the president. 1t is said that President
Mckinley was greatly interested in Miss
Craig and told her he was much pleased
to have, his pedigree so thoroughly estab-
lished
Now comes the Freeman's Journal, Of
Dublin, and tells how President McKin.
ley's relative died for Ireland in SO. II
we are to believe the writer in the Irish
paper it was William and not Francis
Mckinley who j. BECAME a target for
Orangemen in that historic year. He
says: THE William Mckinley of 1928
Is the chief executive of the greatest ma
ton in the world. The William Mckin-
ley of 1898 fought in the war for Irish
independence. sustained in hope, no
doubt, by the example of American in
dependence already achieved, and, de-
feated in the unequal strife, was no:
treated as a prisoner Of war, but shot
in Coleraine market place on the finding
of drumhead court martial Of course,
he was Protestant-on of the race that
gave McCracken and Monroe to Ireland,
Nothing is better in these days than to
recall to mind that fact that in Ulster
and L9inster-at Ballinahinch and An
trim as we'll as on the hills of Wexford
--Protestants and Catholics fought and
fell together for the cause of human lib
erty. The revolutionary idea arose in
the north, and its first adherents were
the Protestant friends of the Catholic
cause. The great struggle was fought
out in Wexford, and with Father Murphy
and Father Roche during that terrible
brief campaign were Bagenal, Harry and
many other Professionals whose lives
were given for Ireland. There is moth
ing wonderful, then. in the fact that Will
liam Mckinley, of the Mckinleys of Der
vock, county Antrim, went to his death
with the United Irishmen in 1898, al
though Antrim is the ultimate county
of Ulster, the farthest-hung bit OF Irish
soil that parts the fretting foam of the
Northern sea-"
That a Mckinley was shot at Coler-
aine in 1898 there appears to be no
doubt, though no record of the trial or
execution has been preserved. 1t is not
quite clear to us, however, that William
Mckinley. the president of the United
States. is relative of the Irish patriot
and we will require more proof than is
furnished by the newspapers to estab-
fish the fact. His forefathers evidently
emigratcd from Ulster to America, for
he belongs to the Scotch-Irsh Society.