John Henry McKinney, born on
September 23rd, 1903, was the oldest child of Elias Walker
(Oss) McKinney and Sally Bates McKinney. He was born on
the Webster farm near Zion Hill Baptist Church and he
attended the Zion Hill Grammar School. From the
Webber farm, the family moved to the Bagwell farm on what
is now Pecan Road in Glendale where they were share
croppers. This section was in the Pacolet census
enumeration district and records show that John Henry’s
siblings were born in the Pacolet district. John
Henry quit school after the eighth grade in order to help
his father on the farm.
John Henry as a boy.
John Henry began courting Gladys
Chaffin who was born on July 24, 1909. They eloped and
were married by Preacher J. E. Merchant at Arkwright,
South Carolina, on September 9, 1925. The story,
told by many in the family, is that they heard that
Glady’s father, Will Chaffin, was after them. This story
proved to be wrong. They fled to Spindale, North
Carolina where John Henry had an aunt, Almedia (Bates)
Padgett, and they spent the first night of their honeymoon
at her home.
When they returned, they lived
in a small house near Glendale belonging to Effie Nesbitt
Chaffin. The house was believed to have been inherited by
Effie Nesbitt Chaffin from her husband, Charles A.
Chaffin, Gladys' grandfather. It is believed a daughter,
Sarah Elizabeth (Betty) was born there on July 15, 1926.
She was the first of eight children born to John Henry and
Gladys .
Gladys and John Henry and their first child
Sarah Elizabeth (Betty)
They moved several times including
share cropping on the farm of the Bagwell's as well as one
owned by the brother of John Henry's father, Will
and his wife Eva (Steen) McKinney. They also had a short
stint in the peach orchard of Luke Godwin at Cannons Camp
Ground about 1935. This date is presumed because
Billy McKinney (who contributed this story) attended three
schools in his first year of his education, e.g. Glendale
Grammar, Clifton/Converse Grammar and Cannons Grammar
School. After a few short months, he was taken out of
school completely and the next school year began again in
the first grade at Zion Hill Grammar School.
Billy first attended Glendale Grammar School and it
was here that the bathroom and water fountain were in the
bottom floor (basement) and the pipes froze and water was
going everywhere. No one was allowed to use the facilities
and Billy became very thirsty and was crying for water.
His sister, Betty, insisted with the powers that be, to
allow her to wade through the water and get him a drink.
She came to his rescue again a little later when
they were attending Converse/Clifton Grammar School. There
was no bus service then, so it was necessary that they
walk to and from school. Just below the school there was a
shortcut that went through a cow pasture with steps that
went up, over and, down the barb wire fence. Just as Betty
and Billy were descending the steps, someone threw a
firecracker at him and Betty grabbed it and it exploded in
her hand giving her a nasty injury. From the
earliest times until this day, she has endeavored to keep
Billy out of harms way.
While working for George Shea, at
Zion Hill, John Henry had a disagreement with him and
moved his family to Glendale. They lived in one of Mama
Sam's (Atlas Tweed Sam's, 1885 - 1971) little three room
houses. John Henry’s sister, Estelle, had married into the
Sam’s family.
John Henry began work on the third shift at the
Glendale mill as a “sweeper”, which meant he did all the
jobs that no else wanted to do. He was very unhappy with
this because his heart was in the land and farming.
He only stayed on this job about one year. John Henry’s
daughter, Nancy, remembers being in the third grade at the
time, so this would have been about 1942.
From Glendale, the family moved to the Godwin Peach
Orchard at Cannon's Camp Ground and John Henry took care
of the orchard for several years. After this, he began
share cropping with Wade Bennett. Gladys worked for
the Dixie Shirt Company as a seamstress during much of
this time.
The children of John Henry and Gladys were:
Betty (Sarah Elizabeth)was born May 14,
1926. She married first Jesse Willard Dalton and they
had four children, three grandchildren and two great
grandchildren. She married second, Oliver Bishop, no
children
William H. (Billy) McKinney, October 1, 1928, married
Marion Mozsenko, divorced, one child, three
grandchildren.
"Nancy" Ellen McKinney, August 22, 1933, married
Benjamin Arthur, five children, ten grandchildren and
thirteen great grandchildren and one on the way.
Elias "Walker" McKinney, April 12, 1937, married Faye
Fowler, two children, two grandchildren.
Donald Dean (Don) McKinney, July 15, 1939, married
Jane Fowler, three children, six grandchildren.
Patricia Ann (Trish) McKinney, October 4, 1941,
married Kenneth Baughcome, one child, two
grandchildren, one great grandchild.
Danny Joe McKinney, born March 27, 1943, died
September 4, 1943.
Jo Sandra McKinney, November 26, 1944, married first,
Kenneth Emory, divorced, three children, nine grand
children, married second, John Abbott, no
children.
John Henry and his grandson, Dion Emory
Gladys Chaffin McKinney
From left: Ernest McKinney -brother of
John Henry; Emma Norris McKinney- wife of Albert
McKinney, John Henry's uncle; Ebber McKinney Toney -
sister of John Henry; Almedia Bates Padgett - John Henry's
aunt; Estelle McKinney Sams- sister of John Henry; John
Henry and his wife Gladys
John Henry died on June 13, 1989 at
the age of 85. Gladys died on June 25, 2005 at the age of
95. Both are buried at Greenlawn Memorial Garden in
Spartanburg.
Thanks to William H. (Billy) McKinney for sharing this
story.
