The McMillin's of Texas

The McMillin family is my paternal grandmother's line. Originating from Miller County, Missouri, they relocated to Texas in 1882. The name on my grandmother's birth certificate is actually Margaret. We had no idea where this name came since this was never the name that she went by, nor the name used on any other legal documents. Research however uncovered the fact that her father, Oran P. McMillin (1885-1957) with wife Eula Jane King (1892-1980 must have been thinking about a baby "Margaret" that died in infancy just before they moved to Texas. Oran is the ninth and youngest child of John S. McMillin and Elizabeth McKinney. Life must've been extremely difficult in post Civil War Missouri: John and Elizabeth lost five of their nine children before they reached the age of four between 1872 and 1882. Only the oldest two, James (born 1868) and Mary (born 1870) and the youngest two, Willard (born 1883) and Oran (born 1885) survived to adulthood. As you can see by their faces, John and Elizabeth were very hard-working and steadfast individuals. Both died of respiratory illness: tuberculosis and pnuemonia.

Photo circa 1915

Elizabeth McKinney McMillin (1846-1920) was the seventh of nine children of Mortimore McKinney and Elizabeth Bond. Most of the documents we have of the life of the McKinney's surround Mortimore's many land dealings and the accounting registers regarding the stud services of his prized horse, Prince Albert. An announcement advertising Prince Albert stated "... four dollars and fifty cents to ensure a mare to be in foal ... Cattle, wheat or pork will be taken in payment if delivered at the market price by the 25th of December." was found among his papers.

In a letter to his sister, dated January 8, 1871, Mortimore wrote "... Money matters is very hard up at this time. My ink has been froze(n) and it is so bad that I can scarcely write with it." In this same letter, he mentions that John McMillin and his family were living with him, indicating that John and Elizabeth either lived in the same house or atleast close by. Elizabeth Bond McKinney died in 1869. Mortimore McKinney died on August 1, 1871.

The Bond line continues with the surnames of Bond (Guilford, North Carolina, circa 1740) and Beeson (West Nottingham, Pennsylvania, circa 1684). Edward Beeson, Sr of Lancaster, England (abt 1660-1713) and his first wife Rachel Pennington (abt 1658-1690) is reported to have come to America in 1682 on one of William Penn's voyages.