Churchill *  Foerst  *   Wyman  *   McKindley *  McLean
Wees *  Brandt *  Howard  *  Crans  *  Tjaden  *  Martin Luther

Contact the genealogist         PHOTOS     Last Name Index      Home page

Born May 22, 1896 on a farm southeast of Benton Harbor, Michigan. His parents were William Howard McKindley and Cynthia Eleanor Wees.  He started dating his violin teacher, Jeanette Crans, before serving in the U.S. Navy.  He served on the battleship Louisiana in World War I. At age 25, he married Jeanette Crans. The story of their wedding was published in the Benton Harbor newspaper.  See photo of his wife.  

Myrl, also known as "Mac," raised three children in the Pearl Grange area southeast of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, Michigan.  The children were Carol, Helen, and William.  (Carol is my mother.)  

A photo of Myrl as a child, surrounded by his family, is available by clicking HERE.

Myrl raised grapes, peaches, apples, and melons southeast of Benton Harbor, Michigan. He was also an aviator, for recreational and commercial purposes. In addition, he sold agricultural products. He enjoyed hunting.  He raised honey bees.  Picture of him as an adult. 

He died December 25, 1974 and is buried at Crystal Springs Cemetery.

Born September 10, 1895 in St. Joseph, Michigan. Her parents were Willem Karel Crans and Francoise Fredrica Tjaden.  [PHOTO WILLEM.   PHOTO FRANCOISE.]  Jeanette was known for her violin music, and attended the Columbia School of Music. She was 25 when she married William Myrl McKindley. She remembered speaking Dutch in her home as a child, and traveled to Holland as an adult to visit various relatives there. She died May 20, 1988 and is buried at Crystal Springs Cemetery in Benton Harbor, Michigan.  See Crans family for additional information about her.

Mary Sylvesta McKindley was born January 12, 1871. Her parents were Francis Austin McKindley and Helen Cornelia Howard McKindley.  She had one brother, William Howard McKindley, father of William Myrl McKindley.

Aunt Mamie was married to Earl Nutting. Earl Nutting was born Jan. 1868. They had two children, Francis M. Nutting (born June 12, 1897; died May 14, 1947) and Ethelyn (born shortly after 1900).  SEE PHOTO.  They lived on a farm in Berrien County, Michigan, which was handed down in the Howard family.

Mary M. Nutting died July 18, 1956. She is buried in the Pearl Cemetery next to her son Francis.

Born February 26, 1873 in Benton Harbor, Michigan. His parents were Francis Austin McKindley and Helen Cornelia Howard.  He had one sister, Mary Sylvesta McKindley, who married Earl Nutting and lived nearby on a farm passed down in the Howard family.

William was 21 on December 26, 1894 when he married Cynthia Eleanor Wees.  They had two sons:  William Myrl McKindley, born May 22, 1896, and Howard Randall McKindley, who was born in June 1898 and died Sept. 3, 1898. 

William Howard McKindley died unexpectedly of heart failure on October 11, 1913 at the age of 40. His obituary says he was a Past Master of the Pearl Grange, and "loved by all in his Order."  He is buried in the Pearl Grange Cemetery.  

For information about other people who lived in Berrien County at the time, click on BERRIEN.

Cynthia Eleanor Wees (McKindley)  SEE PHOTO

Born October 22, 1868 on a farm near Benton Harbor, Michigan. Her parents were William Wees and Isabel Randall, both originally from Canada. She married William Howard McKindley on December 26, 1894. 

Their son was William Myrl McKindley. They also had anther son, Howard McKindley, who died as an infant. 

She was a schoolteacher, and was very active with the Methodist Peace Temple in Benton Harbor. She served as superintendent of the Sunday School.  Late in life, she worked as a secretary for the YMCA. She was nicknamed "Will’s Toothpick" because she was slender, and her husband was a large man. Although she had Alzheimers at the end of her life, Cynthia left behind many happy memories for her granddaughter, Carol Jean McKindley.

Note: A newspaper obituary says she was born Oct. 22, 1869. The obit says she was survived by a brother, Lowell, of Watato, Washington. It says she died at age 83 and that she was married "58 years ago." 

She died May 16, 1952.  She was laid to rest at Pearl Cemetery.

HISTORICAL NOTE: The word "Grange" refers to an agricultural cooperative. The grange would negotiate a price for the sale of fruit, and the farmers could deliver their crops to the grange for sale at the negotiated price. Also, the grange bought large farm equipment which the farmers shared.  The Pearl Grange was named after Cynthia's uncle, Warren H. Pearl.

Born on November 1, 1830; died November 28, 1917. Isabell’s parents were Joseph Randall (born September 1, 1795; died February 17, 1850) of Nova Scotia, and Lucretia Lowell (born December 18, 1800; died February 22, 1882) of Canada. She married William Wees on February 26, 1850, at Dresden. [See PHOTO WILLIAM WEES.]  Isabel’s daughter was Cynthia Eleanor Wees, who married William McKindley.   For more information, see Wees family.

For additional information about Wees ancestors, click on WEES.

Born Dec. 15, 1846 in Jefferson County, New York. His parents were William McKindley and Mary Ellis. He had a brother, John E. McKindley.

When Frank was very young, his father died. His mother remarried to Hiram Tubbs and had four more children, two girls and two boys SEE PHOTO.

In March, 1854, Mary Ellis Tubbs and her husband Hiram Tubbs and their growing family moved from New York to Michigan, first to Branch County for one year. After leaving Branch County the family moved to the Sherwood Snyder farm, where young Frank McKindley had to figure out how to go to school by marking trees through the dense forest. He attended the "Tubbs School."

At age 16, Frank enlisted in the Union Army at Bainbridge on Feb. 13, 1864 and served for three years in the Civil War. He was in Company D, Western Sharpshooters, with other Michigan soldiers, although his company was attached to an Illinois regiment.

Frank "marched through Georgia." He was wounded in the right thigh on July 22, 1864 during the battle of Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Georgia. He went home for a while and then returned to active duty. He was eventually discharged April 24, 1865. He received an honorable discharge on June 17, 1865; the discharge certificate states that he had been a farmer from Jefferson County, New York, and that he was 5’ 10" high, with blue eyes and light hair.

Frank was 21 on Nov. 10, 1868 when he married Helen Cornelia Howard. They had two children: *William Howard McKindley and Mary "Mamie" Sylvesta McKindley (wife of Earl Nutting). Frank got 100 acres of land in Berrien County where he grew peaches and apples. He was the highway commissioner in his township.

According to family legend, Frank took a ride one day in a new-fangled horseless carriage. His grandson, Myrl, was driving. Frank shouted enthusiastically "Let ‘er out to 20!" Myrl did as he was told, but Frank was distressed by the high speed at which the vehicle was traveling, and asked that the vehicle be slowed down.

Francis died December 24, 1921 of heart failure and is buried at the Pearl Grange Cemetery.

To read a biography of "Frank A. McKindley" published in 1906, click on HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY.

To find out where the Pearl Cemetery got its name, click on PEARL.

Born in December 27, 1845 in (Ellesburg?) New York. Her parents were John Franklin Howard and Sylvesta Easton. At age 23, Helen married Francis Austin McKindley. She had one son, William Howard McKindley, and one daughter, Mamie (Mary) McKindley. Mamie was often referred to in our family as "Aunt Mamie."

Helen died in December 13, 1926 in Benton Harbor of a stroke and a broken hip. She is buried at Pearl Grange Cemetery.

HISTORICAL NOTE:  The civil war started in April 1861.

President McKinley was born January 29, 1843. He was the seventh son of Nancy Allison and William McKindley. Grandma McKindley used to say that President McKinley was related somehow to our family, but that is probably not true. His name isn’t even spelled the same.

Born in New York on February 25, 1820. His parents were William McKindley and Martha McLean. William was an Army officer, and he probably served in the Mexican War.

He married Mary Ellis on June 20, 1844 in Fayetteville. They were married by the Reverend Richard Cleveland, father of President Grover Cleveland.  Their children were as follows:

1. John E. McKindley. Born 1845. Married Catherine E. {?} [Elizabeth Swisher?] who was born in 1844. In November 1877, he moved to Osakis, MN. He had four children, John N., born May 24, 1877 in Benton Harbor,  had 9 children, died June 16, 1975, buried in Osakis, Minnesota; Arthur, born in 1883; Lewis, born in 1885; and Lola, born in 1886.
2. Francis Austin McKindley, born 1847. He is our ancestor. He married Helen Cornelia Howard and had two children, William and Mary.

Mom always had a military uniform which was once worn by William McKindley. It has epaulets. It was a dress uniform coat.  There was a sword that went with it-- the sword ended up in the hands of John McKindley of Osakis, Minnesota.  (See above.)  In 2003, our family donated the coat to a military museum in New York.

William died on August 5, 1847 in Ellisburg, New York, at the age of 27.

Mary was born in New York in 1822 or 1824. Her parents were John Ellis (who died July 9, 1844) and Ms. Smith (who died in 1834). Mary Ellis married William McKindley on June 20, 1844.

She had a son, John E. McKindley, born 1845, whose wife’s name was Catherine. She also had a son, Francis Austin McKindley, born 1847, who is our ancestor. She was widowed after only three years of marriage, in 1847. She remarried at age 30 to a man by the name of Tubbs, and had two sons and two daughters by her second marriage.

She died July 2, 1897 (or perhaps 1896) and is buried at Pearl Grange Cemetery.

William McKindley "Sr." was born November 8, 1786 in Galway, New York.  He was the oldest of nine children.   He had four children:  John, born 1814, who lived in Mexico, New York; Mary Ann; Francis L. McKindley, born 1817; and William McKindley, born 1820, our ancestor.  For more information about William "Sr.," click on WILLIAM 1786.  

Martha McLean was born July 11, 1789 in Cambridge, New York. She married William McKindley who was born 1786.  For information, click on McLEAN.

Her parents were Francis McLean and Mary Hill McLean.

John McKindley

John McKindley was born in  1746 and went to Galway, New York from Scotland in 1774.  He married Ann and had nine children.  For information, click on JOHN McKINDLEY.

GO TO McKINDLEY INDEX

GO TO WILL OF JOHN McKINDLEY

GO TO HOWARD BIOGRAPHIES

GO TO WEES BIGRAPHIES

GO TO McLEAN BIOGRAPHIES

GO TO CRANS INDEX

GO TO TJADEN INDEX

GO TO OVERVIEW

Home page         Last Name Index          PHOTOS

Churchill  *  Foerst  *   Wyman  *  McKindley  *  McLean  
Wees *  Brandt  *  Howard  *  Crans *  Tjaden  *  Martin Luther

Contact the genealogist   2007