Francis L. McKindley of Mendon Township, bears the proud distinction of having cast his first Presidential vote for Ald Tippecanoe in 1840; with no less enthusiasm he voted for the grandson of the old warrior in November, 1888. He has thus rounded up a life of nearly seventy years, and from present indications has by no means outlived his usefulness. He is still the same kindly, genial and reliable man that he was thirty years ago, and numbers his friends by the score in this county, of which he has been a resident for a period of over forty years.

Our subject was cradled in the township of Galway, Saratoga Co., N. Y., where his birth took place July 3, 1817. His father, William McKindley, was also a native of that county, and he married Miss Martha McLean, who was born in Washington County, N. Y. Each died in the county of their birth, the father in 1823 and the mother in the summer of 1857. They [William and Martha McKindley] were the parents of four children, and Francis L. was the third in order of birth. The others are all deceased. They located in their native State, and there passed away.

Our subject spent his childhood and youth in the Empire State, occupying himself at the homestead with his grandfather until a youth of eighteen years, acquiring in the meantime a common-school education. At the age of eighteen years he repaired to Balston Spa. and served an apprenticeship of two years at the trade of mason. This he followed for a number of seasons in his native county ut in the spring of 1845 determined to cast his lot with the pioneers of Michigan. Coming to this county he settled in Mendon Township, of which he has since been a resident. He first employed himself at his trade, and made his first purchase of land in the summer of 1845. Of this he is still the possessor, and has bent his energies toward its improvement and cultivation. He has good buildings, the requisite farm machinery and lives tock, the typical apple orchard, and the other fruit and shade trees, all of which bear their part in making up of the complete homestead.

During thirty-six years of his life there has accompanied our subject as his most faithful companion and helpmate a most estimable lady, whose maiden name was Susan Reynolds, and to whom he was married May 6, 1852, at the residence of her parents in Mendon Township. Mrs. McKindley was born near the city of Troy, Rensselaer col, N.Y., Nov. 20, 1826, and is the daughter of Nathaniel and Orelia (Bovie) Reynolds, who were also natives of the Empire State, and removed from Steuben County to Michigan in the fall of 1840. They [Reynolds family] settled upon a tract of new land in Mendon Township, this county, where they battled with the elements of a new soil and built up a comfortable homestead, on which they spent the remainder of their lives. Nathaniel Reynolds departed this life Feb. 25, 1851, and his estimable wife Aug. 2, 1854. They were the parents of nine children, of whom Mrs. McKindley was the eldest. Of her brothers and sisters two are living, making their homes mostly in Washington Territory and Wisconsin.

Mr. and Mrs. McKindley began their wedded life together under a modest roof-tree on their own farm, and have labored hand in hand through storm and sunshine to secure for themselves a competence for their declining years and attain to a worthy position among the people around them. They number their friends by the score in this county, which owes its development and prosperity to such as they, who permitted no difficulty to discourage them, and who have done good as they had opportunity.

To Mr. and Mrs. McKindley there were born three children: William Francis, March 11, 1853; Mary A., July 20, 1854; John A., Feb. 10, 1866. The eldest son is single, and a resident of Kalamazoo; Mary died Jan. 27, 1870 , when an interesting maiden of nearly sixteen years; John A. is now a promising young man of twenty-three years. It is hardly necessary to state that he is a stanch supporter of Republican principles, and cast his first Presidential vote for Harrison. He was married, Dec. 12, 1888, to Vira A. Olds, of Athens.