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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1851
T'o SAMUEL lVIcKINNEY 1
At Home 1st September, 1851 Dear Sir, Until Colonel Yoakum returns, I object to any more fodder being removed. It will not be injured in the field, and I have much to say before its removal. So soon as I can, this evening, I will be happy to call over, and see to it in Town, or at the Schoolhouse. Your Friend Sam Houston Professor McKinney 1 From Mrs. Marga1·et John's Collection of Houston Materials, Houston, Texas. Samuel McKinney (March 10, 1807-November 27, 1879), an early Texas educator; was born in County Antrim, Ireland. He was the son of Samuel McKinney and Margaret Findlay McKinney, who immigrated with their family to America and settled first at Philadelphia in 1812. After a few months they moved from Philadelphia. to Radgerville, Tennessee. In 1829, young Samuel entered the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated from that institution in 1832. While at the university he studied medicine, but during the latter part of his university course, he changed his major study from medicine to theology, for he had decided to become a preacher. Upon finishing his preparation for the ministry, he went to Illinois, where he served as pastor of the Oakdale Covenanter Church from 1834 to 1840; in Illinois he also did a great deal of missionary work among Indians and "backwoods settlers." For the next two or three years he taught and preached in Shelby County, Tennessee. Gradually he gave up ministerial work to devote his entire time to teaching. During this period of his resi- dence in Tennessee, he taught for some years in Denmark Academy, and was President of the West Tennessee College at Jackson, Tennessee. His next work in the educational world was as President of Chalmers Institute in Holly Springs, Mississippi. There he met Dr. Daniel Baker, who was a member of the Board of Trustees of Chalmers Institute. When Dr. Baker went to Texas and secured a charter ;for Austin College, he persuaded Dr. McKinney to come to Texas to assist him in the organization of the new college. So the McKinney family arrived in Huntsville, Texas, in February, 1850, and on April 5, 1850, Samuel McKinney was elected President of Aus- tin College, a position he held until June 29, 1853. Because his family had never been satisfied to live in Texas, he returned to Mississippi in August, 1853, and from that time until 1862, he taught in various colleges in Mis- sissippi and Louisiana. But, in 1862, he was induced to return to Texas, again to become President of Austin College. This time he remained in that position until 1871. While pastor of the Oakdale Covenanter Church in Illinois, Dr. McKinnE1,Y married Nancy Woodside Todd (July 4, 1836), the daughter of Dr. Alex- ander, and Margaret (McLean) Todd, of Chester District, South Carolina.
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