BIOGRAPHY - W. McKINNEY
The name of McKinney has been so closely and honorably associated with the business activity and enterprise of Piper City that the subject of this review needs no introduction to the readers of this volume. He was born here August 18, 1867, and is a son of John McKinney. He has always lived in the village and after acquiring his preliminary education in the public schools he pursued a course in Bryant & Stratton Business College, Chicago. He started in business as his father's partner under the firm style of John McKinney & Son, dealers in lumber and proprietors of a furniture, undertaking and hardware establishment. In 1897 the business was incorporated under the name of the John McKinney & Son Company, since which time the son has managed the business, the father being practically retired. They also have a branch house at La Hogue, where they engage in the sale of lumber, hardware, furniture under the name of J. F. Moore & Company.
On the 25th of January, 1898, W. O. McKinney was married to Miss Ethel Barrett, of Glendora, California, a native of Onarga, Illinois, and a daughter of Dr. W. M. Barrett, formerly of Onarga, but now of Lincoln, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. McKinney have one son, Donald, nine years of age.
Fraternally Mr. McKinney is a Mason, having taken the degrees of the commandery and of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to the Presbyterian church and gives his political allegiance to the republican party. He is recognized as one of the leading business men of Piper City. It is true that he entered upon a business already established but in enlarging and controlling this many a man of less resolute spirit would have failed. He has resolutely undertaken the tasks that have devolved upon him, however, and the capable management that he has displayed, combined with unfaltering diligence, show that success is not a matter of genius or of fortunate circumstances, as held by some.
Extracted 16 Oct 2016 by Norma Hass from History of Ford County, Illinois, From Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, author E. A. Gardner, Volume 2, pages 542-543.
