Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, by H. Levin, editor, 1897. Published by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago. Reprinted by Southern Historical Press. p. 150. Jefferson County. JOHN McKINLEY, associate justice of the United State supreme court, was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, in 1780, and died in Louisville, Kentucky, July 19, 1852. He came of the same ancestry as President McKinley. His father, Dr. Andrew McKinley, removed from Virginia to Lincoln county, Kentucky, at an early date, and died in 1786. After acquiring an ordinary education Judge McKinley entered the office of General Bodley, as clerk, and while there studied law. At the age of twenty he was admitted to the bar at Frankfort, and commenced practice, continuing until 1818 in Kentucky, when he removed to Huntsville, Alabama. He there won fame, and was honored by his fellow citizens by an election to the United States senate in 1826 to fill a vacancy, and being re-elected served for a full term. While a member of the senate he reported on a resolution that was introduced into both houses providing that a penalty should be incurred by members who absented themselves from either house. In his report Judge McKinley plainly indicated that the senate could maintain the duty and dignity of that branch of congress and would do so regardless of any resolutions that the house might pass, and this policy has since been that of the senate. In 1833 he was elected to the lower house of congress, one of the few cases on record where a senator has afterward been chosen representative. On his retirement from the council chambers of the nation, he was appointed by President Van Buren in 1837 associate judge of the supreme court of the United States, in which capacity he served until his death. After his appointment to the supreme bench he resided in Louisville. He was a man of high and noble aims, possessed of remarkable tact and energy. In appearance he was tall and commanding, with a countenance that exhibited great strength of character, and wore an habitually benevolent expression; was a contemporary of Henry Clay, and took an active part in the issues of his day. His grand-daughter is Mrs. St. John Boyle, wife of St. John Boyle, of the Louisville bar. McKinley Bodley = Lincoln-KY Culpeper-VA AL http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/jefferson/mckinley.j.txt