Portrait & Biographical Record

Mardos Collection
Portrait and Biographical Record of Denver and Vicinity, Colorado - 1898

WILLIAM McKINLEY

WILLIAM McKINLEY.

ILLIAM McKINLEY, who was inaugurated President of the United States in 1897, was born in Niles, Ohio, January 29, 1843. The family of which he is a member originated in the west of Scotland, and from there removed to the north of Ireland. According to the family tradition, James and William McKinley emigrated to this country from Ireland and founded the two branches of the family in the United States, one settling in the north, the other in the south. At the time of their arrival, James was twelve years of age. He settled in York County, Pa., where he married and spent his remaining years.
   David, son of James, and the great-grandfather of William McKinley, was born May 16, 1755, and three times enlisted in the service of the colonies during the Revolutionary War, serving seven months after his first enlistment in June, 1776, spending six mouths at the front in 1777, and again in the following year serving eight months. December 19, 1780, he married Sarah Gray, who was born May 10, 1760, and died October 6, 1814. For fifteen years he lived in Westmoreland County, Pa., and thence removed to Mercer County. One year after the death of his first wife he married Eleanor McLean and about the same time settled in Columbiana County, Ohio, but afterward made his home in Crawford County, where he died August 8, 1840.
   James, grandfather of William McKinley, was born September 19, 1783, married Mary (or "Polly") Rose, and with his family moved to New Lisbon, Ohio, in 1809. Their eldest son, William, Sr., was born in Mercer County, Pa., November 15, 1807, and in 1827 married Nancy Allison, a woman of noble and strong character and consistent Christian life. For some years he was engaged as manager of iron furnaces at different places. From Niles he removed to Poland, because of the educational advantages offered by Poland Academy. In 1869 he established his home in Canton, and here he died November 24, 1892. His widow lives at the family residence in Canton, and with her are her daughter, Miss Helen, and two orphan grandchildren.
   Of the family of nine children, William, Jr., who was seventh in order of birth, was born during the residence of his parents at Niles, Ohio, January 29, 1843. His boyhood years were spent in that place and Poland, where he studied in the academy. At the age of seventeen he entered Allegheny College, but illness caused his return to Poland, and on his recovery he did not return to college, but taught a country school. At the opening of the Civil War, though only eighteen years of age, he immediately wanted to enlist. As soon as he could overcome the objections of his mother, he enlisted, in May of 1861, as a private in Company E, Twenty-third Ohio Infantry. The regiment was commanded by Col. W. S. Rosecrans, who afterward, as general, led his forces on many a bloody battle field, and the first major was Rutherford B. Hayes, afterward President of the United States. As a gallant soldier Mr. McKinley soon won promotion, serving for a time as commissary sergeant, later was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant for gallantry at Antietam, and then won his way upward until, at the close of the war, he was promoted to major by brevet. July 26, 1865, after more than four years of hard service, he was mustered out with his regiment.
   With Judge Charles E. Glidden, of Mahoning County, Mr. McKinley began the study of law, which he afterward carried on in the Albany (N. Y.) Law School, and in 1867 was admitted to the bar. Beginning the practice of his profession in Canton, he soon became prominently known among the able attorneys of the city. His

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first connection with political affairs was in 1869, when he was elected prosecuting attorney of Stark County, and this office he held for two years. In 1876 he was nominated for Congressional honors and was elected to the Forty-fifth Congress, afterward by successive re-elections serving for fourteen years. In March of 1890 he introduced the celebrated McKinley tariff bill, which was passed and became a law. In the following year, 1891, he was elected governor of Ohio, and two years afterward was re-elected to that high office, which he filled in such a manner as to command the respect not only of his own party-the Republican--but his political opponents as well. The connection of his name with the tariff bill and his prominence in the Republican party, together with his force and eloquence as a speaker, brought him into national fame. In the campaign of 1892, for a period of more than three months, he traveled over a territory extending from New York to Nebraska, making speeches in the interest of the Republican platform. Those who heard him speak, whether friends or opponents of his political opinions, cannot but have admired his logical reasoning, breadth of intellect, eloquence of speech and modesty of demeanor. During the campaign of 1894 he made three hundred and seventy-one speeches and visited over three hundred towns, within a period of two months, addressing perhaps two million people.
   The tariff issue and all the intricate questions of public revenue that are interwoven with it, constitute the most complicated problems with which a statesman has to deal. To master them in every detail requires an intellect of the highest order. That Major McKinley thoroughly understands these questions is admitted by all who have investigated his official utterances on the subject, beginning with the speech on the Wood tariff bill, delivered in the house of representatives April 15, 1878, and closing with his speech in favor of the tariff bill of 1890, which as chairman of the ways and means committee he reported to the house and which was subsequently passed and is known throughout the world as the McKinley tariff bill of 1890. He opposed the Wood bill because of a conviction that the proposed measure would, if enacted, prove a public calamity. For the same reason, in 1882, he advocated a friendly revision of the tariff by a tariff commission, to be authorized by congress and appointed by the president. In 1884 he opposed the Morrison horizontal bill, which he denounced as ambiguous for a great public statute, and in 1888 he led the forces in the fight against the Mills tariff bill.
   As governor of Ohio, his policy was conservative. He aimed to give to the public institutions the benefit of the service of the best man of the state, and at all times upheld the legitimate rights of the workingmen. Recognizing the fact that the problem of taxation needed regulation, in his messages of 1892, 1893 and 1894, he urged the legislature that a remedy be applied. In 1892 he recommended legislation for the safety and comfort of steam railroad employes, and the following year urged the furnishing of automatic couplers and air-brakes for all railroad cars used in the state.
   When, in 1896, the Republican party, in convention assembled at St. Louis, selected a man to represent their principles in the highest office within the gift of the American people, it was not a surprise to the public that the choice fell upon Major McKinley. The campaign that followed was one of the most exciting in the history of the country since the period of reconstruction. Especial interest centered in the fact that the point at issue seemed, not, as in former days, free trade or protection, but whether or not the government should declare for the free coinage of silver. This question divided the voters of the country upon somewhat different lines than the old-time principles of the Republican and Democratic parties and thus made the campaign a memorable one. The supporters of the gold standard maintained that silver monometallism would precipitate a panic and permanently injure the business interests of the country, and the people, by a large majority, supported these principles.
   January 25, 1871, Major McKinley was united in marriage with Miss Ida Saxton, who was born in June, 1847, the daughter of James A. Saxton. Their two children died in 1874, within a short time of each other, one at the age of three years and the other in infancy.