My Dad

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My Father, Henry Napoleon McKinney was born to Rufus and Eugenia Savannah Tolbert McKinney on December 9th 1907. He was the only boy in a family of five kids. His sisters were: Bennie, Amanda, Louise and Pauline. They all lived in a place called New Bordeaux South Carolina which had been settled by French Huguenots in the late 1700's. They came to the new world to escape religious persecution.

Daddy's family was close knit and they all worked on the farm they lived on. I remember him telling me that by the time he was 12 years old, he was running a 9 mule farm. His dad had bad arthritis (probably rheumatoid arthritis) and was pretty much incapable of either farming or pursuing his job of village blacksmith. At one time the family moved to Dublin, Georgia to co-op with Daddy's Uncle Perry McKinney. That was when the boll weevil took over the cotton crop and everyone went pretty much busted. They returned to McCormick County to pretty much nothing. Most of the land was sold for back taxes and they retrenched into a fairly small farm with an old farmhouse to get through the bad times. Then their house burned and they had to retrench further. I remember him saying that his grandfather's rifle from the War Between the States was burned up in that fire.

Another story about the fire was about the pump organ they had. Aunt Louise would play the organ for everyone in the community for their entertainment. When the people in the area saw the house burning they ran inside and grabbed the pump organ and took it outside. It was completely destroyed by their rough handling, but that and a few personal items were all that were saved. My dad knew that his mother really liked her pitcher and bowl that she kept in the bedroom. He was also of the habit of keeping his prized pocket knife under the same bowl. After the fire had completely consumed the house the family was sitting around exhausted and my grandmother said that she wished that she had saved her pitcher and bowl. Daddy went around one of the outlying houses and brought the bowl and pitcher to her saying that he had saved it. He said at that point that he wished he had saved his pocketknife at the same time. When he said that, she pulled his knife out of her apron pocket. She had reached under the bowl to save it.
I remembered Daddy today because its Fathers Day but now forty years after his death I still think of him often.