Myrtle Dora (Cryder) McKinney

10 June 1873 to 3 May 1936

An Illinois Farmers Wife

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Arthur Boyd McKinney

And

Myrtle Dora (Cryder) McKinney



Foreword


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I never knew my fathers grandparents. They both died before I was born. I remember travelling from Granite City to Virden, Illinois when I was growing up in the 1950's. We would take the four hour round trip several times a year to visit the McKinney side of the family. What I remember most of those trips was the drive through farm country. There were vast fields of wheat and corn blowing in the wind, almost as far as the eye could see. The Interstate highway system had not yet been built, and most of the driving was on two lane highways and the speed was slower. The round trip can be made in just over two hours on today's road system.


As the older relatives passed on, and the younger cousins moved away from the farms, the trips became fewer and fewer. The last time I was in Virden to visit the relatives was about 1965. Little did I know at that time how close I would feel to this side of the family. After reading my great great grandmother McKinney's diaries, I went on a quest to find out as much as I could about this family of farmers, and their ancestors.


This branch of the McKinney's has been an illusive family to trace. In the years that I have been searching, I have only gotten two more generations back. I refuse to give up the search and will eventually uncover more of their past.


I chose to concentrate on Myrtle's side of the family, the Cryder's, for this book. All too often the male lineage is the one traced back and told and retold. It was Myrtle's diary that enticed me in the beginning, so I felt her story, and her families story, needed to be told.


Genealogy and family research should be more than names and dates on a chart. It is the stories about their daily lives and their trials and tribulations that make it all worthwhile. I hope that I do Myrtle and the Cryder's justice in telling their story.


Acknowledgements


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This book would not have been possible without the input and research of many individuals. The Internet and its many resources have been an invaluable aid to my research. I have "met" many distant cousins researching the same lines over the past few years. I have included their research in this book and thank them very much for their contributions.


Many serendipitous events have happened during my research. My contact with the Delaware County Ohio Genealogical Society was the first of many happy coincidences. I started my research on the Cryder family from a family bible that had been passed down to me. This bible had a notation that it had been purchased in Delaware County, Ohio in 1860. A couple of weeks after I had sent a letter of inquiry to Delaware County Ohio Genealogical Society, I received a packet of information that was more than I had dreamed of. The query had been given to one of their researchers, Marilyn M. Cryder. Marilyn and her husband, George, had spent many years researching the Cryder family. Thank you for your help, and in giving me a direction to proceed.


My participation in the CompuServe Genealogical Forum for several years also led to introductions and help from Lee Kreider of Ohio, his cousin, Dr. John Engle of Waterville, Maine, Mary Hillman of Roodhouse, Illinois, and her father and stepmother, Bob and Peggy McCoy of Jacksonville, Illinois. The last time I contacted Dr. John Engle, he was planning a book on the Cryder family. I have tried not to usurp too much of his research, and have used only the names and dates he provided of our early ancestors. I will be very interested in reading his book when it is published.


I had no idea that any of the Cryders had ever been in Greene County, Illinois, until one day I was searching this county's 1860 census microfilm for my Cain relatives. Low and behold, there were David and Rachel Cryder. When they had disappeared from Ohio I did not have any idea where they had moved. This coincidence led me to a chance encounter through CompuServe with Mary Hillman, and Bob and Peggy McCoy. Bob and Peggy had done a lot of research in and around Illinois on the Cryders. Thank you for your help and sharing your information with the rest of the family and me.


James A. (Jim) Walker

Auburn, Maine

April 2002


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