Biography

1774 - 04/23/1861


McKINSTRY, William, a Representative from Franklin County; born, 1774 in Belfast, County Antrim, Ireland; served, Cavalry, United States Army (1814, War of 1812); store clerk; proprietor, mercantile business (1800-1822); farmer; gubernatorial appointee, justice of the peace, Mercersburg (1815-1840); proprietor, stage coach line (1832); elected as a Democrat to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 1838-1839 term; reelected to the House for the 1840 term; publisher, Mercersburg Visitor (1842); died, April 23, 1861 in Mercersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania; interred, Fairview Cemetery, Mercersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania.


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