Milton & Mary Ann McKinney

MCKINNEY, PINCH, KOSTER

Posted By: cheryl Locher moonen (email)
Date: 3/18/2020 at 20:19:18

Milton McKinney was born in 1861; Milton A. was 25 years old when blinded in an accident while working at the Farley quarry. The McKinney’s had four children. Sons George and Robert passed away while young children. Daughter Sylvia (Mrs. Al Koster) was a long time school teacher in Farley. The youngest daughter, Regina (Mrs. Tommy Pinch) resides in Epworth and at the time of this printing she is approaching her 100th birthday.

Milton and Mary Ann McKinney operated a laundry, with Milton also doing gardening. Because of the blindness he built rails to guide himself around the yard. When hoeing he would feel for the plants before cultivating. With the death of Mrs. McKinney in 1910 at the age of 38, Milton became a salesman with the N Shure Company of Chicago. He sold soap at 10 cents a bar and three for a quarter with other small items such as extracts. He worked area towns north and west of Farley by shipping his supplies by rail and loading his cases at the depots. With young Regina as his eyes he would go door to door establishing a sales route.

Eventually Milton obtained a pension for the blind retiring from road sales. Spending the later years with his daughter Sylvia in the family home at the SE corner 4th Avenue & 2nd St. NE (now the home of John & Peg Palmer), Milton died in 1930 at the age of 79. Burial was near his family at Fairview Cemetery.

The History of Farley, Welu Publishing, Copyright 1996