I need help in attempting to find the parents and other ancestors of Mary McKinnon, my 4th great-grandmother. I have little to go on other than I know she born between 1801 and 1803 in either North Carolina or South Carolina (census records record both) and married Jesse Wesley Corbett (later became Corbitt). Along with her husband and the six or seven children she had at that time (about 1839) they moved to Lawrenceville, Henry County, Alabama. She lived in that area for most of her remaining life, but died in the home of her daughter in Clopton, Dale County, AL in 1881.

A member of the family recorded the following in a 1941 letter “Our Grandmother has McKinnon relatives in Union Springs (Alabama) and Dr. John and Kenneth McKinnon lived in Selma (Alabama) years ago but I know nothing of their families now - a first cousin of Mother's who was Lizzie McKinnon, and married a Mr. McKay and they lived in Union Springs (Alabama) and have several children and grand children living there now. One daughter, Mrs. Blue and family live there”.

Also, I found on-line the following from the Tale of Two Families “…Christian McKay, and she married a McKinnon (given name unknown). To this union two children were born, Flora and Mary. Flora married a McKinnon, and had four children: Caroline, Flora Ann, Dr. John, and Dr. Kenneth. Mary married Rev. Jesse Corbitt (Methodist minister), and had one son Jesse (lawyer)”.

I have attempted to put the pieces of this puzzle together over the past few weeks with little success. It would appear from the few clues above that she is either directly descended from the McKinnon/Munn line or very closely related.

Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated. My wife and I plan to take a trip to Scotland in the fall and I would like to visit the ancestral home area if possible.


Mike Spear
Safety Harbor, FL