Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/24

2 worth studying by every patriotic American youth.

William McKinley, the twenty-fifth President of the United States, was born in Niles, Trumbull County, Ohio, January 29, 1843. He was the seventh child in the family, and after him came two others, a boy and a girl. His parents were far from well-to-do, and had no influential friends; so it was apparent from the start that if the lad wished to make anything of himself it must be accomplished through his own determination and courage.

Determination and courage he had in plenty, for it was his by birth, coming to him through an ancestry which can be traced back with much interest to the days of MacBeth and MacDuff in the highlands of Scotland. Genealogists tell us that the McKinley or McKinlay family originated in the western part of Scotland, where they joined the Covenanter party and fought bravely against the persecution of the Stuart kings. They emigrated to the north of Ireland during the time of Charles II., helping to colonize the then desolate fields of Ulster. From Ulster they came to