BIOGRAPHY: Joseph McKINSTRY, Mifflin Co., PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Mike Williamson Transcribed by Patty Frank Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. http://files.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/mifflin/ http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/mifflin/runk1897/runk-bios.htm ___________________________________________________________________ The Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, Pennsylvania. Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, Volume I, Pages 523-525. ___________________________________________________________________ JOSEPH McKINSTRY, farmer and fruit grower, Wayne township, Mifflin county, Pa., was born December 10, 1835, in Wayne township, near Ryde Station. He is a son of James and Barbara (Harshbarger) McKinstry. His paternal great- grandfather was born in Ireland, and emigrated to America, settling in what was then Huntingdon county, Pa., where he married and had several children. Alexander McKinstry, grandfather of Joseph McKinstry, owned and cultivated a farm of more than 138 acres, on which he made considerable improvements. He was a successful hunter of the wolves, bears and other wild animals which then infested the forest. He married in Wayne township and had five children, as follows: James; Thomas; Alexander; Joseph; and Jane (Mrs. James Butler). He was a Democrat, and a consistent member of the Presbyterian church. Both the grandfather and grandmother died on the homestead farm. His son, James McKinstry, obtained a good education in the subscription schools. He spent his younger days on the homestead farm of his father. Later in life he taught subscription school, principally in the old log school house on the Harvey property near Ryde Station; the building was subsequently converted into a blacksmith shop. He owned and cultivated a farm of over one hundred acres, on which he built a stone dwelling house and barn, besides making other improvements. He had a high reputation for his stock, raising and owning some of finest horses ever seen in this section of the State. For a number of years, besides farming, he ran a boat on the canal for Cresswell and Company. Capt. James McKinstry, as he was universally called, died at the age of fifty-six, at the old homestead, of diseases contract through exposure on the canal. James McKinstry married Barbara Harshbarger, born in Wayne township, daughter of David and Catherine Harshbarger. Her father was a native of Berks county, who had removed to Wayne township, Mifflin county, and was one the largest farmers there. Mr. and Mrs. McKinstry had thirteen children, of whom four died in infancy. The nine who reached adult years were: Joseph; Elizabeth; David, now residing in Shelby county, O.; Thomas, who resides on the homestead farm; William; Alexander; James; George and John; the last five are deceased. James McKinstry was a Democrat, and ably filled several township offices. He was a zealous Christian, a man of fixed principles, renowned for honesty and uprightness, and an earnest member of the Presbyterian church. In his boyhood, Joseph McKinstry spent his summer months in labors on the farm, and in winter attended the school kept in the old Wharton stone school house. At the age of sixteen he served an apprenticeship at carpentry in Bratton township with Samuel Hiester, one of the finest carpenters in that whole section of the country. After spending four years at his trade, Mr. McKinstry returned to the homestead and assisted in the cultivation of the farm until his father's death, which occurred when he was twenty-four years old. During the four following years he and his brother, David, worked the farm, supporting their widowed mother and the family. In March, 1865, Mr. McKinstry enlisted in Capt. Samuel Mathews' Company C, One Hundred and Second Pennsylvania Volunteers, Col. James Patchell commanding. He was employed in guard duty, principally in Virginia, and after four months service, was mustered out, June 28, 1865. Returning home, he worked for four years at carpentry, principally in Mifflin and Fulton counties. At the expiration of this time, he moved back to the old Samuel Wharton farm, in Wayne township, where he has been ever since, cultivating over 120 acres of land, giving much attention to the raising of fruit, and also, like his father, showing great taste in the direction of fine stock, especially horses. Mr. McKinstry was married in 1861 on the old Wharton farm, in Wayne township to Rebecca Wharton, born in Wayne township in 1835, the only child of James Wharton, a prominent farmer of the township. To this union were born five children: Harry, who died in youth; Edward, a machinist in the Pennsylvania Railroad shops at Altoona; Annie, married B. W. Beck, who died leaving three children; and again married to John E. Giffin, of Saltillo; James T., brakeman on the Pennsylvania Railroad, S. & L. Division; and Robert, who farms the homestead place. The fourth of this family, James T., married Miss Catherine McCormick, and has two children, twins, Hazel R. and Helen R. Mr. McKinstry has been a school director for seven years, taking an active part in education matters and doing all in his power for the furtherance of educational interests. He is heartily in favor of compulsory education. He was for five years road supervisor, taking an active part in behalf of good roads. He is in favor of macadamized highways, believing that they are not only the best, but in the end the cheapest. He has also been tax collector for Wayne township. Mr. McKinstry is an active comrade of Surgeon Charles Bower Post, No. 457, G.A.R., at Newton Hamilton. Mr. McKinstry was formally a Democrat, but is now a Populist, which he believes will be the party of the future. He is an earnest member of the Presbyterian church, of which he was formerly one of the trustees. He takes a prominent part in all matters for the good of the church or Sunday-school.