McKINNEY CEMETERY and Revolutionary War Veteran JOHN KITCHENS

by Terry Thornton
email: hillcountrymonroecounty@gmail.com

UPDATED 4-13-10 to correct birth year for John Kitchens. Thanks to reader Jim Boozer for righting this typing error.

On April 6, 2010, McKinney Cemetery at Splunge, Monroe County, Mississippi, was photographed and inventoried. This small historic cemetery is located along-side a private driveway just south of Splunge off Splunge Road. See map below.

Left click map and images for larger view

McKinney Cemetery is made even more historic in that it is the location of the grave marker of Revolutionary War veteran John Kitchens who died in Monroe County about 1846. Kitchens was affiliated with the Land/Lann family, a pioneering group who settled in the Splunge area (Lannsdale) through his marriage to the Widow Sebrina Land/Lann. John Kitchens was the step-father of her children by James Land who died 1782 in South Carolina.

The cemetery consists of seven marked graves --- six of which are within a fenced enclosure. The Revolutionary War marker for John Kitchens is outside the fenced enclosed as can be seen in the photograph below.

Sherman Thornton at the marker for John Kitchens, McKinney Cemetery. Splunge, Mississippi. The other marked graves at McKinney Cemetery are within the fenced enclosure at right.

Below is a transcription of the grave markers and links to photographs of the grave markers. Click the image number to be linked to the photograph from which complete names, dates, and other information may be determined.

HOWELL, Samuel S., 1844, 1936, McKinney, img 7302

HOWELL, Susan, 1849, 1930, McKinney, img 7302

KITCHENS, John, no dates*, Revolutionary War marker, McKinney, img 7313

McKINNEY, Josiah, 1817, 1881, McKinney, img 7306 and 7307

McKINNEY, Mary, 1820, 1886, McKinney, imgs 7306 and 7307

McKINNEY, Moman, 1853, 1880, McKinney, img 7305

McKINNEY, W.__., 1861, 1903, McKinney, imgs 7303 and 7304

*Various dates are mentioned for John Kitchens. His military pension application may be used to calculate a birth year of about 1758 in South Carolina; some family historians state his birth year as 1755. If the information in Evans' Mother Monroe is accurate, then John Kitchens was born about 1740. It is more likely that John Kitchens was born about 1755. He is reported to have died in Monroe County, Mississippi, about 1846. It is not known where his wife Sebrina Land/Lann Kitchens is buried in Monroe County but her dates are reported by some researchers as 1753 SC - 1839 MS.

Thanks to the assistance of Ronnie Boozer of Splunge and Sherman Thornton of Amory for direction, for transportation, and for securing permission from the land owner to enter his driveway and visit the cemetery.

SOURCES:

Dunn, Louie. "Zachariah son of Charles and Jane Summerford of S.C." Message Number 725, Kitchens Family Genealogy Forum. February 27, 2004. Click to view.

Kitchens, John, as reported by W.A. Evans, MOTHER MONROE, pages 75 and 120. As reprinted by Mother Monroe Publishing Company, Hamilton, Mississippi, 1979.

Kitchens, John. Pension application. As transcribed by Will Graves, October 23, 2009.Southern Campaign, American Revolution Pension Statements and Rosters. Available online by clicking here.

McKinney Cemetery Map modified from Monroe County Highway Map, Mississippi Department of Transportation available at goMDOT.com

"Sebrina" information from Family Tree through Ancestry.com when doing an Ancestry search for John Kitchens, Splunge, Monroe County, Mississippi. The information there is from a variety of reports and was impossible to determine the source.

McKinney Cemetery inventory and photographs of grave markers copyright © 2010. William T. "Terry" Thornton, Fulton, Mississippi. All Rights Reserved.

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