Miami Union
8 March 1900
COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION
Resolutions of Respect for
William B. McKinney
Died March 1st 1900
It is with sad and solemn thoughts the members of the Miami County Bar meet to pay tribute to one of their members who suddenly and without warning passed from life into the unrevealed mystery of death.
William B. McKinney, the fourth son of James Milton and Minerva (Lyons) McKinney, was born March 14, 1853. He was educated in the Piqua High School, from which he graduated in the class of 1871.
He read law in the office of his uncles S.S. and J. F. McKinney, and was admitted to practice in 1874. He formed a partnership with his cousin, John L. McKinney, and opened an office in Troy under the firm name of J. L. and W. B. McKinney. This partnership continued for two years, when J. L. McKinney moved to Piqua.
On April 3rd 1878 he was married to Miss Ella C. Janvier.
He was taken sick on February 25th with sciatic rheumatism, and his illness, while severe, was not regarded as dangerous. On the day he died he was in good spirits, conversing with his family.
About half pass four in the evening he was talking with his wife and sister-in-law about a letter from a nephew which his sister-in- law was about to read to him, when he was suddenly taken worse.
His sister-in-law went down stairs for some remedies and his wife was holding his head, when, without warning, the lamp of life went out in the presence of God and his wife, and the clay tenement of his sole was gently laid down by loving, tender hands upon the couch where but a few minutes before hope of returning health shed its bright halo in the sick room of our departed friend. We draw the veil of tender compassion over he intense anguish and sorrow of the stricken wife and the fatherless children.
For over twenty-five years W. B. McKinney was a member of this Bar, and during that time, yes, from the first year of his practice until the day of his death, he made the impression of a kind and courteous gentleman, yet firm in his contests for the interests of his clients.
He had but little dress parade about him; he never tried to shine in the roll of the eloquent or sensational, but in the dry details of the law, in the text books and reports he was an able and formidable opponent and an efficient co-counsel. The best of his mind was towards the dusty paths of commercial law, and the precedents and principles that is the bedrock of justice, law and equity.
He had no taste for criminal litigation or the sensational damage suits growing out of hasty temper and unruly tongue, but in the law of realty and mercantile transactions he was perfectly at home.
His universal kindness and courtesy to his fellow members of the bar and his calm, cool demeanor in a law-suit made him always an opponent in a law-suit to be respected and feared.
He was noted for his intense devotion to his family, his correct habits, and his reticence about his cases and his business matters.
Death found him in the full vigor of his manhood and his usefulness, and his place in the bar of Miami County will long be vacant and regretted.
THEREFORE, Be it Resolved: 1st, That the death of William B. McKinney, the Miami County Bar has lost one of it's most pleasant, congenial and courteous members, and while we deplore the loss, yet we will cherish his memory as a good lawyer, kind friend and an honor to the bar of this county.
2nd, Resolved; That we extend to the bereaved wife and children of our departed friend, the hereafter sympathy of this association, and that we with them, feel deeply the death of our friend.
3ed, Resolved; That this memorial and resolutions be written in the minutes of the Court, and the clerk prepare a copy of the same for the family of our deceased brother and for publication in the county newspapers.
Respectfully submitted;
Committee:
E.S. Williams
T.M. Campbell
Walter D. Jones
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