Dan Carroll McKinney, Sr.

A newspaper article appeared in the July 23, 1969, Tucson Daily Citizen (Tucson, Arizona) about Dan McKinney. It read as follows: "Lew Davis To Get State Highway Post: Former Mayor, Lew Davis, is expected to be named to the Arizona Highway Commission to fill the unexpired term of Dan C. McKinney of Tucson, who died Monday. The appointment was to be made today by Gov. Jack Williams. Davis will serve until Jan. 31, 1973. McKinney was appointed to a five-year term in January, 1968. He submitted a resignation to Williams last week, citing his ill health. Funeral services for the real estate man and civic leader were scheduled for today."

An article from June 21, 1969, included his obituary: Dan McKinney Dies At 71: Rancher, Civic Leader, Dan C. McKinney, 71, cowboy, rancher and civic leader, today died at Tucson Medical Center after a long illness. Mr. McKinney, a native of Safford, came to the Tucson area in 1923. Once a Democratic nominee for the post of governor, he died a Republican and was appointed to the Arizona Highway Commission in 1967 by Gov. Jack Williams. Just Thursday, citing ill health, he submitted his resignation.

Forty-five years ago McKinney was manager of the Babocomari Ranch at Elgin. He was a member of the Livestock Sanitary Board of Arizona. Later he worked for the Farm Credit Administration in Berkeley, California, and managed the Arizona Livestock Production Credit Association in Phoenix. During the period of 1939-1941, he made special range and ranch operating appraisals for large operators including the Hearst Corporation holdings in Chihuahua, Mexico, Texas, and California operations for Kern County Land Company of California.

A former part owner of ranching operations in Nevada, he entered the real estate business here in 1952. Mr. McKinney entered the political arena in 1942 when he ran for the Democratic nomination for governor. He lost to incumbent governor Sidney P. Osborn and former governor R.T. Jones. Mr. McKinney was elected to the Tucson District 1 School Board in 1962 and resigned two years later. He was a member of the Tucson Board of Realtors and several social organizations.

Today Gov. Williams said, "Dan was a truly great Arizonan, a great American and a great patriot. His lifetime spanned a period during which he road horseback across the states of new Mexico and Arizona without crossing a fence line to the time of man's landing on the moon. Arizona has lost a great citizen." Mr. McKinney is survived by his widow, Olga; two daughters, Thelma Rose Case, of San Jose, California, and JoAnn McKinney of Tucson; son Dan Jr., of Scottsdale, and two sisters, Mrs. Stephan Riess, of Ojai, California, and Mrs. John Beals, of Phoenix. Funeral services will be announced by Arizona Mortuary.

Another article from the Tucson Daily Citizen Newspaper in Tucson, Arizona, dated March 19, 1942, follows:

SALE OF McKINNEY RANCH ANNOUNCED

The 15,000 acre McKinney cattle ranch 40 miles southwest of Tucson in the Sierrita Mountains has been sold to Alice C. McIlvain, operator of large holdings in Wyoming, it was announced Thursday by Dan C. McKinney. "Mrs. McIlvain, I understand, will operate the ranch for livestock raising," McKinney said, who recently announced he will be a Democratic candidate for governor in the coming general state election. She is a member of national, Wyoming, and Arizona livestock associations.

Here is some additional information from public records about Dan:

Daniel Carroll McKinney was born to Joseph Thomas McKinney and Dortha Roxana Madsen Rollins McKinney in Bisbee, Cochise County, Arizona Territory, April 16, 1898, one day after their first wedding anniversary. By the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, they were living in Precinct No. 14 in Cochise County, and were listed there as: Joe, 41, Dortha, 31, Dan, 2, and his baby sister, Thelma, who was six months old. Also living with them were Dortha's children from her first marriage to John Henry Rollins, Jr., Dortha Evelyn Rollins, 13, and her brother, John Delbert Rollins, 11. They also had a servant living in their home, Thomas Young, 27, who was working as a farm hand. Joe and Dortha had been married three years since they were married April 15, 1897. Joe was working as a stock raiser and he owned his own ranch free from a mortgage.

In the 1910 census for Bowie, Cochise County, Arizona, they were listed as: Joe, 52, Dortha, 40, Dan, 11, Thelma, 10, and Gladys, 6. Another son, Joseph Madsen McKinney, born in 1901, sadly passed away before his 2nd birthday, about a week before his sister, Gladys, was born in 1904. Joe was still working as a stock raiser working with cattle. One year earlier in 1909, Dortha's daughter, Dortha Evelyn Rollins, had married her husband, Stephen James Eubank, and they were living on their own in Phoenix, Arizona, during the 1910 census. Dortha's son, John Delbert Rollins, may have already gone to work for the railroad, because in 1917 he was living in Needles, California, and was working for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad when he completed his U.S. Draft Registration Card there that year.

Dortha and Joe's son, Dan, had also gone to work for the railroad by 1917. According to a California Railroad Employment Record, Dan was working for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe-Coastline railroad. He was 22 years old, weighed 160 pounds, was 6'-3" tall with a medium complexion, grey eyes and dark hair. He was working as a fireman for the railroad on September 29, 1917, and was promoted to road service out of Needles on December 19, 1917. He resigned April 12, 1918, to enlist in the 31st Engineers. He returned to service July 22, 1919, but was dismissed February 23, 1922, due to a reduction in work force. Dan was reinstated as a fireman for the railroad on March 6, 1922, but was dismissed for overstaying his leave of absence October 20, 1922.

By the 1920 census enumerated on January 6th and 7th, Dortha, 50, was separated from her second husband, Joe, and had moved to Bakersfield, California. She was living at 2217 Sunset Avenue with her children, Dan, 21, Thelma, 20, and Gladys, 15. Also in their home was Dortha's niece, Louyre Rosenbloom, 22, and her son, John, who was one year, four moths old. Dortha was working as a nurse, Dan as a fireman for the railroad, Thelma as a stenographer for an insurance company, Gladys was still in school, and Louyre was also working as a stenographer.

Louyre Rollins Rosenbloom was the daughter of William Samuel Rollins, the brother of Dortha's first husband, John Henry Rollins, Jr. Louyre was listed as a widow. Her son, John, was born in California, and his father in England. Sadly, her little son, John, passed away when he was about 2 years old. Later Louyre moved to San Diego, California, and married a second time.

Dortha may have moved to California to be near her two sons, since both John and Dan were working for the railroad there by 1917. Her brother, John Christian Madsen had also been living in Arvin, California, near Bakersfield around the same time. Dortha owned her home but had a mortgage. She listed herself as a widow, but Joe McKinney did not pass away until much later in 1948. According to Dortha's great granddaughter, Cheryl Beals Larkey, Dortha and Joe were separated for much of their marriage from 1897 until Joe's death. In 1920, Dortha's son, John Delbert Rollins, was living in Bakersfield with his first wife, Abbie, and he was still working for the railroad.

Dortha's son, Dan, married his first wife, Mary Elizabeth Bryce, August 31, 1920, in Bakersfield, Kern County, California. When Dan and Mary Elizabeth moved back to Arizona is unknown, but both of their children were born there, so we know it was probably around 1923. Their first son, Dan, Jr., was born in Bisbee in 1926, and a daughter, Jo Ann in 1929 at the U.S. Army Hospital in Fort Huachuca, Cochise County, Arizona.

Dortha's daughter, Dortha Evelyn Rollins Eubank, moved to Bakersfield in about 1919 or 1920 after her husband, Stephen James Eubank, deserted her and their three children when they were living in Portland, Oregon. Dortha Evelyn was granted a divorce from Stephen James Eubank in Bakersfield in 1923. By 1924, she had moved to Los Angeles, and her youngest child, James Rollins Eubank, was baptized in the Adams Ward of the LDS Church that year. In the 1930 census, Dortha, her daughter, Thelma, and granddaughter, Frances Amelia Eubank Smith, (Dortha Evelyn's first born daughter and my mother) were living in Los Angeles at 6715 Victoria Avenue.

By the 1930 census for Arizona, Dan was living in Elgin, Santa Cruz County, with his wife Mary Elizabeth, and their children. They were listed as: Dan, 32, Mary, 34, Dan Carroll, Jr., 3, and Jo Ann Elizabeth, 11 months old. Also living in the McKinney home were two "boarders", Walter Berry, 47, and Dan Harkey, 52. Dan McKinney was working as the manager of a cattle ranch, and Walter and Dan Harkey were working as laborers or "cowboys", probably on the ranch that Dan was managing. The cost of rent on their home was included in Dan's salary for being the ranch manager.

A 1937 U.S. City Directory for Dan showed that he and Elizabeth were livingat 565 Lafayette Road in Phoenix, Arizona, and he was working as the secretary of the Arizona Livestock Producers Credit Association.

By the 1940 U.S. Census for Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona, Dan, 41, was living at 541 Monte Vista, and he had divorced his first wife, Mary Elizabeth, and married his second wife, Olga G. Samardzich, 25. They were renting their home for $65.00 per month. Dan had achieved four years of a high school education, and was working as a cattleman/owner. For the year 1939 he earned between $5,000 and $6,000 income, working on his own account for 52 weeks at 40 hours per week. This census record stated that in 1935, Dan was living in San Francisco, California, and Olga was living in Bisbee, Cochise, Arizona, so Dan and Olga may have married sometime between 1936 and 1940. Dan and Olga had one daughter, Thelma Rose McKinney Case, who was born in 1940, and was named after her aunt Thelma, Dan's sister. Thelma Rose died fairly young in 1972 from cancer while living in California.

A 1957 U.S. City Directory for Dan C. McKinney, Sr., showed he was living at 5201 E. Washington in Phoenix, Arizona, and was working as a real estate broker. His son, Dan, Jr., was living with his wife, Nancy J., at 3137 W. Montecito, and was working as a salesman for the Arizona Machine company. Dan's daughter, JoAnn had married musician Oliver "Bud" Dashiell in June of 1952, however, they were divorced in 1960.

A 1958 U.S. City Directory for Dan C. McKinney, Sr., showed he was living with his wife, Olga, and working in real estate at the Tucson Professional Building, and living at 1021 S. 4th Avenue in Phoenix. In 1959 they were living in the Catalina Foothills area of Tucson and he was still working in real estate in an office located at 7650 N. 6th Avenue. Dan passed away in July of 1969, at the age of 71, and was living in Phoenix at the time of his death, although a U.S. Social Security Death Index record shows that his last residence was in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona.