Samuel McKinney (1807–1879) was an Irish-born Presbyterian minister and educator in the American South, particularly Tennessee, Mississippi, and Texas.
[1] He emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1812, settling in Philadelphia,[1][2] but his youth was spent on a farm in Hawkins County, Tennessee.
Licensed in 1832, he preached at scattered congregations before his ordination in 1835 and installation as the pastor of the Elkhorn Reformed Presbyterian Church in Oakdale, Illinois.
[1] McKinney founded Chalmers Institute, a boys' school in Holly Springs, Mississippi, in 1850.
[1][5][6] Though both men were initially on good terms,[5] McKinney resigned due to a personal disagreement with Sam Houston.