Collin McKinney

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. Now, most folks passing through Collin County don't stop to ask why it's called what it's called, or why the county seat carries that same name twice over. But the marker standing here has something to say about that, and it starts a long way from Texas.

New Jersey, to be exact. April 17, 1766. That's when Collin McKinney came into the world, and you wouldn't have guessed then that his name would one day be written across a whole corner of Texas.

But Texas has a way of reaching out and claiming people. By the time the fires of independence were burning, Collin McKinney was in the middle of it; not on the edges, not watching from a distance. He was one of a committee of five men chosen to write the Texas Declaration of Independence.

Five men. All of Texas's grievances, all of its hopes, all of its defiance, handed to five sets of hands. And McKinney's were among them.

That document was signed on March 2, 1836, and Collin McKinney was one of the fifty-nine names on it. Fifty-nine. You sign something like that, you're not hedging your bets.

After independence, he didn't drift away from public life. He served in the House of Representatives of the Republic of Texas; kept showing up, kept doing the work. And the people of Texas noticed.

The marker says it plainly: in recognition of his distinguished service, the county and the county seat of Collin County bear his name. Not a monument, not a street; a whole county, and the town that sits at its heart. That's a particular kind of honor.

Collin McKinney lived a long life, long enough to see Texas go from a declaration to a republic to a state, long enough to watch the world change around him several times over. He died on September 9, 1861, right here in this house. The State of Texas erected this marker in 1936, a hundred years on from that March morning when he put his name to something that mattered.

New Jersey gave him his beginning. Texas gave him everything else; and he gave Texas right back just as much.

What the marker says

Texas patriot and statesman. One of committee of five that wrote the Texas Declaration of Independence; one of its fifty-nine signers, March 2, 1836. Served in House of Representatives, Republic of Texas. In recognition of his distinguished service the county and county seat of Collin County bear his name. Born in New Jersey, April 17, 1766. Died in this house, September 9, 1861. Erected by the State of Texas 1936