Her find-a-grave memorial gives her maiden name as McMahon. In some people’s family trees, her maiden name is given as Henderson. But I think there is no question her maiden name was McKinney.

One source for this is her own Missouri Death Certificate which has the same birth and death dates as her find-a-grave memorial and says her parents were John and Elizabeth McKenny (McKinney). The informant was her daughter Martha (Mattie) McCullough. And remember, William’s death certificate also gave her name as Elizabeth McKinney.

The erroneous McMahon name comes from the death certificate of her son David who himself had married a McMahon (as did her son William T) so I think the informant just got momentarily confused. The erroneous Henderson name is explained by the fact that when Richard married her in 1853, her name was given as Elizabeth J Henderson (I think at the time he married her she was the widow Mrs. Elizabeth Henderson and those details were just not stated on their marriage certificate).

The evidence that William T Hunter’s parents were Richard and Elizabeth Jane Hunter is overwhelming. His death certificate says that and the presence of Vancie O Hunter in his aunt’s household in 1900 where his grandmother was also living locks it all together. Additionally, in both 1860 and 1870, we find William T Hunter of the right age living with Richard T and Elizabeth Jane Hunter in Jackson Township, Johnson County, exactly where William first lived when he was married to Mary E McMahan. Richard Hunter, like his father, was born in North Carolina.

Moreover, in 1860, Richard and his family were living immediately next door to David Hunter and his family, Richard was 31, David was 60 — this is usually a pretty good indication the son was living next door to the father. And if we back up to 1850, in that same place, we find Richard living with David Hunter and his wife Lydia. I think Census provides all the evidence we need to conclude that Richard’s father was David.