Background
John McKinly was born on February 24, 1721 in the north of Ireland.
John McKinly was born on February 24, 1721 in the north of Ireland.
In Wilmington, Delware, McKinly began the practice of medicine. In 1747-48, he seems to have been lieutenant of militia and in 1756 was commissioned major in a militia regiment of New Castle County. In three successive years, 1757, 1758, and 1759, he was elected sheriff, and in 1759 he was also elected chief burgess of the borough of Wilmington for a year's term, being reelected eleven times including the year 1776. Elected a member of the colonial Assembly in October 1771, he was still a member when, in October 1773, that body appointed a standing committee of correspondence of which he became one of the five members. As chairman of the New Castle County committee he presided over the meeting that, on November 28, 1774, approved the "Association" recommended by the First Continental Congress and over the meeting that in December issued a call for the organization of a county militia the next month. In March 1775, he served on the committee of the Assembly that drew up the instructions for the delegates to the Second Continental Congress. In March 1775, he was chosen colonel of a regiment of the New Castle County militia. At a meeting of the Council of Safety, begun at Dover on September 11, 1775, he was not only elected president of the council but also brigadier-general of the three battalions of New Castle County. In October 1776, he was elected a member of the first state legislature and, when that body assembled in the same month, was elected speaker of the lower house. Although the constitution provided for the election of a governor (called president) by the legislature, no executive was chosen during the fall session of the General Assembly. Instead, the two houses in joint session, in November 1776, elected a Council of Safety to exercise executive authority during the next recess of the General Assembly. He was included in the membership of this council and, when it organized, was chosen its president. At the following session of the General Assembly he was chosen, in February 1777, president and commander-in-chief of Delaware for a term of three years. He was destined to exercise the authority of the office only a few months, for on the second night after the Battle of the Brandywine several British regiments occupied Wilmington and captured him. He was removed to Philadelphia, kept a prisoner during the British occupation of that city, and then taken to New York. Paroled by General Clinton in August 1778, he proceeded to Philadelphia to obtain the consent of Congress to his exchange for William Franklin, late governor of New Jersey. In September he returned to Wilmington, resumed the practice of medicine, and took no further part in politics.
Between 1761 and 1766 McKinly, was married to Jane Richardson, the twelfth child of John and Ann Richardson, English Friends living near Wilmington.