Sarah McKinney Bass 1735-unknown

Two wives named Sarah, first one without a definite family of origin who married Edward Bass...and his mother, wife of Richard Bass, who may have been a McKinne/McKinnie/McKinney.

Sarah Bass, the wife and widow of Edward Bass, apparently was the Sarah Bass who died in 1826...but can I find any information on this Sarah McKinney Bass' death? Not at this point in time. She was Edward Bass' mother (he was born in 1754). Her husband was Richard Bass 1732-1793. They were both born in North Carolina.

But I do note that Sarah McKinney Bass has the McKinney coat of arms flashing on my Ancestry tree. And her mother is listed as Frances Farmer McKinney...could she be related to the Farmers that Edward Bass' wife Sarah is possibly related to?

I don't know.  Sarah McKinney's grandfather was William Farmer of Virginia, born around 1687. There is no known date of his death, nor who his parents were. So another dead-end, or brick wall, as they say.

However, the McKinney family (of Sarah McKinney Bass' father) does go back with that coat of arms to England, perhaps.  But at this stage, we just know her father David McKinney was born in 1710 in North Carolina, and died in North Carolina around 1813.

Now wait a minute.  That's what the tree says, but pause and count it out.  103 years old in 1813? Not likely.   Whoever came up with that birth and death date didn't think very clearly.  There are many probate records in 1813-1817 about his estate, so I'm guessing the death was around 1805-10.

Now let's look at some other Ancestry trees.  Perhaps there were a father and son, both named David McKinney?  The first other tree has David, but no child named Sarah. I keep looking.

Interestingly in those probate documents of David McKinney, I found there was a William, a minor (or under 21 by about 1810), and a sister Mary also deceased. Sarah is not mentioned in any of the probate records following David, her father's death. That seems strange. This minor William could not have been Sarah's mother's child however since her mother, Frances McKinney, was born in 1712.  She would have been around 90 years old by 1800.

So by trying to write up my Bass ancestors, I basically run into many documents at their deaths, where they had land, slaves and a lot of property which was sold, then divided between heirs.  But who these heirs were is another matter completely!

And now my tree has a branch that just doesn't compute.  I don't know the McKinney/McKinne family roots at all.  And a big thing for me to do today...I'm going to walk away.  Maybe next time there will be something that makes sense.