This is a transcription of the Sharlie P. (Webb) McKinney biography from New Hampshire Women: A Collection of Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Daughters and Residents of the Granite State, Who are Worthy Representatives of their Sex in the Various Walks and Conditions of Life, The New Hampshire Publishing Co., Concord, NH, 1895, page 71.
Sharlie P. (Webb) McKinney
THE Pine Tree State is the birthplace of many women whose influence has subsequently been felt in the social, intellectual, and moral life of New Hampshire. Among the number is Mrs. Luther F. McKinney, born Sharlie P. Webb, in Raymond, Me., July 7, 1852-—a daughter of Josiah P. and Elizabeth D. (Witham) Webb, and a descendant of Paine Wingate, also of the renowned Hugh de Payens, her father’s ancestors coming from England in the early history of the country. She received her early education in the common schools and at the North Bridgeton Academy, and completed the same at Carlisle, Pa. She was united in marriage with Rev. Luther F. McKinney, then pastor of the Universalist church at North Bridgton, August 1, 1871. In 1873 they removed to South Newmarket, now Newfields, N. H., and three years later to Manchester, where he was for ten years the eminently successful and popular pastor of the Universalist church. The marked success of Mr. McKinney’s professional career was due in no small degree to his wife’s efficient aid and cooperation. Endowed with tact, discrimination, and social graces of a high order, with great energy and executive ability, she was thoroughly at home in parish and society work, while she entered heartily into all her husband’s plans and purposes, proving at all times a safe counsellor and ready helper. In his political career, also, she has been of much assistance, her ready judgment proving a safe reliance in many emergencies. In the household she has ever presided with grace and dignity, whether in her modest home in New Hampshire, at Washington, where Mr. McKinney was a representative in congress for two terms, or in the ministerial residence at Bogota, where he now represents the United States government. A true and faithful wife, she is also a devoted mother, and to her care and guidance their two sons, Frank and Harry, the former a graduate of St. Lawrence University and Baltimore Law School, owe the foundation for future careers of honor and usefulness.