From "Sketches on Tennessee's Pioneer Baptist Preachers" Vol. 1, by J.J. Burnett, D. D., published by Marshall & Bruce in 1919 (reprint by Overmountain Press). Taken from: http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/5273/mcginnis.htm - submitted by Don Hadrick, Joe Payne and Howard McGinnis - titled: Descendants of Edward McGinnis.

The subject of this sketch, a son of Edward and Nancy McGinnis, was born in Smyth County, Virginia, July 16, 1779. He was of Irish, or Scotch-Irish descent. His parents came to Tennessee, locating in Hawkins County when Moses was a lad of nine years of age. When a full-grown man he went to school to Elika Taylor, who "taught him grammar," and was afterward proud to testify of his pupil that he was a "bright and talented man, and self-made."

At the age of 40 he made a profession of religion and was baptized by Hughes O. Taylor into the fellowship of War Creek (now Flat Gap) Church. Soon after his baptism his church ordained him deacon. In 1835 he was "licensed to preach" and in the same year, was "ordained" to the full work of the ministry.

In his young manhood he was married to Mary wolf, a daughter of Charles and Susanna Wolf, a woman of Dutch parentage, industrious and capable. To this union were born seventeen children. One of his son-in-laws, "who lived on the same farm, had sixteen children, the youngest of them old enough to go to school" (Aunt Betsy Haynes).

Brother McGinnis' field of labor was Hancock, Hawkins, Claiborne and adjoining counties. He was pastor of the following churches and helped in the organization of a number of them: Duck Creek, Bean's Creek, Richardson's Creek, Flat Branch and Cool Branch. He belonged to the territory of the Mulberry Gap Association and left a lasting impression upon all that secton of the country. Like his Master, he "worked while it was day," and his sun went down without a cloud. December 14, 1873, being in his 85th year, he fell on sleep. The testimony of his brethern, after his departure, was that "he sood as watchman on the walls of Zion for nearly 40 years; that he was a zealous and faithful expounder of Bible truth, and had become deeply enshrined in the hearts of the people whom he loved and served; that he endured pain and confinement of a protracted illness with Christian patience and resignation, often speaking to his brethern in the most glowing terms of his strong and abiding hope of a glorious future - a brighter land and a better home that we have ever dreamed of here below."

Moses and his family are listed on the 1850 census for Hawkins County, Tennessee. Moses 61 b Va, Mary 56 b. TN, Elizabeth 25, Charles 13, Ally 16, Edward 14, Jane 12, Elissa 9, and Susannah Wolfe 91.