Archibald McKinney was born in Kentucky in 1816. He later moved west with family members to Henderson, Illinois, where he married Catherine McKinney in 1841. By 1843, the couple had settled in Henry County, Iowa. During his time there, McKinney served as a probate judge from 1843 to June 1851 and also held the position of school fund commissioner. In 1852 to 1854, he represented Henry County in the Fourth Iowa General Assembly. By 1860, McKinney had relocated to Montgomery, Texas. He had remarried, this time to Martha Nobles, and was working as a teacher. A decade later, in 1870, the blended family was living in Austin County, Texas, where McKinney was serving as a minister. In 1871, he married a third time, to Susan Gardner Finks, in San Felipe, Texas. He died in San Felipe, Austin County, Texas, in 1879.