Brighton Youngsters Perform 60-Year-Old Rite By Decorating Grave Of Village's First Negro Citizen

BRIGHTON - Today, as on every Memorial Day for the past 60 years, small children of Brighton will be decorating, with flowers, the grave of one of Brighton's most unusual pioneer residents.
He was John McKinney, first Negro to make his home in the then-small village on the Detroit-Grand Rapids turnpike.
So highly respected, so deeply loved was this former slave that after his death on March 19, 1892, his fellow citizens erected a monument in his honor. The wording on this monument, still easily readable, is:
John McKinney
Died March 19, 1892
Aged About 70 Years
And the epitaph:
This Stone Was Erected By His
Friends At Brighton Whose
Tried Servant He Was For
Over Forty Years
Older residents of Brighton like to recall little incidents that etch the character, habits and mannerisms of a man who was completely humble, kindly and thoughtful. His formal jobs were as sexton of the Methodist Church and janitor of the village bank. These he did faithfully and well. They were assigned to him when he first arrived in the village long before the Civil War broke out, when his freedom from slavery was bought by his mother out of her meager savings.
However, he is best remembered for his self-appointed, informal jobs. Wandering around the village, he would help an overworked housewife to hang up her washing on the line, mow lawns and weed vegetable gardens for the crippled or infirm, see that the kitchen wood box was filled, and repair broken sidewalks or porch steps.
Such thoughtful helpfulness so stirred the appreciation of his fellow citizens that even today, nearly a century later, he is still a beloved figure in the folklore of Brighton.