Rufus McMackin, son of Thomas and Ann (Blair) McMackin, was born 5 July 1824 in Greene County, Tenn. By 1840, this family, which included a daughter, Martha Jane, were in Monroe County, Tenn. By 1850 they were all in Andrew County, Missouri. Rufus McMackin was enrolled in the Missouri Militia, Company B., on Sept 4, 1862. He died 25 May 1896 in Nodaway County, Missouri, and is buried at Graves Cemetery, Guilford, Nodaway County. The full name of his first wife is not known, nor is the date and place of their marriage. They were divorced in 1861. One son, William T. McMackin, is the only known child of that marriage.
Rufus McMackin married 2nd) on 10 February 1862 at Savannah, Andrew County, Missouri, Jemima Lamaster, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Wireman) Lamaster. She was born 13 Nov 1844 in Kentucky, died 7 Feb 1903 in Nodaway County, Missouri, and is buried in the same cemetery as her husband. Jemima is listed on the 1850 Morgan County Kentucky census in her parent's household. Jemima's brother, James L. Lamaster, also lived in Nodaway County.
Rufus and Jemima McMackin had twelve children. Their dates of birth and the names and dates of birth of their children were recorded on a loose paper found in a Bible belonging to one of her sons. That paper also listed the death date of the youngest child. Children were as follows:
| NAME | BIRTHDATE | MARRIAGE | DEATH |
| McMackin, Martha Jane | 5 Feb 1863 Andrew Co MO |
Stackhouse, Amos | Buried: Buchanan Co MO |
| McMackin, Elizabeth Ann | 10 Feb 1865 Andrew Co MO |
13 Jul 1882 Stackhouse, Milton |
20 Dec 1912 St Joseph, Buchanan Co MO |
| McMackin, James L. | 29 Jan 1867 Nodaway Co MO |
. | . |
| McMackin, Joseph Jackson | 26 Jun 1869 Nodaway Co MO |
. | 1870 Nodaway Co Bur: Groves Cem |
| McMackin, Mary Isabelle | 21 Jun 1871 Nodaway Co MO |
Smith, William F.(?) | . |
| McMackin, Rufus Henderson | 21 Mar 1873 Nodaway Co MO |
1 Mar 1900 - Nodaway Co Parker, Cora A.M. |
21 Feb 1958 Buchanan Co MO Bur: Graves Cem |
| McMackin, Ida Ellen | 9 Feb 1875 Nodaway Co MO |
2 Dec 1891 Weathermon, Howard F. |
1943 Bur: Weathermon Cem |
| McMackin, John Tilden | 28 Dec 1876 Nodaway Co MO |
29 Aug 1898 Parker, Cynthia Belle |
10 Jul 1945 Buchanan Co MO Bur: Graves Cem |
| McMackin, Andrew Benjamin | 16 Nov 1878 Nodaway Co MO |
. | . |
| McMackin, Flora May "Sadie" | 26 Mar 1881 Nodaway Co MO |
28 Feb 1900 Graves, Thomas M. |
Aft 1954 |
| McMackin, George Wash. | 19 Mar 1883 Nodaway Co MO |
. | . |
| McMackin, Infant | 5 Mar 1885 Nodaway Co MO |
. | 12 Mar 1885 Nodaway Co MO |
Much of the above information comes from family records and personal visits to cemeteries. Other sources of information for this family are cemetery records, census records, marriage records in Andrew County Missouri, estate records of Rufus McMackin, and the book, Platte Purchase Paradise: The Story of Washington Township, Nodaway County, Missouri, 1976.
This information compiled by Dorothy J. McMackin