 John McCain 's grandparents were natives of Arkansas , Mississippi , and Texas , and much of his ancestry was Southern on both his mother 's side and father 's side . The McCain family 's patrilineal ancestral home is in Mississippi 's Carroll County ; they owned and ran a 2 @,@ 000 @-@ acre ( 8 @.@ 1 km2 ) plantation in <unk> from 1848 until 1952 . The plantation had slaves before the American Civil War – some of whose descendants share the surname and call themselves the " black McCains " – and sharecroppers afterward ; influential blues guitarist Mississippi John Hurt was born on the plantation to one of the latter . 
