Cooke family from Corkerbeg

Allan Angus Munro has published a book on the Cooke family from Corkerbeg, near Ardara, From Corkerbeg to Cuyahoga & Kiama (1987, ISBN 0 9590641 1 7 ). Aaron McKee has provided an excerpt, page 222, and we copy that here (though noting that the family of Alexander McKee and Jane McClintock needs updating ).

In Feb 2016, we received a PDF file with the full text  of this very interesting book – click Cooke Family from Corkerbeg to access the PDF version.

Overview, by the Author:

Family history intertwined with the history of the world.  Luther challenges Rome, and King James dispatches his Scottish subjects as part of the Ulster Plantation project, where they remain for 200 years as Irish subjects, whilst the maritime explorers discover America and Terra Australia.

Then comes the potato blight, and we find George Cooke and Bess McKee with their seven children, of whom five will cross the Atlantic to settle in Ohio.  Young George remains in Donegal, while William Cooke arrives in the New South Wales Shoalhaven district, pioneered by Alexander Berry, marries Caroline Morrow, and raises a large family.

This tale of approximately 250 pages is written on similar lines to the previous publication ‘Caithness to the Clarence’; it is supported by documentary evidence, shipping lists, photographs, maps, etc.

The several hundreds of descendants of the Cooke family, as well as other Donegal/Fermanagh folk associated with them, have been located on the three continents, and are the subject of the proposed sequel.

Summary

Thomas Cooke (ca.1770) is the earliest known ancestor of the Cooke family of Corkerbeg, Co. Donegal, Ireland. He was the father of at least four children. One of his sons was George Cooke (1802-1887) who married Bess McKee, and was the father of eight children. Five of these children eventually settled in America while another settled in Australia. Those Cookes who traveled to America settled in Cayahoga Falls, Ohio. Descendants live in Ohio and other parts of the United States. William Cooke settled in New South Wales, Australia where descendants live at present. Descendants of George Cooke also live in Ireland.

Excerpt from the Book  (p 222):

However McKee is also a Scottish Clan Mackay family name – and was the maiden surname of Elizabeth (Bess), mother of the seven children featured in previous chapters.  She was the wife of ‘Big George’ Cooke of Corkerbeg, and so her several hundred descendants, now living overseas in the new worlds, can claim her as their great grandmother – or more distant, depending on their generation.

Bess’s McKee family had come from Glencolumbkille to Loughros Point – and she spent the 84 years of her life not far from Ardara where she was born.

Our Bess McKee, whose father may have been named Alexander – and we have no record of her mother’s name – had at least two sisters, and a brother.  One sister named Alice, married John Devitt – whilst the other girl named Susan (Sarah) married John’s brother, Andrew Devitt.  They all remained in Ireland – but Susan and Andrew had a son, John Devitt, who migrated to New South Wales – and we shall read more about him in the ‘Devitt section’ of this chapter.

The brother of Bess, Alice, and Susan, is believed to have been Alexander, who married Jane McClintock, and remained in Donegal. He is buried in the cemetery at Kilcashel, as shown in the photo on the next page.  Alexander and Jane had five children, all of whom migrated to New South Wales.

Thanks to Alexander’s great granddaughter Sadie McKee, now Mrs. John Deane, of Aighan, we have the birth dates of these children:

  1. James McKee*, born 6 July 1839.
  2. Margaret McKee born 22 Apr 1841.
  3. E1izabeth (Betsy) McKee* born 22 Oct 1843.
  4. Etain McKee born 1 Feb 1845.
  5. Ellen McKee born 7 Apr 1847.
  6. John McKee born 22 Oct 1849.
  7. Charles McKee born 1 May 1852 is Sadie’s grandfather.
  8. Aaron McKee* born 12 Aug 1854.
  9. Alexander McKee* born 12 Sep 1856.
  10. Andrew McKee born 4 Mar 1859.
  11. Ralph McKee* born 6 July 1861.

* Migrated to New South Wales.

Sadie, our McKee representative in Donegal, has provided us with more genealogical information about later and present day McKees, living in Ireland and Eng1and

Pg 223: This photo of Alexander McKee’s headstone in the Kilcashel cemetery was supplied by James Devitt, a retired police officer, now residing in Florida.  Jim comments – ‘McKee grave marker. Great grandfather John Devitt, was living with the McKees at the time of his death.  He and his wife Ann Haslam Devitt, are buried in a grass covered grave to the right.’

This headstone reads – ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF ALEXANDER McKEE WHO DIED 19th AUGUST 1879 AGED 77 YEARS – HAPPY ARE THE DEAD WHO DIE IN THE LORD – THEY CEASE FROM THEIR LABOURS AND THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM.

Returning to the five children of Alexander and Jane McKee, mentioned on the previous page, we find that James (age 25) and Elizabeth (20) sailed with their second cousin William Cooke – see chapter 18 – arriving on the OCEAN EMPRESS at Sydney on t 18th January 1864. They stated that their parents were Alex. and Jane McKee, and they were to join their cousin John Devitt at Broughton Creek.

The two younger children, Aaron (20) and Alexander (19) reached Sydney 12 years later, arriving on the LORD DALHOUSIE, on 15th February 1876 – whose parents were shown as Alick and Jane McKee, and they were on their way to join ‘their brother James McKee at Kiama.’

We have no other information about the brother Ralph, except that he was alleged to have lived at Randwick, an eastern suburb of Sydney, mentioned below.  Today better known as Sydney’s famous racecourse.

  1. James McKee lived in the Berry district for over 60 years – did not marry – and later lived with his sister, Elizabeth Boyd, until he died on 24th September 1927, aged 89. He was buried in the small Boyd cemetery on the Broughton Vale road – to be mentioned in the ‘Boyd section.’
  2. Elizabeth (Bessie) McKee married Robert Boyd – see above – and they lived in the Berry district also.  He was the son of Adam Boyd and Mary Whitton, who are the grandparents of Daphne Keevers shown on page 227.
  3. We do not have much information about Aaron McKee, who is said to have joined the N.S.W. Railway department – was stationed out west at Bathurst – and may have had a large family.
  4. Alexander McKee married Mary Ann Devitt.  She was the daughter of John Devitt (son of Andrew Devitt and Susan McKee), and Eliza Boyd.  Alexander became a police inspector in the NSW Police Force, but died of diabetes mellitis on 20th September 1914, aged 58.  He was interred in Sydney’s small Randwick General Cemetery.  His wife, Mary Jane, died at Bega, south of Berry, on 30 November 1955, aged 93, and joined her husband in the Randwick cemetery two days later.

Alexander and Mary Jane McKee had four children:

  1. John McKee, the first child was born in Sydney in 1895, later attended its famous high school at Fort Street. and graduated from Sydney University in l9l8. He was a residential medical officer at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for two years, and for a similar period in northern Queensland, through the Rockerfellow Foundation doing research into the hookworm scourge in tropical regions. However he was not happy merely writing medical reports, so moved to Bega, a large coastal town about 150 miles south of Berry, on 22 March l922. He married Flora McLeod in l925, and practiced in that town for nigh on 60 years.
    Bega saddened by death of Dr. McKee

    His full page obituary in the Bega District News on Friday May 28, l982, states – ‘There is no doubt an epic quality about his career, for he was always present – inspiring confidence, and calmly making enormous decisions to save life and to restore health. The statistics of his work are monumental. For instance, he delivered over 6000 babies, and conducted an even greater number of surgical operations – and also served as the Government Medical Officer for a good part of his life. In l966, the Queen made him a Member of the British Empire, for his services to the medical profession, and to Bega; whilst the previous year, the ‘Freedom of Bega‘ – the highest honour ever given to a citizen, was conferred on him by the Bega Municipal Council, where he had also served a term as an alderman, ensuring the installation of Bega’s water supply. In l967, the fountain in the the Civic Centre was named after him, whilst McKee Drive, a Bega street, is a permanent memorial to him. A fine tribute to the son of parents born in county Donegal, a little over a century earlier.

    Dr McKee was survived by his wife Flora, and two children:

    (1) John McKee, who also graduated from Sydney University, and operates as a surgeon in Bega. Earlier whilst studying surgery in Edinburgh, and travelling around the United Kingdom, he told us that he had obtained a copy of the ‘Book of the McKees.’ He has offered to add to our knowledge of this family, as time and distance permits– so we may have more to add before this chapter is completed – or in the proposed sequel.

    (2) Margaret McKee, now Mrs McKenzie, living in Cronulla, a Sydney coastal suburb, whom we have recently located, has given us more information – hopefully with more to come, in due course.

  2. Elizabeth McKee was the second child of Alexander and Mary Jane, also lived in Bega, and married H.H. Branson – but we have no other information at present about her.
  3. Alexander McKee, the third child, was living at Cronulla, when we spoke to him, just prior to his death. He suggested that we contact his nephew, John McKee, mentioned on the previous page. Sadly Alexander died on 8th June l983, aged 86, whilst his wife Nellie Doris passed away on 29th April 1985, and their ashes now lie in the Woronora Cemetery at Sutherland, Sydney. They had three children – Lois married to Dick Lewers – Ralph McKee, whose wife’s name is Jenny, whilst the third child, Donald McKee, who was married to Betty, had died earlier. We have no other information about them, at present.
  4. Alice McKee, now Mrs Smith, is believed to be living in Brisbane, Queensland, and may have more to add, to complete this section on the ‘McKees from Ardara’