McKee (and Bow) Families in Canada (via USA)

Margaret McKee (b 1841) and Andrew McKee (b 1858) both emigrated from Crannogeboy Townland, Co. Donegal, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Margaret married James Rickey in 1870, and bore a daughter Fanney Jane. In 1871, James died of smallpox.

In 1872, Margaret married George Bow, son of Scottish immigrants. The Bow family history in Canada is described in a separate web-page by Andy Brownbill in his document, Thomas Bow and his Two Sons.

From Pittsburgh, Margaret and George Bow and her much younger brother Andrew McKee moved in about 1878, to Machar Township, in Ontario, Canada, and homesteaded on land beside Eagle Lake.  12 years later in 1890, Andrew married Janet Tennant, and they homesteaded nearby.

This area was poor farmland, and very isolated, so there were many hardships in this young settlement.  Subsequently, the railroad and the highway passed about 20 km east of the original settlement road, the Nipissing Road, so the Eagle Lake settlement remained isolated.   In 1981, David McKee, the oldest son of Andrew wrote the Memoirs of David McKee, describing the pioneer life at Eagle Lake and also his own subseqent family history and more briefly, that of his siblings.

More recently David’s sons Bill and Ross have made some notes on their early memories, and these are in a page Machar Township Memories.

Below are three maps, drawn by David McKee, showing the early settlement in this area.  Click on these images for a larger view.