Visit to McKee’s in Loughros Point, Sept 2013
Barry and Marg McKee, Karina and Yvon Lapalme
When we first heard about our McKee (second) cousins near Ardara, County Donegal, my brother Bev and his wife Jane were quick to visit in 2009. Later, we were planning a family visit with Bev and Jane in Sept 2011, but his death from cancer made that impossible. But we did want to visit these cousins, the old farm, and the cemetery at Kilcashel. Part of our plan was to spread some of Bev’s ashes at the McKee graves.
The original McKee farm, in the townland of Crannogeboy, Loughros Point, was the home of my great-grandfather, Alexander McKee, (1802 – 1879) and the birthplace of my grandfather, Andrew McKee (1858 – 1940), and his siblings, including Charles (1852 – 1909), grandfather of Aaron, Raymond, and Sadie. Today Raymond lives in a newer house on the same land (the original home is an outbuilding) and his brother Aaron (with his wife Una) built a home across the street, and retired to Loughros Point from Dublin. A widowed sister Sadie lives at Bruckless, about 20 km south. The map of Loughros Point below shows the locations of the McKee farm in Crannogeboy, the Kilcashel cemetery, and the Lockhart farm in Drimitten.
Our daughter Karina and her husband Yvon agreed to come with us – this is a description of our visit to family in Donegal.
We flew into Dublin, rented a car at the airport, and drove a few hours to Kilkenny- a charming town. This was our first visit to Ireland, so we enjoyed walking about the town, and dinner and Irish music in a pub (founded 1324 – amazing). The second day we drove from Kilkenny to Ardara, with stops at Mount Cashel, a Slattery B&B in Limerick, and lunch at a waterfront restaurant near Galway. (A branch of Marg’s family was a Slattery from Limerick, but we don’t know any connections there.) Our complete pictures are on the flickr website; www.flickr.com/photos/mbmckee/collections
By good luck we had arranged to stay two nights at the Croft cottage, on Loughros Point. As you can see from their website www.donegalcottageholidays.com/croftcottage (and our pictures) this is a wonderful spot, run by Norman and Susan – not local folks, but raising sheep there for about 30 years. Shortly before we left for Ireland, I noticed the address of Croft Cottage was Drimitten, so having Andy’s info on the early McClintock’s, McKee’s and Lockhart’s, I e-mailed Norman and asked if there were any Lockhart’s in the neighborhood. He said yes, the Lockhart farm was just below him- would we like an introduction?
The next day, Monday, we met Aaron and Una at
noon, and drove to the Kilcashel cemetery with them. The cemetery is on elevated land, surrounded by a remarkable stone fence, with views to rocky Maghera to the south, the Bluestack mountains to the east, and the inlet and sandy shores to the north. A very evocative spot, as Norman put it, and an excellent spot to leave part of Bev’s ashes!
We were impressed by the oldest McKee grave Deo Gratias – Here lies the body of Andrew McKee who departed this life and was buried under this stone, March the 4th, 1790 – Revelations, 14 –.
Aaron doesn’t know how Andrew fits in the family, but based on his date, perhaps a grandfather of Alexander? Apparently Andrew was an early convert to Methodism, about 1785. I feel a special kinship with the Andrews in our family, as my middle name is Andrew.
In November, 2014, Debra Lee Van Wagoner (Deb) noticed that 5 first names were common in the male children of “our” Alexander McKee (born 1802, Loughros Point) and “her” Charles McKee, (born 1764 in Ireland, married to Margaret Lockhart and subsequently emigrated to Ohio). Can these names be chance? We thought not, and have started a McKee Family in USA section to include Deb’s family. Deb’s Charles is likely an uncle of our Alexander, and a son (or grandson) of Andrew (b 1690). As a confirmation of this family connection, Deb’s cousin Thomas McKee and I (Barry) took DNA testing and received notice of a close match. See these results in our page DNA Tests. Very exciting!
In December, 2014, I was browsing the Donegal Genealogy Resources webpages and found a transcription of the Index to Wills, Diocese of Raphoe, (including almost all of the county of Donegal) 1684 – 1858. All of the original Wills were lost in the fire of 1922, but books of Indices survived. This lists about 2000 wills, of which 2 were McKees:
- McKee, Alexr.; Lackaugh; 1765
- McKee, Thomas; Drumroosk; 1752
Alexander’s entry is notable because Lackaugh or Lackagh) townland is close to Loughros Point. I imagine this somewhat prosperous Alexander McKee dying in 1765 and son (?) Andrew moving to Crannogeboy townland, about 10 km distant.
A few days later, I noticed a shipping list in the free, excellent Ulster Ancestry Website which lists Alex McKee (age 27) sailing from Londonderry to New York in 1803. Is this the Alexander chased by a bear in Ohio ?
After the cemetery visit we drove back to Ardara for lunch with Sadie (and Aaron and Una) at the hotel. Raymond was busy at lunchtime, but we were able to visit with him later in the afternoon at his farm.
Following lunch, we drove out the south shore toward Maghera, and took family pictures at the waterfall, and then back to Aaron and Una’s house “Maghera View” on Loughros point for afternoon tea. Sadie picked up her car in town, and drove back to Bruckless, so our visit with her was short, but very pleasant.
Sadie mentioned that she had played the organ in her church for 30 years, so she is a talented as well as charming lady.
Before tea at “Maghera View” we had a chance to visit with Raymond on the old McKee farm. We had not corresponded with Raymond, so we did not know what to expect, but he proved to be friendly and talkative. He told us details about his recovery from a serious car accident a couple of years ago, as well as stories from his earlier life commercial salmon fishing out of Killybegs.
The tea party with Aaron and Una was a special treat, because they showed us many of their family pictures and told some family stories. Aaron gave us a copy of a pamphlet he had written “Out of the Depths – A Seaman is Rescued”. We learned that his life became much more difficult after his father suddenly died when he was 12. To help support the family, Aaron left school at 14, and at 16 obtained a job as a merchant seaman. Subsequently Aaron spent several years as seaman, working for different companies with various responsibilities, including wheelsman.
But in those days, he spent shore time drinking in bars, with some risky consequences. Aaron’s Christian faith helped him during this time, and became a stronger and more positive part of his life. He subsequently met Una, moved to Dublin, and in his retirement is a lay preacher. Aaron’s religious conviction is very important to him, and we respect him for the positive change it made in his life.
The afternoon flew by and it was soon time for us to drive to Drimitten for an evening meeting with the Isobel Lockhart (widow of Alexander Shaw Lockhart) along with a bachelor son Richard, who runs the farm, and a married daughter Roberta, from the Killybegs area. We had asked Norman to pass on a copy of Andy’s McClintock, McKee, Lockhart information to Isobel, who suggested her daughter Roberta, who is gathering Lockhart family history, join the group. Catherine (a retired school principal) was also part of the gathering; she was a Boyd, whose great-grandfather had been married to a McKee. Roberta shared copies of her notes on the family of Alexander Lockhart, and suggested a couple of changes in our McClintock, McKee, Lockhart notes. A big thanks to the Lockhart’s for their quick hospitality.
The Lockhart farm is large (by local standards), and Roberta told us the “authentic” story about the death of Mary McClintock’s husband in 1869, at age 44. William Lockhart died of pneumonia after getting soaked carrying home a large animal. Mary, then expecting her 12th child, sold the farm to a Lockhart cousin, Alexander, and moved with her family to Pittsburgh, but as Roberta pointed out, she is still
remembered in Drimitten by Mary’s field, and the ruins known as Mary’s house. Wonderful family history! Roberta mentioned that there were five McClintock sisters in Jane’s and Mary’s family; there seems no doubt that they were sisters, though written evidence may be lacking. She also mentioned that Mabel Pearson, granddaughter of Aaron Lockhart (the Lockhart that stayed in Ireland from Mary’s family) may have some McClintock info, and she thinks our Sadie may have some information tucked away. Roberta gave us her e-mail, so we hope to keep in touch.
The following morning we stopped in Ardara for some quick shopping (Donegal knitting and tweeds at Triona Design and Eddy Doherty Tweeds) and then hurried back to the road, as we had reservations at a Dublin hotel that night. Interesting to hear that these people knew Raymond, and Eddy had a story to tell. We visited the Giants Causeway along the way, which was interesting, but not as interesting as a visit to Newgrange the following day. Newgrange is a 5000 year old Neolithic religious astronomy site, called the best Neolithic site in Europe – and the oldest preserved building in the world. It got us thinking about our Irish heritage in a different way!