McKee Family in USA – McKee Family from Donegal

Background by Barry McKee

In 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009 my family held 4 Reunions at Sundrige near Eagle Lake, Ontario where grandfather Andrew McKee and my father William James had “farmed”. These were organized by Cousins Harold, Ross, Earl, and Bill, and were a great success. The family had mostly scattered by then, (Marg and I lived in Ottawa) and it was a good opportunity to gather and share pictures and family history. In 1981, Uncle Dave McKee had written a History of His Life which I had typed and copied, and Andy Brownbill was working on a History of His Bow Family connected to my McKees by marriage. But at that time, we mistakenly thought our Irish roots were in Armagh, not Donegal.

In 2008, Andy found my Second Cousins in Australia – Lesly and Jennifer. See our section McKee Family in Australia for more details. Jennifer was born in Australia but her mother died at birth and her father remarried and moved to the USA. Jennifer kept her mother’s birth certificate, which listed “her” father’s place of birth as “near Ardara, Co. Donegal”. And, most exciting of all, Jennifer was able to visit Ireland and to track down her (and my) three second cousins who live on the family farm and nearby.

In 2013, Marg and I along with Daughter Karina and her husband Yvon visited our cousins near Ardara. It was then that I resolved to try to collect and preserve this amazing family history and this website is the result. I asked cousins to help pick a name (McKee Family from Ardara, from Loughros Point, or from Donegal, I recall) and the favorite was McKee Family from Donegal, which has set my direction since then. It is interesting to compare the McKee settlement in Donegal with other Ulster Counties. Using Griffith’s Valuation in 1857, we see the majority (51 %) of McKee families lived in County Down (closer to Galloway, better farming) and only 1 % in County Donegal. The other County fractions were 20% in Armagh, 19% in Antrim, 9% in Londonderry, and .1% in Fermanagh. By this date, the majority of Scotch Irish McKees would have emigrated to the colonies, but probably the county fractions would be similar through time.

Debra Sutherland (Deb) in Utah had been researching her McKee family history for many years, but had not located her roots in Ireland. In 2014, she saw this website, and noticed that 5 first names were common in the male children of my Alexander McKee (born 1802, Loughros Point) and her Charles McKee, born 1764 in Ireland, married to Margaret Lockhart and subsequently emigrated to Pennsylvania and Ohio. Indeed, our DNA Tests have confirmed a close relationship. Deb’s Charles was probably an uncle of my Alexander – both of us Loughros Point McKees. One of the highlights at Kilcashel Cemetery, Loughros Point, is the grave marker of Andrew McKee (b 1695 d 1790) and buried beside other McKees. Without knowing all the details back to Andrew, I think we can claim him as part of the Loughros Point McKee family.

In 2014 I started this McKee Family in USA section with several pages of Deb’s family history of Charles McKee and Margaret Lockhart through Pennsylvania, Ohio and west. But since then, and mostly thanks to Deb’s ongoing work, I have also added pages from USA McKees from other parts of Donegal. Now in July, 2020, I need to reorganising this USA Section – dividing it into subsections depending on place of origin in Donegal. (But note this is a reordering – nothing is lost.)

New Order for Pages in USA Section

In Griffiths Valuation of Tenants in Donegal in 1857 there are McKee Families listed in 4 Parishes – Inishkeel, Drumhome, Glencolumbkille and Muff, as well as McKies in Drumhome Parish. We now reorganize this USA Section by Parish of origin in Donegal.

1. McKees in USA from Inishkeel Parish (Crannogeboy Townland, Kilcashel Cemetery)
A. Family of Charles McKee and Margaret Lockhart (Deb’s family) including family histories, Pennsylvania page, along with Jefferson and Knox County histories.
B. Other Inishkeel McKee Families
2. Drumhome Parish
Kevin McKee traced his family back 9 generations to William McKee, Drumhome, whose family emigrated in 1830 near Peterborough, Canada, along with Elliott, Love and Morrow families who were neighbors in Drumhome. I put them in the Canadian Section, but they later moved to the USA so they belong here too. Sarah is continuing Kevin’s family history.
3. Muff Parish
David McKee, Muff, Founded McKeesport, Pennsylvania
4. Glencolumbkille Parish (Malin More Townland)
Several generations of Thomas McKees lived here and owned the local mill. Malin More and Crannogeboy are separated by a mountain ridge, but Deb noticed similarities in the first names of McKees in both families. Because Craig McKee in Iowa had traced his roots to Andrew McKee (b 1802 Malin More) we were able to do Y DNA Tests with Craig, Me, and Deb’s cousin which confirmed a close three-way family relation. Craig’s family settled in Coshocton, Ohio, so Early Coshocton County History is included here. Craig runs a farm in Iowa which has been in his family for four generations!
But don’t miss the earlier page in our Irish Section McKees in Malin More (and now from this USA Section too) which presents a remarkable book by John Richard Cochran II, describing his Cochran, but also Love and McKee ancestors.
5. McKee Family with Mixed Roots
In Ohio, the Crannogeboy and Malinmore McKee branches mingled and married.
One special example of families mingling is the webpage 1862 Ohio Friendship Quilt.
Carmen, in Ohio, writes she is descended from both these McKee families. I hope to have her story in the future.
Mike Barr has contributed an interesting page in our Irish section Albert Boyd Update – Loughros Point, which now has a link from this USA section.