What’s New

Latest items (2021, 2020) at top –
Scroll down for 2019 to 2014 – Barry McKee
    • March 2021 – We purchased 2 copies of this book – A Chronology of Midwest Donegal: from Earliest Times to 2019 Tom Plunkett, principal of St. Conal’s N.S., Narin, Portnoo, Donegal. The book is excellent and It will attract present residents and emigrants everywhere.
    • January 2021 – John’s remarkable book on his Cochran, Love and McKee families has been available here since 2017 but the Background and the Menu needed updating. If you’ve read this book already, you are good; but if not, check it now – Cochran, Love, and McKee Families in Glencolumbkille.
    • December 2020 – Craig McKee has been tracing his McKee and Hutchinson family histories for several years! He was in touch with Deb, who told him about this website. Craig had traced his McKee family to Andrew, born 1802, Malin More, Donegal. Here is the link to Craig’s New Page– with more to come I hope!
    • December 2020 – Hearth Tax update! When I put together the Wigtonshire Hearth Tax page, I didn’t realize the list for Kirkcudbrightshire was also available. However, the Tax list for Kirkcudbrightshire does not include the names of Landlords, but is still interesting – especially Minnigaff Parish. I have renamed the page to call it Scotland Hearth Taxes – 1691  and added the Minnigaff data. In the Wigtonshire data, I was surprised that McKie families were so numerous! I added a table with those numbers.
    • November 2020 – Looking at Griffith’s Valuation for Ireland in 1857, only about 2% of McKee/McKie families lived in Co. Donegal. As we are McKee Family from Donegal, we normally skip the many non-Donegal items. But sometimes we see non-Donegal items which seem too good to pass. So in 2020, with Deb’s encouragement, I added a new page Non-Donegal McKee Families and have put it under the Roots tab to save menu space.
      In November I have put the first two items on this page with more likely in the future:
      Item 1 – Non-Donegal Page, November 2020 – Deb found these three interesting McKee family letters from 1916. They are written by S.M. McKee, Pennsylvania, John W. McKee, Ohio, and Samuel McKee, Michigan.
      Item 2 – Non-Donegal Page Nov 2020 – Judith Burns’ Website
    • November 2020 – Autosomal DNA testing has become popular for tracing family connections, though it is not as sensitive Y-DNA testing. Deb compiled a table of her family tests along with other matches. See our new subpage Autosomal DNA Tests
    • October 2020 – Bob Moore contacted me from Ontario in April saying that he had traced his family back to his gr—gr grandmother, Margaret McKee, born about 1798 in Co. Donegal. I pointed out a Margaret McKee in Sarah and Craig’s Family  Tree,  from William McKee in Drumhome Parish. But whether or not this is a match, we welcome Bob to our McKee Families from Donegal and hope he will contribute more on his Pearson/ McKee family.
      In October, Bob told me about an interesting website: https://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com run by Claire Santry – Your free and independent guide to finding your Irish ancestors! One item featured is New Irish Genealogy Resources 2020, a e-book setting out all* the Irish family history records released in the last 9 years. This 130 page PDF file costs only $10; I have purchased one and it looks useful. Thanks to Bob and Claire!
    • October 2020 – My cousins, Bill and Ross McKee, contributed Part 1 and Part 2 to the Machar Township Memories page. Recently, I found an interesting history of Machar Township which shows the struggles of settlers there, and a history of  the Upland Community in more detail. I’ve added these as Part 3, and Part 4, . I’ve  also added a gallery of a dozen pictures relating to Bows and McKees in Machar Twp.
    • September 2020 – Deb’s Mother Leola died Sept 8. I’ve copied her obituary at the bottom of her page Leola’s McKee History. A big thanks to Leola and daughter Deb for their joint contributions to McKee family history – Barry!
    • September 2020 – Both jobs (reordering the USA section and upgrading the website software) now done, including new menu structure and keeping separate header pictures on each page! If you see any new issues, contact me with the Contact Tab – Thanks, Barry.
    • July 2020 – I need to reorder the USA Section to separate different origins; nothing is lost!
    • April 2020 – Notice of Upgrade for Website! When this website was started in 2014, I chose WordPress as the “Content Management System”, and Suffusion as the theme. Suffusion is now outdated and I have decided to update to a newer theme OceanWP. This will improve, for example, mobile access. However, with 70 pages to update, the changes will take a month or two, so in that time please be patient – thanks, Barry.
    • February 2020 – Deb found out that in 1800 records, Cross Creek Twp Pennsylvania was actually across the river in what would be Ohio after 1803. Her Charles was there in about 1798, making him a very early pioneer in Ohio! I’ve updated our Jefferson County, Ohio page!
    • February 2020 – Robin Fraser in Scotland and Ian Fergusson in Australia both show Autosomal DNA matches with Deb. Robin traces his McKee family via Antrim, so his DNA link probably goes back to Galloway. Ian has not traced his McKee family yet, but may link back to Scotland too. Interesting new contacts.
    • February 2020 – in Oct 2019 I set up a page for Kinna’s Minnigaff History, 1904. That was a low quality PDF file, so I upgraded it to HTML. Interesting M’Kie / McKie / McKee history!
    • January 2020 – Last month, Carmen e-mailed me from Ohio asking if we were relatives. Indeed she has double McKee lines through Donegal – one through Loughros Point and one through Malin More. Lucky lady! Check here again when I have set up her new webpage.
    • December 2019 – I copied McKie Marriages in Scotland, and got 3 interesting things: 1 – a map of McKies in all Scotland, 2 – a comparison of McKies with McKees, and 3- a half-brother link between Andrew and Thomas. See the details in McKie Marriages in Scotland to 1750.
    • October 2019 – The M’Kie clan was from Minnigaff. Here is a copy of a book History of the Parish of Minnigaff by James G. Kinna in 1904. Good reading if you are a McKee!
    • September 2019 – Debs gr – – gr grandfather, Charles McKee settled with wife Margaret Lockhart and young family in South Western Pennsylvania by 1792. Subsequently they moved north to Cross Creek Twp close to the Ohio River. We know from Knox County History that Charles McKee and family were the first white settlers in Brown Twp in 1809. Deb has also found Jefferson County Land records showing Charles was buying and selling property in Ohio as early as 1807. We have added a page with Jefferson County History describing the very early days of Ohio settlement, including some interesting history of settlement roads and canals.
    • July 2019 – Two early histories of McKeesport say the founder was from County Donegal – near Londonderry. We have a new McKeesport History webpage with that story.
    • July 2019 – In 2016, Deb sent me a PDF version of this important work The Book of McKees, by Raymond McKee (1959). However that file (300 MB) was too large for WordPress or this Web-server. Recently, I divided the file into individual chapters and now it fits!
    • June 2019 – I was contacted recently by Jo (McKee) and Van McKee, Auckland New Zealand, who had both done Autosomal DNA tests and were looking at their McKee matches. Jo got a DNA match with McKeesport McKees which did not surprise her as her family was descended from a John McKee in Coleraine, Co. Londonderry. Van McKee got a DNA match with a family of William and Samuel McKee, Drumhome, Co. Donegal. A McKee Family in New Zealand is a new and exciting event, but I got doubly excited about Van’s Drumhome connection because I have recently been copying Kevin’s McKee Webpages here. Kevin traced his family back to a William McKee, Ballybulgan, Drumhome. The Drumhome families of Kevin and Van are no doubt closely related! Very quickly we have three subpages here with Drumhome info.
    • May 2019 – Twenty years ago I would browse the web looking for information about my McKee Irish, roots. I would encounter Kevin’s McKee webpages and be amazed at the information he was providing about McKee families worldwide – Kevin was a pioneer!
      Today, Kevin’s daughter Sarah continues his interest, and she has agreed to including much of their work here as a TRIBUTE and a THANK YOU to Kevin! There are 13 “New” Pages copied from Kevin and Sarah here; browse them with appreciation!
    • March, 2019 – In 1796 farmers in Ireland growing ¼ acre or more of flax were rewarded with free spinning wheels. Deb located the list for Donegal (6,800 names with parishes) Donegal Flax Growers List 1796  – of interest to McKees and allied families.
    • February, 2019 – Michael Barr is an Ohio descendent of families allied together in Donegal and subsequently in the USA, Australia and Canada, He visited Donegal in 1996, looking at Boyd church records and taking pictures at Kilcashel Cemetery. Mike’s story and pictures are a new page here – Albert Boyd Update, Loughros Point.
    • November, 2018 – In 1870 Peter M’Kerlie began Volume One of History of the Lands and Their Owners in Galloway: With a Historical Sketch of the District. Ten years later he had finished five volumes using property records from government records (Sasines). These books provide great detail on early family history in Galloway. See our webpage – Galloway History, M’Kerlie, 1870.
    • September, 2018 – Deb found a web page listing tax-payers in Wigtonshire in 1695. The “Mckie” name is prominent there. I’ve added an intro (including two tables) and added it to our Scottish Section – Wigtonshire Hearth Taxes, 1695.
    • August, 2018 – James Devitt wrote three books of histories of his family along with allied families. Two of these books are available as PDF Files Here. If your family was from Loughros Point, you will enjoy browsing these.
    • July, 2018 – Deb passed on records from Donegal Free Holder Voting Lists – from 1761. I got excited and digitized them, and they are available here. But now I realize that these records are also available on PRONI, the Public Records of Northern Ireland; the page here has extra detail on McKees and our allied families.
    • May, 2018 – I had a contact from Carolyn, gr-gr-gr-gr- granddaughter of Thomas McKee and Mary Ashcraft. Carolyn had done autosomal DNA testing, so she was able to compare her results with Deb. But the autosomal testing proved not as sensitive as Y-DNA over that many generations. We already have a connection with that Malinmore family (Section A – Story 2 in our DNA Tests), so we hope to hear more family history from Carolyn.
    • Early 2018 – Looking back to 2017, there were two large advancements regarding our “McKee Family from Donegal”. One was the confirmation from Y DNA results that the Malin More and Loughros Point Families are closely linked (Section A – Story 2 in our DNA Tests). Another was evidence of a link from our Andrew back to Scottish roots in The McKie Clan in Galloway. By hindsight, I should have named this webpage McKee Family from Galloway!
    • Nov, 2017 – Deb found a pdf file listing all residents of Wigtonshire in 1684. The McKie name is prominent there, as well as some “allied families”. I’ve added a map and some tables and put it as a new page in our Scottish Section Wigtonshire Parish Lists – 1684.
    • Oct, 2017; In Kilcashel Cemetery, there is a grave marker for “our” Andrew McKee – died 1790, born 1695. Recently Deb contacted me that she had found a baptism record for Andrew Thomas McKie – born in 1695 in Minnigaff Parish, Scotland. Is this our Andrew? Deb and I both think yes! See more in our new Scottish Section!
    • July, 2017; Craig McKee has Malin More roots. Recently his Y-DNA has been compared with DNA from our Loughros Point family – Tom and Barry. See these important results on our updated DNA Page!
    • July, 2017; Deb has been finding McKee and other “allied” families who settled in SW Pennsylvania around 1800. Many of these families were from Donegal, and subsequently moved to Ohio. Browse and Search for family names if interested. Our earlier question about family connections between our Loughros Point and Malin More McKees has also been answered with a positive DNA test!
    • In April 2017, Michael Higgins from IrishOrigenes sent us his interesting article on the spread of our M222 genetic marker. I have added it at the end of our DNA Page.
    • March 2017: We have a very interesting book on Cochran – Love – McKee Family History, with thanks to John Cochran II. Note this is the McKee family of Malin More, 22 kilometres SW of Crannogeboy. With chain migration to Pennsylvania and on to Ohio, and first names in common, Deb thinks these two families are related, and so do I! What do you think?
    • December, 2016; My cousin, Tim Mock, has a beautiful painting, In the Rosses Country, Donegal, by Maurice Wilks, in his home. Read the story, and see a picture, in our new page Donegal Cottage Painting.
    • November, 2016; Elizabeth McKee (b Crannogeboy Townland, Donegal, 1843) emigrated to NSW, Australia and married Robert Boyd (b Carrickfin Townland, Donegal, 1842). We have not yet made contact with descendants of that Boyd/McKee Family on this website, but when I googled “Robert Boyd” “Broughton Vale”, I found this very interesting Genealogy Blog, by Sharn White, Sydney, November, 2010. I have added Sharn’s story to our Aussie section. – James Boyd’s Book – 1853
    • September, 2016; following the Robert Boyd (1758 -1836) history mentioned below in August, Roberta Dobbyn has discovered a very early photo of his nephew, Robert Boyd, the Methodist (1802 – 1874). I have inserted this photo, from about 1867, into our Methodist History page.
    • August was Boyd Month! I received a copy of a new book, Boyd Hunting in America – Descendants of Robert Boyd and Jane Ramsey of County Donegal, Ireland and Coshocton County Ohio, by Nancy Boyd Ward Leinweber. Nancy has put together stories and pictures for about 2000 members of this family over a period of 200 years. These Boyds have done a remarkable job of preserving their family history but they were not included in two previous books on Boyds from Donegal. Nancy has provided this history, and has connected Robert (1758 -1836) to Boyds in Drimitten and Australia. Our McKee family has not been so good at preserving our history, but we lived beside Boyds in Donegal, the USA, and Australia, so we share history. Robert Boyd’s grandmother was Jane McKee – perhaps a daughter of Andrew McKee (1695 – 1790). If you wish more information about this Boyd book, contact Nancy.
    • In 1862, Margaret Moore Crawford was married in West Carlisle, Ohio. Thirty-six of her friends quilted a Friendship Quilt, including Belle, Julia and Tilia McKee. This quilt has been preserved – read the story and see a picture in our new (July, 2016) page – 1862 Coshocton, Ohio, Friendship Quilt.
    • Jun 2016 – Deb Sutherland has a will from her g —- g grandfather Charles McKee, born 1764, Ireland, married Margaret Lockhart, and died, 1847, Knox County Ohio. When Charles died his will was contested by his grandson, Robert Jr. Read the story, including transcripts, at McKee vs McKee.
    • In May, I expanded the page on the 1881 History of Knox County, Ohio by extending the section on Pioneer Families – History of Knox County. I also added a sub-page with Knox County Military History.
    • In March, Mike Barr from Coshocton County, Ohio, contacted me and suggested I read the book Fannie Blaine Elliott – Elliott Family History, 1816-2003, by Earl S. Elliott, Jr. The Elliott, Blaine, Boyd, Devitt, Finlay, Lockhart, Love, and McKee families (all Methodist) were living and marrying in Donegal, and then in Ohio. Indeed Fannie’s mother was Jane McKee, from Ardara, and Mike is a descendant of Moses Blaine and Jane McKee! I recommend this book to everyone. For supplementary reading here, I have downloaded the History of Coshocton County as a PDF file and copied the text for the chapter headings, township histories for Keene and Pike townships and some family histories into a new webpage, History of Coshocton County, Ohio. Read there about Daniel Ashcraft and Thomas McKee, the first white settlers in Pike Twp. Amazing family history!
    • In Feb 2016, we  acquired a PDF copy of the book on the Cooke Family from Corkerbeg by Allan Monroe. Click Cooke Family to access our webpage, or access the Cooke PDF file directly.
    • In Jan, 2016, Mike Barr contacted our website; Mike is from the Loughros Point Boyd family – his ancestor, Robert Boyd was a son of Albert Boyd. Albert’s wife was Ms. Blain, daughter of Capt. Moses Blaine who married Jane McKee, Ardara. Jane was probably the daughter of Andrew McKee!
      Robert Boyd emigrated to Coshocton County, Ohio, in 1820. Deb and Mike say “Boyd, Lockhart and McKee families (all Methodist) moved to Knox and Coshocton Counties”.
      In the future, we will have two new webpages – Blaine, Boyd, McKee families in Donegal, and Boyd, Lockhart and McKee families in Ohio. All new and very exciting!
    • December, 2015: Deb visited her New family in Donegal in October. We have added a page, Deb’s Visit to Family, with her stories and pictures, to our Irish Section
    • In November, 2015, Roberta added an update to her page, Family of Alexander Lockhart, and we have added Birthdates for this family. Thanks Roberta!
    • In April, 2015, Arthur Radford sent copies of McKee obituaries in The (NSW) Methodist. Dr John McKee, Bega, was awarded an M.B.E. in 1966, and we have the newspaper clipping. Good reading in Devitts and McKees in Australia.
    • March, 2015 – Deb has updated her Ancestry.com page for Charles McKee. Read it here at Update for Charles McKee.
    • February, 2015 – Deb’s Cousin Tom had taken DNA testing, so I, Barry, agreed to do the same. The results are back and Tom and I are close matches – very exciting! Read the results at our DNA Tests page.
    • January, 2015 – Deb has a passion for her McKee Family; when she sent copies of her family history notes and her mother’s McKee history, I quickly decided separate webpages were needed, along with her pictures, old and new. Find these in our (new) USA section – Deb’s McKee Family and Leola’s McKee History. Are they the best looking McKee Family?

2014 (below) was a busy year for our new McKee Family Website!

  • In December, 2014, I noticed an Index of Wills, in the Donegal Genealogy Resources webpages. On this list is: McKee, Alexr.; Lackaugh; 1765. Lackaugh (or Lackagh) townland is close to Loughros Point! Note: This large, free DGR Website  (over 3000 pages) is a great resource for all Donegal families. A few days later, I noticed a shipping list in the Ulster Ancestry webpages which lists Alex McKee (age 27) sailing from Londonderry to New York in 1803. Is this the Alexander chased by a bear in Ohio?
  • November, 2014 – Debra Lee Van Wagoner Sutherland has been researching her McKee family for several years. Her gr…gr grandfather Charles McKee, born 1764, Ireland, married Margaret Lockhart and emigrated about 1790 to PA, USA, and then to Ohio. Deb noticed this website, with identical names for five male children of our Alexander (b 1802) and her Charles. Can this be chance? We think not, and have started a USA Section for Deb’s Ohio McKee family, with DNA testing to follow.
  • In October, 2014, Jennifer Evans reports that her grandson Michael was married beside a lake in Georgia. We have an updated Evans family pic in the Aussie Section, and in our genealogy section.
  • In August, 2014, Arthur Radford, NSW, wrote saying he had been researching his family for many years. We have a new page for Arthur in the Australian section Devitts and McKees in Australia. Arthur has also provided us with his (gedcom) Devitt file, which we have appended as a new “family” to our genealogy section. Thanks to Arthur for this huge contribution!
  • In June, 2014, Lesly (McKee) Gorbach sent us her transcription of the WW1 Diary of her father Alexander and some family pictures including young Aaron McClintock McKee, and his wife Emilie. This remarkable diary is available on a new page War Diary of Alexander J. McKee and the pictures appear in the Australian section, and in the Genealogy Section. For easier downloading, reading and printing, we have also made a pdf file available. Thanks to Lesly for these wonderful additions.
  • In April, 2014, I entered the family record for Andrew McKee into our genealogy section, as recorded in the 1981 memoir of David McKee. This needs updating, and additional notes and pictures. Ross McKee had a family celebration for his 80th birthday and sent some pictures. These have been included in the (renamed) Family and Memoirs of David McKee page, as well as the genealogy section. Thanks to Ross and Marilyn!
  • At the end of March, 2014, we introduced a new web-based genealogy section, accessed through the Genealogy Tab. It offers features such as name and family searches, family trees and relations, more notes and pictures and Google map location for places. All very cool. We have started with Jennifer’s data for Aaron McClintock McKee’s family. With help, there will be more to come throughout the year. Have a look at this new section by clicking Genealogy here.
  • Una McKee writes that the old cottages and farm buildings in Ireland remind her of the larger story of (often sad) Irish history. Read more on a new page – Irish Thatched Cottages, and Abandoned Farms.
  • The two volume book published by James Devitt in 1994, Boyds of Loughros Point, The Rosses, America, Australia, and New Zealand, is now available for reading on the web. An excellent account of early times in Loughros Point!
  • A copy of the 175th Anniversary history of the Ardara Methodist Church – from Aaron and Una.
  • Family tree of Aaron McClintock McKee, with some family notes, from Jennifer – McKee Family in Australia.
  • Excerpt from Cooke Family History, by Allan Munro (under Irish page, typed by Karina)
  • Family History of  Alexander Lockhart (under Irish page) with thanks to Roberta