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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Down => Topic started by: wacha on Wednesday 30 June 10 17:38 BST (UK)
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Seeking information on:
Eleanor McKee, b.25 Dec 1826 d. 11 Dec 1899 Married to John Bennett
Eliza McKee b. 5 Sep 1831 d. 8 Jun 1897 in Big Rapids, Michigan, USA Emigrated to USA 1855, married to Samuel McCune (Michgan, USA)
Possible sibling May McKee (I have a handwritten letter from a May McKee).
Family story is that Eleanor and Eliza were raised by their aunts.
I have some information about Eleanor McKee Bennett from a Church window in Saintfields (Presbyterian) erected by her sons. I am interested in her parents and other siblings.
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Hey. My Names Keri McKee. Father:Thomas McKee. We Reside in Greenock, Scotland. Currently Looking into our ancestry. Could we be connected to this? :)
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Hi Keri,
Regarding McKee, I have been researching the McKees of Creevytenant. Here's an interesting starting point I came across:
Prof. James Y. McKee of Philadelphia, USA, compiled a volume published in 1892, “A History of the Descendents of David McKee of Anahilt, With a General Sketch of the Early McKees”. This suggests that four McKee brothers who fought with William of Orange’s army settled in Ulster after 1690, including one possibly named Hugh, whose son James, of Tullywest, had a son in turn named Hugh who took up a farm in Creevytenant, according to the account written.
Another son of James McKee, of Tullywest, was Hugh, who got a farm in the townland of Crevytenant, about a mile from his father's towards Ballynahinch, where his great grandson Hugh McKee, who had married a Miss Gill, died childless about the year 1880, and the farm passed out of the family name.
Of course I don't know if these are related to your McKee origins (or indeed the original poster wacha). One of my ancestral families, 4x great-grandmother Agnes died in 1881 (https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/deaths_returns/deaths_1881/06443/4851511.pdf).
She left a will (https://apps.proni.gov.uk/WillsCalendar_IE/WillsSearchImage.aspx?id=179591). In her will of 1878, Agnes left the farm to her sons Hugh and Samuel McKee, subject to payment of legacies of 2/6 (if required) to each of Robert and Alexander McKee, Eliza Douglas and Agnes Smyth, and £10 to be paid in four equal instalments annually to her daughter Mary Gillespie (the first payment to be a year after Agnes’ death). Hugh McKee (junior) and Samuel Law, both of Creevytenant, were appointed as executors. Letters of administration were granted to Samuel McKee on 14th April 1882. I've traced all the named children except no information on Robert McKee (maybe he went to Scotland or USA?)
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Father:Thomas McKee. We Reside in Greenock, Scotland.
Hello Keri.
My mother's maiden name was McKee. She was born in Glasgow in 1926. Her father was William Grant McKee, born in 1888 in Glasgow. He married Dorothy Miller. William's parents were James McKee, born 1860 in Glasgow, and Agnes Elizabeth Grant, born 1860 in Glasgow. James was the son of Henry McKee, born 1835 in Ireland, and Anne Reynolds, born 1837 in Ireland. I haven't been able to find Henry McKee in Ireland or his ancestry.
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...I haven't been able to find Henry McKee in Ireland or his ancestry.
In case you don't know from the 1855 marriage, both were born in parishes in County Londonderry, namely Kilcronaghan for Henry and Maghera for Anne. Henry's father James McKee (a wheelwright) is clear enough, but I can't make out the maiden name for Henry's mother Elizabeth. Thomas Reynolds (pensioner) is also clear as Anne's father, but the mother Esther's maiden name is less distinct... though I have to say it looks like "Downing", a known surname in that area of County Londonderry.
Added: I can also see a transcript of a baptism in 1832 for a Joseph Reynolds, with parents recorded as Thomas Reynolds and Esther "Dowling", it took place in the Church of Ireland parish of Termoneeny, which is nearby in that part of County Londonderry. In the 1831 Ireland census fragments, there is a family headed by a Thomas Reynolds in Dergenagh, just a possibility:
https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinshollen/Termaneeny/Dergenagh/37/
https://www.townlands.ie/londonderry/loughinsholin/termoneeny/rocktown/dergenagh/
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Thank you!
I haven't done any research in Ireland and I didn't know where to start.
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Here are the two mothers in that 1855 Glasgow marriage record, Elizabeth McKee and Esther Reynolds, for your own opinion on deciphering their maiden names:
(https://i.postimg.cc/02b8Wd1B/mckeereynolds.jpg)
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Esther's maiden name does look like Downing. There is a Downing in Derganagh townland in 1828-
https://www.billmacafee.com/derryancestors/knockloughrim/tithe/derganagh/tithederganagh.pdf In this part of Ireland I have seen Downing & Downling for the same families.
Elizabeth McKee's maiden name looks like Houston?
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Thank you!
Northern Ireland is new territory for me. O brave new world!
There were quite many McKees in that area, in or within a few miles of Kilcronaghan:
1740 Protestant Householders
- Henry McKee, Kilcronaghan
- James McKee, Magherafelt
- John McKee, Magherafelt
- William McKee, Maghera
1766 Religious Census
- John McKee, Dersertmartin
- John McKee, Desertmartin
- Matthew McKee, Desertmartin
Emigrants from Derry, 1834-5
- Henry George McKee, from Tullyroan, Kilcronaghan, to Philadelphia. Independent.
- William Mckee, from Granny, Kilcronaghan, to Philadelphia. Presbyterian.
Granny sounds like a nice, friendly place.
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Granny sounds like a nice, friendly place.
...and it probably is - it's a townland between the small towns of Tobermore and Draperstown.
https://www.townlands.ie/londonderry/loughinsholin/kilcronaghan/tobermore/granny/
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Not sure of your source for 1740 but Bill MacAfee's database lists more-
Kilcronaghan- Henry McKee
Maghera- Will. McKee, Wm. McKee
Magherafelt- Henry (McKees), John, James, Wid.
In 1766 John and Matthew are in Magherafelt as well as the John in Desertmartin (not 2 Johns and a Matthew in Desertmartin.
https://www.billmacafee.com/18centurydatabases.htm