Hillsborough County FlArchives Biographies.....McKay, James May 18, 1808 - November 11, 1876
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Nancy Rayburn http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00025.html#0006128 September 2, 2015, 11:28 pm

Source: Vol. II  pg.64-65-66 The Lewis Publishing Co. 1923
Author: History of Florida, Past and Present   

        JAMES McKAY. With the advancement and development of every community 
are inseparably connected the names of certain families and men who, by reason 
of long-continued residence and active participation in public affairs, have 
become contributive factors to their country’s welfare. The story of the lives 
of successful men is always interesting and instructive, and becomes more so 
when such lives present in combined view the elements of material success 
harmoniously blended with completeness of moral attributes. Such characters 
stand forth as beacon lights along life’s pathway, and as fitting illustrations
of human dignity and worth.
	In the story of Florida’s development, and of Tampa as a community, the
name McKay finds easy and graceful place, for more than three quarters of a
century and through three successive generations, this family has been
prominently identified with the state's progress, while still earlier records
disclose the fact that this same family was honorably represented in the
stirring events of our national history at a time antedating the Revolutionary
war, when the first progenitor of the family in America, Capt. JAMES McKAY,
being then in the Kings service, had come to the Colonies and in the French and
Indian war, commanded an independent company of volunteers made up of colonists
from Georgia and South Carolina. He was given a large grant of valuable land in
Georgia in recognition of his service. It was his grandson who later became one
of the early settlers of Tampa.
	JAMES McKAY, here designated as the Tampa pioneer, was a son of JAMES 
McKAY, and was born in Thurso, County of Caithness, Scotland, May 18, 1808. The 
County of Caithness had, for generations, been the ancestral home of this 
sterling Scotch family, whose lineage runs back, in unbroken lines, to the time
of ROBERT BRUCE and Mary, Queen of Scotts.
	In 1828 JAMES McKAY came to America, locating first in New Orleans,
where, for a period of nearly two years, he was engaged in carpentry and
building. He next located in St. Louis, Missouri, and there, in 1837, married
MATILDA C. ALEXANDER, a native of Scotland, born in Edinburgh, May 19, 1816.
	In 1838, JAMES McKAY located in Mobile, Alabama, and there was engaged 
as a carpenter and builder. In 1842 he entered into a partnership with a man 
named Brighton, and established a willow-ware business under the firm name of
McKay and Brighton. The venture proving unsuccessful, he disposed of the
business in 1846. Purchasing a small schooner, he brought his family,
consisting of his mother, his wife and four children, to Florida, locating
first at a small place north of Tarpon Springs. The location, however, was not
a favorable one, and he took his family to Brooksville, where he secured teams
and wagons and continued on to Tampa, arriving at the latter place in
September, 1846.
	Tampa, at that time, was little more than a military post, occupied by 
United States troops, stationed there for the protection of the few settlers 
against the attacks and depredations of the Seminole Indians, who refused to 
recognize the sovereignty of the white man’s government, and resented all
encroachments by the early settlers. To those sturdy pioneers, life presented
the rough and seamy side, and it required an unbounded spirit of optimism and
an unfaltering faith in the future, to even faintly visualize, in the primitive
trading post with its attendant dangers and limited advantages, the nucleus of
the metropolitan city of today.
	The first home of the McKay family in Tampa was a crude structure on 
the military reservation, situated on the riverbank at the foot of Whiting 
Street. This building, which was rented from the Government, was totally 
destroyed in the disastrous hurricane which swept over the post in 1848. The 
next location of the family home was at the corner of what is now Tampa and 
Lafayette streets, now occupied by the mercantile establishment of the Knight 
and Wall Company. Here a lot, representing one-half of the present block, was 
purchased for the sum of $50, and a home erected thereon. The building was of 
log construction, and the lumber used for finishing was brought by boat from 
Mobile. Later the block at the northeast corner of Washington and Franklin 
streets was purchased for $100, and a more commodious and modern home was built 
thereon, while immediately to the south and on the opposite corner, was located 
the building utilized as a warehouse and store building, where for many years 
JAMES McKAY conducted his merchandising and other business interests.
	While the limitations of this brief review permit of but a general 
summary, suffice it to say that Capt. JAMES McKAY became a dominant factor in 
the upbuilding of the community in which he lived. Actively espousing every 
good cause for the advancement of Tampa and South Florida, he has left upon the 
page of history the indelible imprint of his impelling personality and rugged 
character. He established a line of schooners from Tampa to New Orleans, thus 
giving to the city business connection with the outside world. He built a 
sawmill near the town, thus supplying needed lumber and material for building 
purposes. He accepted a contract and built the first courthouse for Hillsboro 
County. He entered into a contract with the Government to carry the mail from 
Tampa to Gainesville. He built and owned the first and only wharf in the 
harbor. In 1853 he served as mayor of Tampa, being the third person to hold 
that office. At the expiration of his term he declined reelection. By 
personally guaranteeing the company against financial loss, he induced the 
Morgan Steamship Company to have two of their vessels, on the route from New 
Orleans to Havana, make semi-monthly calls at Tampa and other points in
Florida. This was in 1856, and the same year he established a merchandising and
trading business in Fort Myers, another post garrisoned by United States troo
troops. He owned and operated steamers and sailing vessels, and with these made
large shipments of cattle from Florida to Cuba. He established this business in
1855, thereby putting into circulation a great deal of money through his
purchases of cattle in South Florida. He expanded this business until it
attained such proportions that in 1859 he fenced off the Gadsden Pointe
Peninsula, the fence extending from where the Spanish Sanitarium now stands to
a point on Old Tampa Bay about a mile north of Port Tampa and in this pasture
grazed thousands of head of cattle preparatory to shipment to Cuba. The
shipping point was Ballast Point where, at various times, he erected several
docks and otherwise greatly improved and developed the harbor, in fact it may
be said that there was scarcely a single undertaking of general good and
benefit to the section and the community in which he was not an active factor.
	During this stirring times of the Civil war, Capt. JAMES McKAY found
many opportunities to display his skill and courage, running the blockade and
otherwise aiding the Confederate cause, which he heartily espoused. During the
latter part of the year 1861, while endeavoring to run the blockade, he was
captured by the Federal forces. His ship was taken to Philadelphia, condemned
and sold, while he was sent as a prisoner of war to Fort Jefferson. His son
Donald, who had been captured with him, was sent to New York and imprisoned in
Fort Lafayette. After having been held prisoner for about nine months he was
released, his release having been obtained largely through the influence and
intercession of several Federal officers of high rank who had known him
intimately and favorably previous to the beginning of the war. He was
successful in obtaining the release of his son Donald, and both were permitted
to return to Tampa. He soon thereafter was appointed commissary agent by the
Confederate Government, and at once entered upon the duty of purchasing beef
cattle in South Florida for the armies of Virginia and Tennessee, a service
which he continued to render until the close of the war.
	Following the closing of hostilities he resumed his shipping,
mercantile and milling business, continuing these various activities until
1876, in which year he met with an accident from which he never fully
recovered. His death occurred at Tampa, November 11, 1876.
	To Capt. JAMES McKAY and his worthy wife, have been born nine children
of whom two still survive, namely, Capt. JAMES McKAY, Jr., and Mrs. ALMERIA B.
LYKES, both residents of Tampa.


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