Heritage of Hugh Kelsey McKee 2nd, as known to one son, E Ferrill McKee October 23, 2007 Contributed for use in the MSGenWeb Archives by E Ferrill McKee ****************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ****************************************************************** http://www.usgwarchives.net ******************************************************************* Heritage of Hugh Kelsey McKee 2nd, as known to one son, E Ferrill McKee October 23, 2007 Long ago, as a matter of fact during the 6th century, there lived a “King”, the King of Ireland, perhaps best known as “Naill, of the Nine Hostages.” To say that he was prolific is probably an understatement. Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, great scientific strides have been made in establishing the beginnings of many “Haplogroups” of persons in the generation to generation set of actions. As a result of scientific research, which has scratched the surface of potential knowledge, it is possible to define heritages through the ages. Naill’s haplogroup has been categorized as “R1b1c7”, whose origin is said to have been Northwest Ireland. To make a very long story short, present and past generations of the McKee surname have been categorized as being part of the R1b1c7 Haplogroup. Other more thorough treatises on genetic research are available elsewhere on the Internet. Genealogical research has been with us for awhile and there are organizations, such as U.S. Gen Web and Roots, are quite active in tracing family histories, from such sources as deeds, wills, family bibles, and other resources. Genetic research has amplified the results attained by genealogy. In the more recent past, I believe that at various times during the 16th, 17th, or 18th centuries, persons with the surname McKee landed in the Carolinas or Virginia, and at other ports.. William Robert McKee was born 1785, in an area later to be named Chester, South Carolina.. Margaret Kelsey was born in 1791, in the same community. Their births came at about the time of emergence of the United States of America, first as a confederacy, then as a representative democracy.. Margaret’s parents were Hugh Kelsey,. born 1758 and Margaret Mills, date of birth not known. Dates and places of birth for the parents of William Robert McKee are not known. Chester, South Carolina is accessible from Interstate Highway 77 ( I-77), via SC Highway 121. The county adjoins the counties York, Union, Lancaster and Fairfield. Chester County was formed in 1785 as part of the larger Camden district, but later transformed to Pinkney District (1791-1890); it became a separate district in 1800. The designation of “district”, much , to be changed (1868?) to “county.” Here, we begin the heritage of Hugh Kelsey McKee 2nd. In April 1813 Margaret Mills and William Robert McKee married in Chester. ---------------------------------------------B--------------------------------------------- These two children were born in Chester, South Carolina to Margaret and William: Margaret McKee, born 1816 and Elizabeth McKee, born 1818. ----------------------------------------------C----------------------------------------- The William Robert McKee family relocated to Perry County Alabama in 1819, Perry County was formed December 13, 1819, from land acquired in the Creek Nation Cession of 1814. The State of Alabama was admitted to the United States December 14, 1819, four days after the State of Mississippi was admitted. Alabama had been a part of the Mississippi Territory, which had been created in December 1812. Three children were born in Perry County Alabama to William and Margaret McKee: Hugh Kelsey McKee 1st , born November 20, 1820 (Link Internet: , James L McKee, born 1832, and Martha McKee, born 1835. Perry County is located in west central Alabama. County Seat is Marion. Between Perry County and the Mississippi state line are the counties of Hale, Greene and Sumter. (On the other side of the state line are the Mississippi counties of Noxubee and Kemper.) ---------------------------------------------D---------------------------------------- In the year 1835 the McKee family relocated to Noxubee County Mississippi. {It is possible that Martha McKee was born in Noxubee County Mississippi rather than in Perry County Alabama.} Born to William and Margaret Mills McKee in Noxubee County was William A McKee, year of birth or death not known. The State of Mississippi had been admitted to the United States on December 10, 1819. The Mississippi Territory had been created in 1812. ---------------------------------------------E------------------------------------- It has been stated by one source that William Robert McKee owned land on both sides of the line between Noxubee and Kemper Counties. The 1850 Census for Kemper County includes listings for John, Kelsey and Lawson McKee. It is presumed that the Kelsey McKee listed was Hugh Kelsey McKee 1st. It is quite possible that John and Lawson McKee were relatives of Hugh. Margaret Mills McKee died June 23, 1849. William Robert McKee is believed by some to have died in 1867. I do not have information as to to the name of the cemetery where their remains were interred, but it is presumed that they were interred somewhere in Noxubee County Mississippi. -----------------------------------------------F-------------------------------------- Hugh Kelsey McKee 1st, son of Margaret Mills and William Robert McKee, married Elizabeth Campbell. I do not have information as to when or whether they married in Noxubee or in Kemper County. At some point, the Hugh Kelsey McKee family relocated to Kemper County Mississippi. I do not have information on the names of Elizabeth’s parents. Hugh Kelsey McKee 1st died September 28, 1894, in Kemper County Mississippi. Elizabeth died April 30, 1913, in the same county. Remains of each were interred in Hopewell Methodist Church Cemetery, near Moscow, in Kemper County Mississippi. See Internet Link: :http://www.rootsweb.com/~mskemper/cemeteries/hopewellmetcem.htm According to one source, several children were born to Elizabeth and Hugh Kelsey McKee. One child was Levi Mills McKee, estimated to have been born in 1866, although it is not certain whether in Noxubee or in Kemper County Mississippi. Levi married Mary Cerena Lee It was said by Levi’s son, Hugh Kelsey McKee 2nd, that she had been born in Kentucky, year of birth not known to me. Dates and places of death for Levi Mills McKee and for Mary Cerena Lee are not known to me}. Names of other children of Elizabeth and Hugh Kelsey McKee 1st are not known to me. -------------------------------------------------G-------------------------------------- These children were born to Mary Cerena Lee McKee and Levi Mills McKee: Hugh Kelsey McKee 2nd, born August 7, 1885, in a small community in Texas. George William McKee, born August 3, 1887. He died February 17, 1949. Remains were interred in Hopewell Methodist Church Cemetery near Moscow, Kemper County Mississippi. {See Internet Link.} Howard ________? McKee Sr, born (1890?). Date of death and place of burial is not known to me. Ola _____________ McKee, born November 13, 1901, died November 30, 1906. {See Internet Link} Hopewell Methodist Church Cemetery. Robert Odell McKee Sr, born ______________?, died ____________? Place of burial not known to me. Levi Wesley McKee, born March 21, 1892, died December 26, 1934. See Internet Link. Mina Audrey McKee, born ____________, died 1971. Place of burial not known to me, presumed to be in Dallas, Texas, where she had lived for many years. --------------------------------------------H------------------------------------------ Hugh Kelsey McKee 2nd who had been ordained as a minister by the Methodist Church, married Cammie Inez Ferrill on June 1, 1911, in the Columbia, Marion County Mississippi, home of her parents Wesley Francis Ferrill and Sarah Kirkwood Ferrill. Some Hugh’s sermons as a minister are said to exist, but I do not know their exact location. In 1918 Hugh Kelsey McKee 2nd was called for physical examination by agents of the United States Army, but due to a severe injury to his left eye, suffered in a baseball game when he was thirteen years old, and which featured many residents of a nearby Choctaw Reservation in Kemper County, he was rejected by the draft, and his registration for the draft was photographed. He never completely recovered from the injury to his eye. Later, each of his six sons served in the military during the World War II era (1941-1956). At some time during the twenties Hugh and Cammie donated land to the First Presbyterian Church, located on Fifth Avenue, which land became the site of today’s church building. The following children, among others, were born to Hugh Kelsey McKee 2nd and Cammie Inez Ferrill McKee: Catherine Inez McKee Lynd, born May 22, 1912, in Mississippi (exact location not known), October 8, 2003. See Internet Link: New Palestine Cemetery, Picayune, River County MS. Two male children, born to Cammie during four years following the birth of Catherine, died on the dates of their birth. The remains of one were interred in Columbia Cemetery in Columbia, Marion County Mississippi. Location of remains of the other are not known to me. In 1942 Robert Morris McKee, born November 8, 1922 in Picayune, Pearl River County, married Eleanor Stewart, in the living room of the Baptist parsonage, located next door to the McKee home. One child was born to that marriage during the time Robert was serving in the Army in Europe. Robert died in September, 1989 in Ocean Springs, Jackson County Mississippi. He had served in two wars, World War II {He had entered the Army Air Corps, but due to an ear infection he had suffered years before, he was “washed out” of the Air Corps and transferred to the Dismounted Cavalry} and the Korean conflict {The band instructor at Southern Mississippi University had recruited the entire college band to join the National Guard or Reserve, and the group was activated and served, as a unit, in an Army base in south Alabama.} His cremated remains were interred in New Palestine Cemetery .See Internet Link. Hugh Kelsey McKee 3rd, born November 23, 1988, died in 1988, in Anchorage Alaska. One source reported that his remains were scattered in Bering Straights AK; his death is listed in the Fort Richardson Alaska Cemetery records. A U.S. Veterans Administration memorial plaque was placed in the McKee Family Plot, New Palestine Cemetery. See Internet Link. Six other children of Hugh Kelsey McKee 2nd and Cammie Inez Ferrill McKee survive in 2007. In 1918 Hugh Kelsey McKee 2nd had traveled to the town of Picayune in Pearl River County, where he was selling life insurance, and he moved his family. Later he was persuaded by friends to run for the job of City Clerk, which he did in 1924, and was elected. He then sold his insurance agency to the Bank of Picayune, which was later merged into Hancock Bank. He was re-elected in 1926, 1928 and 1930. He also served as Secretary of the Pearl River Republican Party. In 1932, Hugh supported President Herbert Hoover for re-election, Neither Herbert Hoover nor Hugh Kelsey McKee 2nd was re-elected. With the elections in 1932. from the standpoint of practical politics, the Republican Party disappeared from the state of Mississippi, not to be brought back to life for several decades, but appears to be flourishing, at least in Mississippi, today. In 1933 Hugh Kelsey McKee 2nd stood for the bar examination, not having ever spent a day in law school, able to see through only one eye, was admitted to the Mississippi bar. He managed a law office and insurance agency for the next twenty seven years, until he died in 1960. In 1947 Hugh had erected a small business office building at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Railroad (now under another name) Street. As was true for many Mississippians, times from 1933 until 1940 were rather thin for Hugh Kelsey and Cammie Ferrill McKee, and for their nine children. Fortunately, Hugh had acquired a goodly amount of knowledge and skills, while he was growing up on a farm, in growing ‘green things’, and the large McKee family survived during those years primarily by consuming the vegetable products grown to the rear of the house. Transplantation of sweet potato vines in a temperature of 25 degrees F, in February 1933, leaves an undying impression. All six sons were guided and directed in that endeavor by their father, Hugh Kelsey McKee 2nd. The sons formed a production line, one to poke a hole into the ground with a spade pole, one to place a vine in the hole, one to pour a bit of water into the hole, one to push the dirt up around the plant, and two to carry water and sweet potato plants. Turnips, squash, okra, string beans, corn and other vegetables were also grown there. There was also a Persimmon tree, whose fruit was delicious. Corn was shucked and kernels removed, taken to a local grist mill, location not recalled, but it was about a fifteen minute walk toward the East, and the corn, ground into meal, was apportioned to the McKee family and the grist mill owner. Six of the eleven pecan trees Hugh had planted were in the garden area. Cammie accumulated the pecans in “tow sacks” and sold them at the end of each year, and that is how the property taxes were paid throughout the depression of the 30’s. Hugh 2nd managed a small farm, right in the middle of the town of Picayune. Who knows when the agricultural training received may come in handy for his children. During those years Cammie prepared birth certificates and death certificates for all who lived in Picayune, for which she was paid the great sum of fifty cents a piece. Those not old enough to recall those times may not be able to place that sum in proper perspective. During their stay at 802 Fifth Avenue, in an area north of the garden area, the family raised cows, their milk being churned in an old fashioned churn, to produce butter and buttermilk. The pigs were slaughtered by the two oldest sons, who wielded axe and butcher knife. The pork provided badly needed meat for the family. Hugh had also built a wooden fence around the back yard where chickens were raised for their eggs and meat. The garden and livestock area were clearly to be seen from the auditorium of the high school. During several years after 1925, Hugh Kelsey 2nd drove a Model T Ford. He traded the Ford for a Chevrolet in about 1935, but turned it back to the dealer due to poor financial conditions. A fair number of other Mississippi auto owners experienced the same situation during the 30’s. Hugh never drove a car again. During the thirties, one past-time was to watch bi-planes fly over. Autumn 1943 or Winter 1944 the oldest son, by that time a Major, flew a squadron of five closely bunched B-17’s, based in Florida, in a simulated bombing of New Orleans or wherever on the coast, at an altitude of five hundred feet or less, straight down Linden Street across its intersection with Fifth Avenue. What a noise! In 1918, the oldest child, Catharine, entered Elementary School in Picayune. In 1948, when the youngest child was graduated from the high school, marking thirty consecutive years when at least one McKee child attended one of the schools in Picayune.{ Each of the nine children were graduated from Picayune High.} One such school was West Side Elementary, located about two blocks away, on Kirkwood Street. which perhaps was named after Cammie’s mother’s maiden surname when a tree name could not be found. It has been said that the surname “Kirkwood” may be translated from the original Scot language into “Church in the Wood.” In 1939, the oldest son entered the Army Air Corps, and from that time until 1964 at least one son served in the military. The older four sons were in combat zones during parts of the war. There is no record of any wounds to any. Every boy, every man, every girl, every woman, caught up in combat, whether he or she died on battlefield, or years later in his or her bed, has a story to tell, a message to send. Oft-times this message is a mystery, that can partly be told by a gravestone. A gravestone is a message. Some messages are clear, some not so clear, some verbose, some succinct, some true, some somewhat imaginative. Hugh’s widow, Cammie, arranged to have etched onto Hugh’s simple, flat stone, a message that rings true nearly half a century later. The message Cammie chose to use on the stone for Hugh Kelsey McKee 2nd was: He lived for others In 1964 Cammie sold the home to the Separate Picayune School System, on which a new high school building was constructed. Three pecan trees that Hugh had transplanted in 1926 survived Hurricane Katrina August 29, 2005. Hugh 2nd had followed an annual practice of turning over the dirt around each of the original eleven pecan trees, to a depth of about six inches and in a diameter of about six feet around the tree, then mixing in cow manure. Each pecan tree produced about 100 pounds of pecans. The three remaining trees seem to suffer from a lack of cultivation. They have become the favorite visiting place for children of Hugh 2nd and Cammie, as part of rare visits to Picayune and New Palestine Cemetery McKee Family Plot. In a companion, parallel treatise, Clan Ferrill} published to the Internet under USGenWeb {+Pearl River and +Jackson Counties}. The McKee’s had moved through South Carolina, and Alabama, while the Ferrill’s had moved through North Carolina and Georgia, coming to meld together in Mississippi.