BIOGRAPHY: William McKEE, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 311-2
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WILLIAM MCKEE, the efficient alderman of the Fourth ward, Johnstown, this 
county, is a son of Thomas and Jane (Logan) McKee, and was born in Shade 
township, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, April 12, 1822. His grandfather, Thomas 
McKee, was born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, and served in the 
Revolutionary war.
     Thomas McKee, father of the gentleman whose names heads this memoir, was 
born and reared in Huntingdon county, and for a number of years followed the 
occupation of a miller in connection with farming in his native county. In 1814 
he removed to Cambria county and settled on a farm near Johnstown, and followed 
the combined occupations of miller and farmer the rest of his life. He was a 
member of the Presbyterian church of Johnstown, and died in March, 1826, at his 
home in what is now Upper Yoder township, this county. He served in the War of 
1812. His marriage with Jane Logan resulted in the birth of ten children, of 
whom William McKee, our subject, is the youngest and the only one now living.
     In his youth he received a very limited education, attending the old 
subscription schools only about one and a half years. However, through 
perseverance, by close observation of human events and a judicious course of 
reading Mr. McKee has acquired a good practical education. 
     He began life on his own account very early, and for three months drove a 
team of oxen in a brick-yard in Johnstown. He was next employed as a clerk in 
the grocery store of William C. Hayes & Co., Johnstown, where he remained three 
years. He then secured a similar position in the grocery store of Jacob 
Fronheiser, of Johnstown, in whose employ he remained five years. During 1846 
and 1847 he was engaged in supplying the following furnaces with iron ore: 
Cambria, Indiana, Saltsburgh, Woodward and Ralston, and from 1867 to 1887 was 
employed in one of the offices of the Cambria Iron company. At the close of that 
period of service Mr. McKee formed a partnership with Casper Burgraff, and under 
the firm name of Burgraff & McKee opened a grocery store in Johnstown; after a 
year and a half they dissolved partnership, and Mr. McKee engaged in the grocery 
business for himself.
     In 1860 he was elected justice of the peace of the Second ward of 
Johnstown, and in 1861 was elected its burgess. However, he resigned the latter 
office and offered his services to his country. He enlisted August 22, 1862, in 
company K, One Hundred and Thirty-sixth regiment, Pennsylvania volunteers, and 
was commissioned first lieutenant. The most important engagement in which he 
participated was the battle of Fredericksburg. After nine months' active 
service, his term of enlistment having expired, he returned to Johnstown in May, 
1863. From the latter date until 1889 he was engaged in the grocery business. In 
1892, he was elected alderman, and has occupied that office very acceptably ever 
since, being at present alderman of the Fourth ward, Johnstown.
     Mr. McKee has been twice married. In 1846 he was united in marriage with 
Miss Phoebe Reilly, of Johnstown, and to this union four children were born, of 
whom two are living. His wife died in 1853, and in 1855 he married Mrs. Mary H. 
McDowell; to this marital union ten children have been born, seven of whom are 
living.