Early McKee Ancestors

While visiting Ireland, a fellow researcher did a lot of research on the early McKee’s.  She passed the information on to Wayne Adams and myself.  I am including that information here, HOWEVER PLEASE BEWARE…there are many places that seem iffy and have little to no documentation.  Please take this with a grain of salt.  I do not guarantee the accuracy of this information.  Please use this as a guide or basis for your own research.

 

 

 

Ancestors of Archibald McKee

Generation No. 1

        1.  Archibald McKee, born Bet. 1708 – 1711 in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland; died 1776 in Prince Fredericks Parish, Williamsburg Township; Craven County, South Carolina.  He was the son of 2. Archibald McKee and 3. Jane Bell.  He married (1) Unknown.  She was born Bef. 1716 in County Down, Ireland, and died Bef. 1757 in Williamsburg County, South Carolina.  She was the daughter of John Witherspoon and Janette Witherspoon.  He married (2) Mary Ann Witherspoon April 25, 1757 in South Carolina  [?].  She was born 1707 in Knockbracken, Drumbo Parish, Down, Ireland, and died 1765 in Williamsburg Township; Craven County, South Carolina.  She was the daughter of John Witherspoon and Janette Witherspoon.  He married (3) Elizabeth O’Brien Aft. 1765.  She was born Bet. 1733 – 1734, and died Aft. 1776 in Williamsburg Township, Craven County, South Carolina.

 

Notes for Archibald McKee:

From Wayne Adams

In Craven Co, SC by 5 JUL 1740 [300A land grant plus lot in Kingstree] sources include Royal Land Grants, Charleston Colonial Wills, The History of Williamsburg Co, and Beatrice MACKEY DOUGHTIE’s “The MACKEYs and Allied Families”.  1st marriage see History of Williamsburg, pg.82  2nd marriage see 1757 Marriage Settlement agreement & SC Marriages 1688-1799; 3rd marriage see his will. MACKEY book confirms/ties sources together, including Adam & his sister Jane going to 76/Abbeville County. Also see IGI microfiche for SC.  cHist.of Wmsbg. includes a lengthy account by Ann WITHERSPOON’s brother which does NOT confirm the “pg.82” conclusion based upon their father’s will “and other sources” — more likely the Ann was the one who married Archibald’s son Joseph.  We can confirm that Archibald’s second marriage was to Mary nee WITHERSPOON, the widow of David WILSON and the AUNT of children in “pg.82” will.

Identity of Archibald’s 1st wife “up in the air”.    Tentatively ARCHIBALD is linked to the only ARCHIBALD on the IGI for Ireland but relationship is circumstantual and should be viewed with caution.

 

 

From Wanda Frazer

Immigrated to South Carolina in early 1750.

 

Note: There is a lot of confusion about which McKee married which Witherspoon and all of their children. There are notices of Archibald McKee being married to 2-3 different Witherspoon women.  This is most likely incorrect.  There is also confusion concerning which set of children goes with which family.  I have seen reference for Ann Witherspoon being married to 4 different McKee men, all with the same children.  There is an error somewhere.  I have tried to discern this as best as I could, based on the information I had and dates of birth, death, marriage, etc.  Much more information and research needs to be done to figure it out.

 

From History of Williamsburg

 

p. 81-82         “James Witherspoon died in 1768.  He married Elizabeth McQuoid.  They had four sons, James, Gavin, Robert, and John; and one daughter, Ann, who married Archibald McKee.  In his will, he mentions his granddaughter, Elizabeth McKee.

 

p. 86   “Archibald McKee’s will was proved October 3, 1776.  He mentions his wife, Elizabeth; his five children, Adam and Joseph McKee, Martha Cooper, Jane Miller, and Archibald Knox, and his two sons-in-law, William Miller and Samuel Knox.”

 

McKee History by HHM  [Info received from Linda Bullard, do not know who HHM is]

 

These are the ships that the McKee family’s came to Charleston, SC on from Ireland in 1772-1773.  Archibald and his parents are believed to have been on the ship [Freemason] that landed Dec. 22nd, 1772.  It took about 7 weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean…

 

Freemason: 250 tons.  Master, John Semple; agent J. W. and G. Glentry, Hill Wilson, Geo. Anderson, Wm. Booth, merchants, owners.  Sailed from Newry  Oct 27, 1772.

 

The Mackeys and Allied Families

South Carolina

Chapter II

pp. 679-685

 

Archibald McKee was one of the early settlers of Williamsburg Co.  He took a land grant of 300 acres in Williamsburg Township and one lot in the town of Kingstree in Craven Co.  5 July 1740.  He married 1-Ann Witherspoon, a daughter of Elizabeth [ McQuoid] and James Witherspoon.  James Witherspoon in his will in 1768 names heirs: “My granddaughter, Elizabeth McKee, daughter of Ann and Archibald McKee.”  [SC Archives: Royal Land Grants & Colonial Wills, Charleston; Boddie: History of Williamsburg Co.]

Archibald McKee of Craven County, Williamsburg Township, a Marriage Settlement made 25 April 1757 with Mrs. Mary Wilson, widow of David Wilson, whom he now intends to wed.  Trustees named as Robert Wilson and Robert Witherspoon.   Witnesses:  Joseph Mickie, Mary Dick and John Leviston, J. P. [SC Archives, Marriage Settlements].  After the death of his 2nd wife, Archibald McKee Married 3-Elizabeth _______.

Archibald McKee, Williamsburg Township, Prince Frederick Parrish, Craven County, signed will 3 Oct. 1776, naming wife Elizabeth McKee.  “What I give to her is to pass to her three daughters by her former husband, viz: Elizabeth O’Brien, Margaret O’Brien, and Jane Witherspoon.”  To my children, each 1/5th of my Estate: Martha Cooper; Adam McKee; Joseph McKee; Jane, wife of William Miller; _______ Knox, wife of Samuel Knox “her share to her son, Archibald Knox.”  Executors: wife, Elizabeth; son, Joseph McKee with James Fleming, Esquire [Charleston County 18-241].

 

Two of the children of Archibald McKee, Adam McKee and Jane McKee, wife of William Miller, removed to Abbeville County, South Carolina and settled near Greenville Presbyterian Church.

Joseph McKee of Williamsburg District, signed will 23 March 1810, probated 23 April 1810 by David McClary, Ordinary, Williamsburg District [A-75], mentioning “beloved wife” [no name].  To my daughters, Ann Knox, ½ to her children; Elizabeth, “to her children by her 1st husband, James Fleming”.  To: Ann Mitchell, Elizabeth McClary and John White “$5 each is all that I intend for them to have.”  To: Henry Hanna now in the Mississippi Territory. “I will to him the part of the estate of my deceased father, Archibald McKee, which I have just gained in Court of Equity.”  To: My Grandson: Samuel Knox, “My home plantation”.  To: the children of my brother Adam McKee, ” I will $200 this being the sum of his I lost during the Revolution.”  Executors: “My nephews”, Robert and Thomas Witherspoon and John Shaw, brother [sic.] Witnesses: John McClary, Hugh Wilson, Robert T. Cantley [sic.]-Note.  One of the histories of Williamsburg County shows Elizabeth McClary and John White to be grandchildren of Joseph McKee.

Joseph McKee  died 31 March 1810, age 77

Ann McKee,     his 2nd widow, died 29 Dec. 1778, aged 37

Elizabeth McKee,  his 3rd widow  died 6 July 1810, aged 66 years

[SC Historical Magazine  XIII, 66]

 

Elizabeth McKee signed will 2 July 1810; probated 24 July 1810, naming following heirs: Nephews: David Shaw, William Shaw, John Shaw.  To Nieces: Elizabeth Shaw, Lillie Shaw, Sarah Elvira Shaw. Executors: David and John Shaw.  Witnesses: Jenet Ousten, Samuel M. Knox.

 

The SC Land Plats show Adam McKie, Sr., took land in 96 District in 1774.  He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War.  The will of Adam  McKee [sic.], Abbeville District, was signed 13 July 1805; probated 5 Jan. 1807, naming wife Jean, executor, with my sons, Michael and Adam McKee, Jr.  To my daughter, Margaret’s children [no surnames]: daughter Grissel: daughter Jean Lindsey; son Elijers; son John; daughters Mary, and son William Seath McKee.  Witness: William McKee, Joseph Harris, and James McKee.

 

Adam McKee, Abbeville County, Estate Administered 4 Sept 1820 by John and Elenor McKee.  Bond signed by: Isaac Cowan.  Inventory 19 Sept 1820 by: Eli Bowie, Robert Breckenridge and Michael McKee.  Note: Adam McKee, Sr., Adam McKee, Jr., and many others of this family are buried in a plantation graveyard about 1 mile from Greenville Churchyard, Abbeville County.

 

James Cooper, Williamsburg District, signed will 6 June 1771, naming wife, Martha and children: James Cooper, Jr., Janet, Margaret, Ann [b. 28 Aug. 1754], Joseph, Adam and William Cooper.  Executor: wife Martha and “my brother”, Samuel Cooper [Charleston County: 14-137]

 

Archibald Knox [probably grandson named in will of Archibald McKee, deceased of Williamsburg Township] died in Amite County, Mississippi, leaving will signed 13 Feb. 1816; probated 21 May 1821 by William A. Knox.  Estate appraisers, 12 Feb. 1816 by: James Hanna and John Cain.  Martha Knox, wife and administrator with sons-in-law: Alex. Jackson and James Hanna, and step-son-in-law, Hugh W. Cooper.  Children of Archibald Knox by 1st wife were Elizabeth Hanna, Samuel M. Knox, Anna Jackson and Martha Hanna.  Children of Archibald Knox by 2nd wife [Martha] were: Sarah Jackson Knox, Rebecca Adaline Knox, Robert Lowry Knox, and William Alexander Knox. [Casey & Otken: “Amite County, Mississippi 1699-1865”  1-379-410]  Samuel M. Knox, Amite County, signed will 11 June 1827; probated 22 Oct. 1827, naming Anne Reese Knox, and son, Samuel James Witherspoon Knox [minor].  Executors: wife, Anne Reese Knox with friends, Richard Hurst.  Witnesses: Charles McKnight, Lenora C. Witherspoon.

Henry Janna removed to the Mississippi Territory and we find him in Amite County, Mississippi, 9 March 1810, with 163 acres.  He also had a grant of 622 acres in Amite County, 9 July 1816.  Henry Janna ordered by the court to sell Negro slave girl claimed by William F. Hanna and James Hanna, given by their grandfather to their mother, who has since died. [No date of Court Order.]  The will of Henry Hanna was signed 26 July 1820; probated 6 March 1821, naming following children: William Henry Hanna, James Hanna, Elizabeth Martha Hanna [2nd daughter], Anna Latita Hanna [eldest daughter], Nancy Elvira Hanna [youngest daughter].  “To my niece”; Anna Hanna.  Executors: Moses Gordon, Sr., James Hanna “my brother”; John Knox, William Henry Hanna, “my son now under age”.  Witness: John and Robert Nesmith, Zachariah Nettles.  Henry Hannah deceased 6 March 1821, William H. Hanna, guardian of James Hanna [minor]; Moses Gordon, guardian of Nancy Hanna [minor].

Henry Hanna deceased 5 March 1821.  Administrators:  John Lowry, James Denman, Samuel Knox, Daniel McGahey and Stephen Heard.  Estate Appraised at $11, 268.53.  Final settlement 26 Oct. 1821.  Heirs: son, James Hanna; daughters, Anna L. Hanna; Elizabeth Martha Hanna, Nancy Elvira Hanna, William Henry Hanna and Niece: Anna Hanna.

 

Ann Davis, Amite County, Mississippi, signed will 24 July 1825; probated 22 Aug. 1825.  To: Letticea Thompson Davis “my living daughter under 18 years of age”; “My step-sons”; Elijah McKay Davis, Morgan Davis, Stephen R. Davis.  To my nieces: Letticea Jenkins and Ann Robinson.  To: Jane Hanna and Eliza Hanna, nieces of my brother James Hanna.

 

Ann Hanner married 18 Sept. 1811, Elijah Davis.

 

John McCullock of Anderson County, South Carolina signed will 4 Nov. 1806; probated 2 March 1807; naming wife, Elizabeth McCullock, and two step-daughters, Elizabeth Cash and Mary Cash “to have the property of their deceased fathers”.  Executors: James Crowder and John Milford.  Witness: James Crowder, John Milford and David Steel.

 

Inventory made by James Pettigrew, William McKee, John Milford, Thomas Milford, David Gillespie.

 

In the final settlement of Estate, Betsy Cash; signed as Betsy McKee, but the name of her husband was not given.  It is probable that she was the wife of Archibald McKee, Sr., since a relationship existed between the Cash family of Anderson District and this branch of the McKee family.

 

Archibald McKee and wife, Elizabeth, a deed to Mark Prince, signed 23 March 1846, tract of land containing 100 acres originally granted William McKee, being part of said tract lying in Anderson District bound on North by William A. McKee; East by Archibald McKee and West by John Hays.  Witness: James Wiley, Stephen J. McKee.

 

Elizabeth McKee renounced her dower 23 Nov. 1846 [Anderson Co. SC Z-165?]

 

Archibald McKee Sr., Anderson District, SC. Deceased; Citation 7 Jan 1852. Administrated 21 Jan 1852 by his sons, William A. McKee and Stephen J. McKee.  Bond signed by Mark Prince and H. P. Price.  Inventory by any three names, viz: Peniel P. Price,  H. P. Price, G. L. Magee, J. P. Tucker, A. D. Gray.

Following heirs named in Estate:

Elizabeth McKee, widow 1/3 of Estate

Mary, wife of Daniel H. Bryson, daughter

John S. McKee [son] residing in Bibb Co. Ala., 19 Oct. 1953

Archibald R. McKee [son] residing in Tippah Co., Miss.  11 Feb. 1853

Jane C., wife of Mark Prince [daughter]

Rebecca H. McKee     [daughter]

Sarah L., wife of James McMahan [daughter]

Elizabeth, wife of N. J. Carter   [daughter]

Rosannah, wife of James Grimes     [daughter]

Margaret B. McKee    [daughter]

Martha C., wife of William M. Neal       [daughter]

James McKee, deceased son; to his heirs [of whom further]

Stephen J. McKee                [son]

William A. McKee       [son]

 

Samuel S. McKee, a son who died before the final division.  The portion of Samuel s. McKee was made a part of the whole estate of Archibald McKee, Sr.  2/3’s of the estate was then divided into thirteen equal portions and one portion was given to each of the 12 children of Archibald McKee, Sr., and one portion was given to the children of James McKee, a deceased son [1/3 to each of his children] of a 13th share.  [Anderson County, SC  File 1290]

 

25 Nov. 1852: “Dear Brother William McKee:  As I have had a great Deal of sickness this fall and is not able to come to see you all I want you to tend to my part of the Estate for me if you please for it is out of my power to be there at the time set for all to meat. I have got my cotton to pick out and part of my wheat to sow, and if nothing prevents moore than I now of at this time you all may Look for me and Martha out The Next Summa after crops is laid By and not before.  I don’t think.  Write to us as soon as you can.

William M. Neal

Walker County, Georgia

5 April 1853: William M. Neal deposeth that the share of property on the Estate of Archibald McKee, deceased, received by him is just and true to the best of his knowledge.                     James Burck, Justice of the Peace

Anderson County, SC  File 1290

 

Elizabeth McKee, widow of Archibald McKee, Sr., Citation  6 Nov. 1865.  Her Estate administrated  25 Nov.  1865 by son, Stephen J. McKee.

Following heirs named in Estate File:

1. Jane C., wife of Mark Prince, Pickens, SC  [daughter]

2. Elizabeth H., wife of N. J. Carter, Battle Creek P. O. , Oconee Co., SC

[daughter]

3. Archibald McKee, son,  residing in Tippah County, Mississippi

4. Martha C., wife of William M. Neill, residing in Cross Plains, Ala.  [daughter]

5. Sarah, wife of James McMahan  [daughter]

6. William A. McKee, son, residing in Jonesboro, Ala.

7. Rose Ann [Rosannah], wife of James Grimes      [daughter]

8. Stephen J. McKee, son, residing Baylor P.O. Tuscaloosa Co., Ala. At final division

9. Rebecca H. McKee of Anderson, SC          [daughter]

10. Margaret B. McKee, Anderson County, SC            [daughter]

11. James McKee, deceased son.  His children, William A. McKee, Martha C. McKee and James McKee of Hemstead Co. Washington P. O. Arkansas

12. Samuel S. McKee, deceased son, his share to his brothers and sisters

[Anderson Co., SC: File 2115]

 

James McKee, deceased Guardianship of his children.  5 Dec. 1885   Witness: John Rudd

Eliza McKee, widow of James McKee, deceased, gives her consent for William A. McKee their uncle to be made legal guardian of the minor children of James McKee       viz:

Martha C. McKee,  minor daughter [became age 21,  12 May 1871]

James McKee, Jr.   Minor son

William McKee      Minor son

Bond signed by William McKee, N. J. Adams

[Anderson Co., SC: File 2581]

 

The court records indicate James McKee, Jr., son of James McKee, Sr. and his wife, Eliza  died before 22 Oct. 1886  [Est. File of Rebecca H. McKee]

N. B. Mary, wife of Daniel H. Bryson, and John S. McKee are not listed as heirs in the settlement of estate of Elizabeth, wife of Archibald McKee, Sr.  If not dead by 1865, it is probable they were children of Archibald McKee, Sr. by a former marriage.  In 1850, Archibald McKee, Sr. Was age 80, and his wife, Elizabeth age 57.

 

Samuel S. McKee, deceased, Anderson Co., SC.  Citation  15 Sept. 1854.  Estate Administered 9 Oct. 1854 by his brother Stephen J. McKee.  Bond signed by William A. McKee and N. J. Carter.  Heirs were:

Elizabeth McKee,   Mother

Jane, wife of Mark Prince          Sister

Stephen J. McKee,       Brother

Elizabeth, wife of N. J. Carter,  Sister

Sarah, wife of James McMahan,     Sister

Margaret B. McKee,   Sister

Rebecca H. McKee,    Sister

Rosa Ann, wife of James Grimes,    Sister

William A. McKee,      Brother

James S. McKee, deceased brother:        His children

Three other shares names not listed-evidently set aside for:

Martha, wife of William M. Neal/Neil     Sister

Archibald McKee, Jr.          Brother

Mary, wife of Daniel H. Bryson       Sister

 

The estate consisted of what was due to Samuel S. McKee from the estate of his deceased father, Archibald McKee, Sr. He also had some personal property of his own.

[Anderson Co, M SC: File 1382]

 

 

 

Rebecca H. McKee, Spinster, deceased, Anderson Co., SC.  Administered  22 Oct. 1886 by her nephew, Archibald L. McMahan.  Bond signed by James R. Ashley and Samuel S. McMahan.  Inventory by J. A. Lathem, George M. Evans and A. F. Hanks.  Final Settlement  18 Sept. 1889

[at which time no contact was to be had with her brother, S. J. McKee]

 

Heirs named in Estate File:

1. William A. McKee, brother, 1 share

2. Sarah McMahan, sister, residing in Iva, SC; 1 share

3. Elizabeth H. Carter, sister, residing in Battle Creek, SC; 1 share

4. Martha C. Neal, sister, residing in Eclectic, Alabama, 1 share

5. Archibald R. McKee, brother, residing in Salisbury, Tenn., 1 share

6. Rosa A. Grimes, sister, residing in Birmingham, Ala., 1 share

7. James McKee, deceased brother, 1 share to his children:  William McKee and Martha C. McKee, both of Emmett, Ark.

8. Stephen J. McKee, deceased brother, 1 share to his children.  Viz: William A. McKee of Weatherford, Parker Co., Tex.

Fannie E. Baker, Weatherford, Parker Co, Tex.

9. Jane Prince, deceased sister, 1 share to her children and husband

Mark Prince of Pickens Co, SC   viz:

Enoch J. Prince of Pickens Co., SC

Mary T. Taylor of Pelzer, SC

Martha J. Taylor of Pickens, SC

Sarah A. Adams of Equality, SC

Margaret R. Freeman of Pickens, SC

Amanda L. Nix of Pickens, SC

 

Louise L. McKee, of Iva, SC wife of William Harrison McKee

[Anderson Co, SC: File: 3641]

 

Note:  No mention is made of the following brother and sisters:  Mary, wife of Daniel H. Bryson; John S. McKee; Margaret B. McKee

 

Stephen J. McKee, died in Texas sometime between 22 Oct. 1886 and 4 May 1892.  Power of Attorney, Parker County, Texas, to collect in Anderson County, SC, what is due to heirs of Stephen J. McKee from the estate of their aunt, Rebecca H. McKee, lately deceased in Anderson Co., SC

 

Heirs of Stephen J. McKee:  Fannie E. McKee; widow: Mrs. Fannie E. Baker, daughter and witnessed by Oscar Baker; W. A. McKee, son and witnessed by J. R. O. McKee

 

Citation in the Power of Attorney stated: “Stephen J. McKee died in Texas in 1891 and left a widow and two children.”

[Anderson Co., SC: File 3641]

 

 

 

To set the stage upon which Archibald McKee would soon appear let’s turn back the clock to 1663 and fast-forward to the 1730s

The Carolina Territory was granted to eight Lords Proprietors by King Charles II during 1663 in appreciation of their assistance in his restoration to the throne.  The first English settlement was in 1670 but there was little or no movement inland until later.  The Carolinas were divided into “North & South” in 1729 when the proprietors relinquished their rights and two royal provinces were formed.  The next year the King ordered Gov. Robert Johnson to lay out eleven townships on the banks of navigable streams.  Our interest is upon Williamsburgh Township on the Wee Nee (Black) River where our McKEE and WITHERSPOON families were to make their appearance within the next decade. This was in Craven County, one of the four original political divisions of South Carolina which was granted to a colony of Irish Presbyterians.

The initial Williamsburgh (which later became Kingstree) settlement was in 1732 when a group of 40 Irish Presbyterians made their way up the Wee Nee from Georgetown to Brown’s Ferry and overland to the area of the “King’s Tree”.  (some sources assume they were in the Charleston area or Georgetown for a year or two before proceeding to Kingstree)  According to a Georgetown Gazette article of December 3, 1799, the origin of the Kingstree designation was said by early settlers to have been some large white pine trees, the straightest and biggest of which were marked with an arrow to show they were reserved to become masts for the King’s naval stores.  A brief History of Kingstree, SC from which this information was extracted, continues with a paragraph

“In 1734 John Witherspoon and his family migrated to Williamsburgh and settled in various

parts of the Township”.

 

In 1732, a colony of forty Scotch-Irish under the leadership of Roger Gordon settled about the King’s Tree on Black River on lands now within the immediate vicinity of Kingstree. Making up this colony of forty, were the  families of the following men:           Roger Gordon,

Edward Plowden,

Robert Ervin,

James Armstrong,

David Johnson,

Adam McDonald,

William James,

Archibald Hamilton

David Wilson and

John Scott.

This colony came up Black River and, disembarking from their vessel at Brown’s Ferry, blazed their way through the forests along what is now the Kingstree – Georgetown road to the King’s Tree.  These were the first settlers in Williamsburg Township.

In 1734, John Witherspoon and his seven children, six of \vhom were married and brought children of their own, came up Black River as far as Potato Ferry; and, from this point, settled in various parts of the Township.  Robert Witherspoon, grandson of John, in 1780, wrote the following account of the Witherspoon Colony. the original manuscript of which this is a true copy (per History of Williamsburg), is in the possesion of the descendants of the late Dr. J. R. Witherspoon, of Alabama.  This same material, with possibly a few editorial prerogatives one place or the other, is a part of the 1835 manuscript available in a bound volume at the Williamsburg Library.  Reportedly it can be purchased through the Chamber of Commerce (old railroad depot building) but unfortunately they were closed when we were there so the best we could do was photocopies

Young Robert Witherspoon describes the trip by boat across the Atlantic and his experience was probably not too different from the conditions under which Archibald McKee traveled a few years later

.       “We went on ship bord the 14th of Septernber and lay vind bound in the Lough at Belfast 14 days.  The second day of our sail my grandmother died and was iritered in the region ocean which was an affective sight to her offspring.  We. were sorely tossed ai sea with storms which caused our ship to spring a leek.  Our. pumps were kept incessantly at work day and’night.  For many days our mariners seemed many a time at their wits end but it pleased God to bring us all safe to land, which was about the I st of December”.

“We went on board the ship called ‘The Good Intent on the 14th of September, and were detained by headwinds fourteen days in the Lough at Belfast.  On the second day after we set sail, my Grandmother, Janet, died  and was interred in the boisterous ocean, which was an affecting sight to her offspring.

“We were sorelv tossed at sea with storms, which caused our ship to spring a leak; our pumps were kept constantly incessantly at work all day and night for many days together and our mariners seemed manv times at their wits’ end.  But it pleased God to bring us all safe to land, except for my grandmother, about the first of December.

 

Of course Robert Witherspoon, who was the nephew of Archibald McKee’s second wife, (Mary Witherspoon Wilson McKee) had a good basis for knowing the early Williamsburgh settlers, particularly his close relatives.  Placing arrivals sequentially he mentioned

“It is to be remembered that we did -not all come over in one ship, nor in the same year, for my uncles, William James and David Wilson, and their families, with uncle Gavin, left Belfast in 1732 and uncle Robert followed in 1736.

 

 

As I said, we landed in Charleston three weeks before Christmas in 1734.  We found the inhabitants very kind.  We remained in that place until after Christmas and were put on board an open boat, with tools, one year’s provisions, and one steel mill for each family.  Our provisions consisted of Indian corn, rice, wheat flour, beef, pork, some rum, and salt; and, for each hand over sixteen Years of age one axe, one broad and one narrow hoe.

John Witherspoon and Janet Witherspoon were born about the year 1670.  They lived in their younger years near Glasgow at a place called Begardie, and were married in 1693.    In 1695, they left Scotland and settled at Knockbracken, in the Parish of Drumbo, County of Down, Ireland, where they lived in comforable circumstances and good credit until the year 1734.  I-le then removed with his family to South Carolina.

Assuming Archibald came in that “third wave” (or trickle) around 1736-1738 there had undoubtedly been some settling in, clearing of fields, construction of primitive roads, etc but not nearly enough time had elapsed for establishment of “civilization” comparable to that left on the other side of the Atlantic.

In light of the fate of the “Lost Colony” which had not been all that far away it is understandable that there was some fear of the nomadic Native Americans who had been in the area before they came and continued to come through on hunting or trading expeditions.

“Another alarming circumstance was the Indians.  When they came to hunt in the spring they were in great numbers in all places like the Egyptians Locusts but they were not hurtful.  We had a great deal of trouble and hardships in our first settling but the few inhabitants continued yet in health and strength.  Yet we were still opprest with fears on divers accounts, expecially of being massacred by the Indians or bit by the snakesor torn by wild beasts or being lost or perished in the woods.  Of the lost there was three persons.”

 

Once settled into place attention turned to the fulfilling of spiritual needs.

“About this time people’began to form into societys and sent to Ireland for a minister.  One came named Robert Heron.  He stayed three years and returned back to Ireland….In May 1743 the Rev. John Roe arrived here from Scotland.  He came upon a call from this congregation sent some time before to the Rev.  Willison from Dundee.  He continued a faithful and laborious pastor in this congregation until the year 1761, he being abroad up black river was taken sick with the pleurisy and died, his remains were brought and buried at the meeting house, being 46 years old.”

From this we see that Archibald would have experienced at least the tail end of Rev Heron’s ministry and all of Rev Roe’s ministry.  Chronicler Robert in another place mentioned specifically several persons who were apparantly more or less the backbone of the church.  He did not mention Archibald McKee in that enumeration but did mention the former husband of Archibald’s second wife.  We can only speculate as to how prominent a role Archibald played in the early church but there are several indications that some of his sons and grandsons had distinct religious influence on their lives.

John Witherspoon Sr was the nucleus around which the Witherspoon settlement south of Kingstree sprang up.  On the eastern edge of the Witherspoon settlement we will later find Joseph McKee named first among members of the Calvinistic Church body receiving land from James Witherspoon Jr (John Sr’s grandson as executor of his father’s) on which to erect a new church in 1806 so very likely Archibald also had settled in this immediate area.  In 1837 the settlement lost their prominent pioneer..

“In the fall of 1737 my grand father took the rise on his leg which occasioned a fever of which he died and was the first buried at Williamsburgh meeting house.”

 

Another alarming circumstance was the Indians.  When they came to hunt in the spring they were in great numbers in all places like the Egyptians Locusts but they were not hurtful.  We had a great deal of trouble and hardships in our first settling but the few inhabitants continued yet in health and strength.  Yet we were still opprest with fears on divers accounts, expecially of being riiassacred by the Indians or bit by the snakesor torn by wild beasts or being lost or perished in the woods.  Of the lost there was three persons.

About the latter end of August 1736, my uncle Robert arrived here.  The ship he came in was called New Built.  She was a ship of great burden anal brought many passengers which chiefly came up here and obliged to travail up by land they instead of provisionis had money given them by the publick.  Our second’crop being on the ground when they came.  A:s it was’in the warm season, they were much fatigued in comeing up and many were taken with the fever and ague.  Some died with that disorder and many after the ague ceased grew dropsical and died.

About this time people’began to form into societys and sent to Ireland for a minister.  One came named Robert Heron.  He stayed three years and returned back to Ireland.

In the fall of 1737 my grand father took the rise on his leg which occasioned a fever of which he died and was the first buried at Williamsburgh meeting house.  About the same time my father had a daughter died, named Elizabeth, born at the Bluff, about 3 years old.  He was a man of middling stature, a firm healthy constitution, some what bandy-legged, of a fair complexion, he was well acquainted with the scriptures, had a volubility of expressions in prayer.  A zealous adherent to.the reformed protestant principles of the church of Scotland, he had a great aversion against Episcopacy and who ever impartially reads the history of the times of his younger years may see that his prejudices was not without cause, as it was his lot to be in the time of great distress to the percequted church in the reign of James the 7th of Scotland, II of England, as he was one of the set that followed field meetings.  Some of his kindred and himself were much harassed by them, yet notwithstanding if his younger years was attended with some trouble, he enjoyed much peace and tranquility in his after life

 

More About Archibald McKee:

Burial: 1776, Williamsburg Township, Craven County, South Carolina

Origin: Scotland/Ireland

Property: owned land

Slavery: owned slaves

 

Notes for Unknown:

From Wayne Adams

 

At this time it is not known who the mother of our Adam McKee was. They were probably married before coming to America.

 

..Archibald’s link to Archibald Sr is circumstantual so should be viewed with caution.  However

the naming tradition, absence of any other Archibald McKee among contemporary church

records (anywhere in Gr. Britain)  and other circumstances provide a rather good fit.  His  dob is

pretty much a guess.  Some had it as 1702 and others as late as 1719/20.  From son Joseph’s

Patriot Record we know Archibald was old enough to have children by 1732 and almost certainly

earlier..  We can establish that he married a woman born in 1707 so its extremely unlikely he

was born very much later than that.

(DAR Patriot .Index:

Joseph McKee d. 31 Mch 1810, age 77

Ann McKee d 29 Dec 1778, aged 37

Adam was mentioned before Joseph on Archibald’s will and was apparantly his oldest son.   I

am placing Archibald’s birth year as ca. 1708 between the date of Archibald Sr’s marriage to

Jane Bell and the recorded baptisms of children from that marriage.  Presumably he would have

been baptised during a period for which there is a gap in records for that parish.

..He was not among the first wave of Kingstree settlers which included the Witherspoon’s &

David Wilson but likely arrived in the 2nd or 3rd wave during the next few years.  A 7/5/1740 land

grant for 300 acres and a lot in Kingstree places him in the settlement by that date.

..Some researchers have identified Archibald’s wife/ the  mother of Joseph, Adam etal as Ann

Witherspoon.  This was not possible since Ann was not even born until 1739.  Ann Witherspoon

was the wife of Archibald”s son Joseph and the confusion likely resulted from the McKee

surname being mentioned on her father’s will — xref notes on Joseph & those Witherspoon’s.

This, plus a family journal written by Ann’s brother, who was a witness at the 1757 SECOND

marriage of Archibald McKee (to Ann’s Aunt Mary who was born in 1707 and was the widow of

David Wilson) convincingly refutes that misinformation .

..No record could be found in N.Ireland  or in America giving a clue to the name of Archibald’s

first wife.  We know she died before 1757. . His first wife could possibly have been a

Witherspoon but I consider this extremely doubtful since the Witherspoon Chronicles account for

Mary Witherspoon Wilson and  just about every eligible Witherspoon female of that generation

who came to SC without any mention of a marriage involving Archibald prior to his  marriage to

Mary.

..  “The Ancestors & Descendents of John White” states that “The children of Mary Witherspoon

and her second husband Archibald McKee were Archibald and Joseph, both born in South

Carolina”  This was also picked up by The History of Williamsburg and the LDS Ancestral File.

There is a distinct problem in accepting it.  Joseph was born in 1732/3 so he could not have also

been born in the late 1750’s nor would he have had children born in the early 1760s.   When she

married Archibald, Mary was a widow in her fifties — beyond normal child bearing age (even one,

let alone two!).  It would be expected that if Archibald had children by his second marriage, they

would be mentioned on his will.  Archibald’s will says nothing of a Junior.  There is a reasonable

likelihood that his first male child would have had that name but died young, perhaps in the great

epidemict. mentioned in the Witherspoon Chronicles which wiped out nearly half the settlement.

Yes, the name could have been “recycled”.  We could stretch things a bit and assume an

Archibald Adam or Adam Archibald but it still does not fit.  If “Archibald Jr” was Adam he would

have been just 8 or 10  years old in 1768 when his daughter Grizella was born    I have found

absolutely no evidence supporting that contention and suspect some researchers may have

relied upon dart boards.

Link to “our”Adam:           N5-565   — Adam McKee, son and heir at law to Archibald McKee, late

of Williamsburgh, Craven County, planter, deceased for 2/3/6 sterling to John Boyd of

Williamsburgh, tract of land formerly run and laid out to Archibald McKee deceased

on the north branch of Black River commonly called Broad Swamp in the Township of

Williamsburgh

Signed by Adam McKee and Jean McKee.(seal)  Witnesses were Grisal McKee & William Brown.

The transaction was proved 20 Nov 1785 and recorded 25 Jan 1786 This was taken from SC

Deed Abstracts 1783-1788 at the SC Archives

(Moore Abstract, pg. 295) showing:

ARCHIBALD McKEE, his mark, Prince Fredericks Parish, Craven Co., SC;

One third of estate to wife ELIZABETH

Residue of estate to five children:

ADAM

JOSEPH

MARTHA COOPER

JANE MILLER

ARCHIBALD KNOX

Also mentions wife;s daughters

JANE WITHERSPOON

MARG. & ELIZABETH O’BRIEN

Son-in-law WILLIAM MILLER

d 3 Oct 1776 P/R nd, p241

Sandra McKee got a copy of the will.  It was in poor shape with strips of paper missing.  The

background was light gray with handwriting not completely clear — readable but not clear. Her

summary pretty much follows the Moore abstract:

He mentions Elizabeth and names her daughters Jane Witherspoon, Elizabeth & Margaret

O’Brien.  Mentions son-in-law William Miller.  Mentions Samuel Knox without specifying

relationship.  — 10 shillings each.  The remainder of his estate was to his five children.  He

mentions Adam first, then Joseph then Martha Cooper, Jane Miller and Archibald Knox.

Elizabeth McKee, James Fleming and son, Joseph McKee were names executors/ executrix_.

The signature was picked up as “Archibald A. McKee” with the “A” apparantly his mark rather

than a middle initial.  From the copy Sandra could not be sure how it originally appeared

because  Archibald and McKee were on separate lines along the right edge of the pape along

with the words his mark.  If A was his middle initial it probably stood for Adam .  We can’t be sure

whether he customarily signed by mark or, as was the case on his son Adam’s will, signing by

mark was merely an expediency due to his physical condition at the time it was drafted.  In any

event somebody taught Adam to write and his penmanship was so precise that we know he had

a good teacher.  It may well be that the teacher was Archibald’s second wife who would have

been Adam & Joseph’s stepmother during years when penmanship skills were being sharpened

 

..Archibald married three times. James WITHERSPOON’s will mentioned a McKEE grandchild

and the History of Wmsbg. added that their daughter, Ann married Archibald McKEE.  However,

if Joseph McKEE was born in 1733 with Adam born before that, the ages of Ann’s parents

virtually preclude identification of that ANN WITHERSPOON as Arch’s 1st wife.  Strongest leads

to date indicate that the McKEE path to America [Scotland/County Down Ireland] paralleled that

which can be documented for the WITHERSPOONs & his 2nd wife WAS a WITHERSPOON.

..James WITHERSPOON came to America in 1734 and Ann was not listed with them. Some of

his siblings arrived separately 1732-1736; most eventually settling together around Williamsburg

Twp. where Arch.McKEE/James WITHERSPOON settled. Archibald’s 1st marriage almost

certainly was in Ireland and might

possibly have been to an “Ann WITHERSPOON” but birthdates and a 1780 family history by Jas.

WITHERSPOON’s grandson [witness to Archibald’s 2nd marriage –to Robert’s great aunt]

override the Mackeys/Williamsburg conclusion.  That Ann was younger than Joseph so could not

possibly be his mother–in fact she married Joseph and he was not “his own grandpa”.

 

 

===

It is quite possible or even likely that Archibald’s first wife died in 1749 during the epidemic known as “the

Great Mortality”.  From a discourse on the 120th anniversary of the establishment of Bethel Church in

Kingstree mention is made that:

“In 1749 three of the original elders to wit William James, David Witherspoon and John Fleming, died of

a singular epidemic known as the Great Mortality” which ravaged the country, carrying off no less than

eighty persons of the little township”

All three of the elders were Witherspoon’s or married to Witherspoon’s so obviously the epidemic

struck very close to home.  Archibald’s 2nd marriage in 1757 was to the widow of David Wilson who may

also have died during that epidemic.

 

 

Marriage Notes for Archibald McKee and Unknown:

..Archibald’s link to Archibald Sr is circumstantual so should be viewed with caution.  However the

naming tradition, absence of any other Archibald McKee among contemporary church records

(anywhere in Gr. Britain)  and other circumstances provide a rather good fit.  His  dob is pretty much a

guess.  Some had it as 1702 and others as late as 1719/20.  From son Joseph’s Patriot Record we know

Archibald was old enough to have children by 1732 and almost certainly earlier..  We can establish that

he married a woman born in 1707 so its extremely unlikely he was born very much later than that.

(DAR Patriot .Index:

Joseph McKee d. 31 Mch 1810, age 77 (born 1732/3)

Ann McKee d 29 Dec 1778, aged 37 (born 1741)

Adam was mentioned before Joseph on Archibald’s will and was apparantly his oldest son.   I am

placing Archibald’s birth year as ca. 1708 between the date of Archibald Sr’s marriage to Jane Bell and

the recorded baptisms of children from that marriage.  Presumably he would have been baptised during

a period for which there is a gap in records for that parish.

..He was not among the first wave of Kingstree settlers which included the Witherspoon’s & David Wilson

but likely arrived in the 2nd or 3rd wave during the next few years.  A 7/5/1740 land grant for 300 acres

and a lot in Kingstree places him in the settlement by that date.

..Some researchers have identified Archibald’s wife/ the  mother of Joseph, Adam etal as Ann

Witherspoon.  This was not possible since Ann was not even born until 1739.  Ann Witherspoon was the

wife of Archibald”s son Joseph and the confusion likely resulted from the McKee surname being

mentioned on her father’s will — xref notes on Joseph & those Witherspoon’s. This, plus a family journal

written by Ann’s brother, who was a witness at the 1757 SECOND marriage of Archibald McKee (to

Ann’s Aunt Mary who was born in 1707 and was the widow of David Wilson) convincingly refutes that

misinformation .

..No record could be found in N.Ireland  or in America giving a clue to the name of Archibald’s first wife.

We know she died before 1757, most likely in an epidemic during the 1740s or perhaps even earlier

 

while enroute to America  . His first wife could possibly have been a Witherspoon but I consider this

extremely doubtful since the Witherspoon Chronicles account for Mary Witherspoon Wilson and  just

about every eligible Witherspoon female of that generation who came to SC without any mention of a

marriage involving Archibald prior to his  marriage to Mary.

..  “The Ancestors & Descendents of John White” states that “The children of Mary Witherspoon and her

second husband Archibald McKee were Archibald and Joseph, both born in South Carolina”  This was

also picked up by The History of Williamsburg and the LDS Ancestral File.   There is a distinct problem in

accepting it.  Joseph was born in 1732/3 so he could not have also been born in the late 1750’s nor

would he have had children born in the early 1760s.   When she married Archibald, Mary was a widow in

her fifties — beyond normal child bearing age (even one, let alone two!).  It would be expected that if

Archibald had children by his second marriage, they would be mentioned on his will.  Archibald’s will

says nothing of a Junior.  There is a reasonable likelihood that his first male child would have had that

name but died young, perhaps in the great epidemict. mentioned in the Witherspoon Chronicles which

wiped out nearly half the settlement.  Yes, the name could have been “recycled”.  We could stretch

things a bit and assume an Archibald Adam or Adam Archibald but it still does not fit.  If “Archibald Jr”

was Adam he would have been just 8 or 10  years old in 1768 when his daughter Grizella was born    I

have found absolutely no evidence supporting that contention and suspect some researchers may have

relied upon dart boards.

Link to “our”Adam:           N5-565   — Adam McKee, son and heir at law to Archibald McKee, late of

Williamsburgh, Craven County, planter, deceased for 2/3/6 sterling to John Boyd of Williamsburgh, tract

of land formerly run and laid out to Archibald McKee deceased

on the north branch of Black River commonly called Broad Swamp in the Township of Williamsburgh

Signed by Adam McKee and Jean McKee.(seal)  Witnesses were Grisal McKee & William Brown.  The

transaction was proved 20 Nov 1785 and recorded 25 Jan 1786 This was taken from SC Deed Abstracts

1783-1788 at the SC Archives

(Moore Abstract, pg. 295) showing:

ARCHIBALD McKEE, his mark, Prince Fredericks Parish, Craven Co., SC;

One third of estate to wife ELIZABETH

Residue of estate to five children:

ADAM

JOSEPH

MARTHA COOPER

JANE MILLER

ARCHIBALD KNOX

Also mentions wife;s daughters

JANE WITHERSPOON

MARG. & ELIZABETH O’BRIEN

Son-in-law WILLIAM MILLER

d 3 Oct 1776 P/R nd, p241

Sandra McKee got a copy of the will.  It was in poor shape with strips of paper missing.  The background

was light gray with handwriting not completely clear — readable but not clear. Her summary pretty much

follows the Moore abstract:

He mentions Elizabeth and names her daughters Jane Witherspoon, Elizabeth & Margaret O’Brien.

Mentions son-in-law William Miller.  Mentions Samuel Knox without specifying relationship.  — 10

shillings each.  The remainder of his estate was to his five children.  He mentions Adam first, then

Joseph then Martha Cooper, Jane Miller and Archibald Knox.  Elizabeth McKee, James Fleming and son,

Joseph McKee were names executors/ executrix

.   The signature was picked up as “Archibald A. McKee

” with the “A” apparantly his mark rather than a middle initial.  From the copy Sandra could not be sure

how it originally appeared because  Archibald and McKee were on separate lines along the right edge of

the pape along with the words his mark.  If A was his middle initial it probably stood for Adam .  We can’t

be sure whether he customarily signed by mark or, as was the case on his son Adam’s will, signing by

 

mark was merely an expediency due to his physical condition at the time it was drafted.  In any event

somebody taught Adam to write and his penmanship was so precise that we know he had a good teacher

.  It may well be that the teacher was Archibald’s second wife who would have been Adam & Joseph’s

stepmother during years when penmanship skills were being sharpened

===

I am disrecarding LDS and other sites/postings showing an Archibald McKee JUNIOR stemming from the

supposed earlier marriage of Joseph McKee’s wife Ann Witherspoon.  I suspect the postings were

recycled “garbage”  IF he existed, this Archibald Jr was purportedly born c1737 in SC and died some

time after 1760.  Note that Joseph & Ann’s 2nd child born 1764.

 

 

SOUTH CAROLINA

Pursuant to a precept to me directed by James St. John Esq, his Majesty’s Sur(veyor) Ge(neral) Sc. bearing date the 13th day of Apr one thousand seven hundred and thirty eight, I have admeasured and laid out unto Mr. Archibald McKee a tract of land containing three hundred and fifty acres, situate lying and being within the township of Williamsburgh, in Craven County.  Butting and bounding to the S.E. on Mr. Baxter and vacant land, to the N.E. on John Mackelveen and vacant land, and all other sides on vacant land.  And hath such shape and marked trees as appears by the above delineated plat.

Given under my hand the 29th day of Jany. 1738.

Anthy. Williams, D.S. (Deputy Surveyor)

 

 

 

Series: S213019

Volume: 0042

Page: 00024

Item: 000

Date: 7/5/1740

Description: MCKEE, ARCHIBALD, LAND GRANT FOR 1 TOWN LOT AND 350 ACRES IN CRAVEN COUNTY.

Names indexed: MCKEE, ARCHIBALD

Locations: CRAVEN COUNTY

Document type: LAND GRANT

 

Series: S372001

Volume: 02K0

Page: 00042

Item: 000

Date: 1751-1752

Description: MCKEE, ARCHIBALD TO ALEXANDER NISBITT, MORTGAGE OF LEASE AND RELEASE FOR 280 ACRES OF LAND IN CRAVEN COUNTY.

Names indexed: MCKEE, ARCHIBALD; NISBITT, ALEXANDER

Locations: CRAVEN COUNTY

Document type: MORTGAGE

 

Series: S111001

Volume: 0010

Page: 00516

Item: 001

Date: 1/30/1752

Description: MCKEE, ARCHIBALD, MEMORIAL FOR 280 ACRES IN CRAVEN COUNTY.

Names indexed: LORD, MRS.; MCKEE, ARCHIBALD; NISBETT, ALEXANDER; SNOW, WILLIAM

Locations: CRAVEN COUNTY

Document type: MEMORIAL

 

 

Archibald McKEE was recorded in the Georgetown District of SC by 1740. His son, Adam McKEE was in 0ld 96 District by 1777 when he was recorded as being on jury duty. He served in the Militia during the American Rev. War in 1778. Family tradition indicates that his house was burned by the British. He was married to Jean DIXON. Adam McKEE died in Abbeville Co., 1806, leaving his widow Jean, Children: Grissel, Michael Sr., Adam Jr. (married Eleanor Breckenridge), Jean (married a Lindsay), Eliezer, John (married Margaret Cunningham), Mary, and William Seth (married Mary Freeman McKay).

 

 

 

29 Jan 1738 , Williamsburg, South Carolina

SOUTH CAROLINA

Pursuant to a precept to me directed by James St. John Esq, his Majesty’s Sur(veyor) Ge(neral) Sc. bearing date the 13th day of Apr one thousand seven hundred and thirty eight, I have admeasured and laid out unto Mr. Archibald McKee a tract of land containing three hundred and fifty acres, situate lying and being within the township of Williamsburgh, in Craven County.  Butting and bounding to the S.E. on Mr. Baxter and vacant land, to the N.E. on John Mackelveen and vacant land, and all other sides on vacant land.  And hath such shape and marked trees as appears by the above delineated plat.

Given under my hand the 29th day of Jany. 1738.

Anthy. Williams, D.S. (Deputy Surveyor)

Typescript of original handwritten land grant of 350 acres (with drawing) in Craven County, South Carolina and 1 town lot in Williamsburg. The orginal document is located in the South Carolina Department of Archives and History .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Generation No. 2

        2.  Archibald McKee, born Abt. 1677 in Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland; died Aft. 1729 in Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland.  He was the son of 4. Thomas McKee.  He married 3. Jane Bell July 10, 1707 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland.

3.  Jane Bell, born Abt. 1687 in Scotland or Ireland; died Aft. 1729 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland.  She was the daughter of 6. John Bell and 7. Agnes Nielson.

 

Notes for Archibald McKee:

From Wayne Adams

The elapsed time between their marriage and the earliest christening (6 years) leaves room for speculation that there might have been an “Archibald Junior” born 1708-1711 who could fit in as the Archibald who came to America by 1740 but this is mere speculation.  It is noteworthy, however, that a Thomas McKEE settled beside “our” Adam and a William McKEE was the senior member of the cluster of McKEEs who settled in what became Anderson County perhaps 20-30 miles to the west of Adam and Thomas.  Thomas of Abbeville County could possibly have been born as early as 1719 but more likely all three were a generation later than the family charted above.  The fascinating common denominator is that each of these SC McKEE families can be linked with one or more Archibalds.

 

CAROLINA SETTLEMENT

The prologue to Robert Bass’ excellent book Ninety Six – The Struggle for the Back Country sets the scene very nicely for the beckening promise of the Santee Valley where Archibald McKee was to settle prior to 1740 as well as for the “back country” of Old Ninety Six where Adam McKee and the Dixons came upon the scene during the 1760s.

The Royalists succeeded in restoring young Prince Charles to the throne of England in 1660.  Among his early acts (1663) as King Charles II, the grateful young monarch rewarded eight of his supporters with the gift of a vast, undefined portion of North America naming the territory Carolina. Later the territory would be split into North and South Carolina.  Colonization began about seven years after the grant led by Anthony Ashley-Cooper who became the Earl of Shaftesbury. The first settlement was on the neck of land above the confluence of the Kiaway and the Wando Rivers.  The town was named Charles Town in homor of King Charles who had granted the proprietorship.and the rivers were renamed the Ashley and Cooper after you know who.

Unlike the “lost colony” experience there were no immediate problems with the Indians around this initial settlement. Relations with the Cherokee Indians were friendly but the incursion of the white man went less smoothly with the Yemassees, a tribe of about 1250 Muskogean Indians some 90 mines southwest of Charles Town..  The Cherokee Path began on the bight across from Charles Town and meandered through the valleys continuing along the Congaree and Santee Rivers.  Indians came down the trail to purchase hatchets, guns and trinkets from merchants in Charles Town.  A few bold traders ventured up the trail to the Indian villages.  From a path for Indian traders and hunters the Cherokee Path  became the main roadway into the interior for traders and colonizers.  With their capital of Charles Town properly honoring the monarch and the rivers after Lord Proprietor Ashley-Cooper, as settlement layered outward from the capital city the three  Proprietors established three counties giving them their own names of Berkeley, Colleton and Craven.  However for the first 60 years due to restrictions the Proprietors placed upon immigration the colony grew very slowly and was pretty much limited to a rough triangle along the Atlantic with its apex at Moncks Corner on the Copper River with legs extending north to Winyah Bay and south to Hilton Head.

By 1715 the Yemassees Indians had become hostile and waged an attack but following an hour of intense fighting they retreated across the Savannah River so the settlers were now surrounded only by the peace loving Cherokees.  The Carolinian settlers had became dissatisfied with injustices they perceived under the Proprietory system  and in 1719 they asked to be made a “Crown Colony”.  Both King George I and Parliament were receptive but negotiations dragged on for ten years.  Finally in 1729 Parliament bought out the Proprietors and Colonel Robert Johnson was sent out as the first governor of Carolina.  He encouraged rather than discouraged expansion and a treaty between Scottish baronet Sir Alexander Cuming with the Cherokees in 1730 opened the door for the Ulster influx. Eleven townships were laid out each to contain twenty thousand acres and to be situated on some river within approximately sixty miles of Charleston.  By November 1732 surveyers had completed their work on six townships.  The second of these — Williamsburg Township — is of primary interest to us..  Among the earliest Williamsburg County settlers arriving from Ulster were the Witherspoons and not far behind them came our ancester Archibald McKee .The McKee saga on American soil begins!!…..

 

NOTE that connection of this ARCHIBALD to the SC McKEEs is strictly circumstantial.  However, he was the only ARCHIBALD McKEE on the entire IGI for Ireland; Irish research indicated Archibald was a very rare name among McKEEs;        yet the name was passed along in three McKEE families of settlers in SC (all with distinct possibilities of being related to each other).

..A rebuttable assumption is that ARCHIBALD & JANE had a son (“Jr”) born 1708-11 not reflected by the IGI.  Names of baptised children WILLIAM & THOMAS     match up with SC settlers but there likely is an intervening generation.  For extension of the hypothesis, I am arbitrarily assigning both as children of the WILLIAM born in 1715 as dates suggest they were contemporaries of ARCHIBALD “Jr’s” son ADAM McKEE of Abbeville Co, SC.  THOMAS settled in Abbeville Co about the same time and WILLIAM settled in adjacent Pendleton District about 20

years later.  THOMAS’ widow later appears among the Pendleton/Anderson cluster. ..All the IGI events were in Killyleagh Parish of County Down, Ireland. ..In the same parish, JOHN & ANN (CAMPBELL) McKEE named a daughter “GRIZEL” in 1714.  That unique Scottish name was repeated for a daughter of ADAM McKEE. JOHN and other McKEEs from Killyleagh – may have been ARCHIBALD Sr’s siblings.  The name Grizel more likely was after Jane/Jean’s sister by that name

 

 

NOTE that connection of this ARCHIBALD to the SC McKEEs is circumstantial.  However, he was the

only ARCHIBALD McKEE on the entire IGI for Ireland; Irish research indicated Archibald was a very rare

name among McKEEs; yet the name was passed along in three McKEE families of settlers in SC (all

with distinct possibilities of being related to each other)

Reasons for linking to Archibald McKee OF COUNTY DOWN, Northern Ireland

a) We have good evidence linking our McKee family back to Archibald McKee “of Kingstree”

b) The McKee’s were particularly strong in “naming after” parent/grandparents etc

c) The name “Archibald” was repeated for multiple generations of SC and MO McKee’s

d) The Kingstree SC settlement  was almost entirely Scotch-Irish settlers FROM COUNTY DOWN

e) The well documented Witherspoon family came to SC during the 1730s FROM COUNTY DOWN

f)  Archibald of Kingstree & his son Joseph each had multiple marriages to Witherspoon’s

g) Kingstree Archibald shows up in SC with the 2nd or 3rd “wave” of Witherspoon family settlers

(“waves” per ledger of Witherspoon  witness of Archibald’s 2nd marriage to his widowed aunt)

h) The International Genealogical Index had only ONE Archibald McKee in all of Ireland

i) That was Archibald McKee OF COUNTY DOWN who married Jane Bell 4/10/1707

j) There was a gap in church records there during which the couples oldest children likely were born

k) from 1713 until 1729 they were having children every two to three years

l) their oldest son would likely have been born between 1708 and 1712 — good match agewise

m)  Kingstree Archibald’s son Joseph (likely youngest) was born in 1732/3

No “smoking gun” but sufficient circumstantual evidence for perhaps 90% probability.  It is true that there

could have been other candidates who “fell through the cracks” (missing records, etc) or that Kingstree

Archibald’s father was a sibling of Co Down Archibald but conscious efforts to find other viable

candidates or to disprove the hypothesis (early death, event in Ireland when our guy was in America, etc)

did nothing to refute this hypothesis or provide a viable alternate.  To my knowledge I was likely the ”

culprit” in first drawing this conclusion but during the past couple decades others have jumped onto the

band wagon.  More recently a researcher or researchers have done a more thorough job of documenting

“M’Kee” Killyleagh Church Record events. While they did not address my “born in the gap” theory, their

findings confirm my notes for the other children of Co Down Archibald and add records of his siblings

and his (presumed) father and grandfather. Their research further indicated that the family likely moved

away from Killyleagh .  They say at least some moved southward in Ireland and do not address the

likelihood that one or more of them went to America but the time element is again consistent with the

hypothesis.

===

While “googling” I tightened the net around Archibald McKee with further information about his father and

grandfather.  One undocumented source at another site has Archibald’s father as James M’Kee but two

sources documented as based on Killyleagh church records agree with/expand upon the LDS microfilm &

fiche I had examined. The “net” did not provide evidence of a migration to America but definitely zeroes

in the the family I had tentatively identified as that of “Archibald Sr of Killyleagh:” One family tree gave his

birth year as 1691 which seems rather tight — Unlike some of the others it didn’t cite Killeyleagh church

records so I’m assuming that date was a guess based upon events later in life.  Cited sources were ”

Killyleagh Presbyterian Parish Registers at Belfast, his marriage record (to Jane Bell) and christenings of

children.  I had one earlier estimate of 1677 which would be too far in the other direction assuming the

match to Thomas was correct — the source included Archibald as the third of seven children of Thomas

McKee; grandchildren of James McKee.

===

Ancestry.com places Archibald’s birth c1691 and shows death as “of Killyleagh” without date;

s/o Thomas McKee

m1/Jane Bell 4/10/1707 Killyleagh (marriage & children confirm my microfilm reading)

ch=James (+), Elizabeth, William, Mary, Thomas (+), Hans, Jane & Robert (+)

 

basis was Killyleagh Presbyterian Registers and Killyleagh Parish Registers — not much new except the

placement as s/o Thomas;  Apparantly they found some parish records not on microfilm I examined?

They don’t associate our Archibald “Jr” but considering parish record gap thats not surprising.

Extensions for three children who remained in Co Down

===

There were three McKee landowners (Alexander, John & Thomas) listed for the area which included

Killeyleagh in 1681 & 1688

===

Note that ancestry.com reflects an “Archabald M’Kee” (1663-1736) who would have been a cousin of this

Archibald.  It shows a grandson of “Cousin Archibald” being the Robert M’Kee who was christened 3/29/

1729 in Killyleagh, County Down, N.Ireland.  It cites [10304] Killyleagh Par Reg – Vol 1 – 1692-1757 at

Belfast PRO.  No spouse information for the other Archabald but marriage shown as 1688 (estimate?)

with son William born in 1690.

 

.  Archibald’s daughter Elizabeth christened 7/11/1713 as I had it copied.  9103510 Killyleagh Par Reg

Vol  I 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, Additional information that she married James Morison in Jul 1748 in

Killyleagh (ref #13020).  No mention of children.  Also records of  other children.

These records all show that Archibald M’Kee was born in 1691 and married Jane Bell 4/10/1707 in

Killyleagh, If they have his birth date correct he would have married when age 16 – no death date for him –

– Files add that Archibald was a son of Thomas M;Kee born abt 1665; mother left blank.

Children shown for Archibald & Jane Bell McKee

James (I didn’t have him connected) +

no mention of “Kingstree” Archibald  who I had speculated was christened during record gap

Elizabeth (checks)

William (checks)

Mary (checks)

Thomas (checks) +

Hans (checks)

Jane (checks)

&    Robert (checks) +

The three with (+)s have further family information that I didn’t have posted

.

..A rebuttable assumption is that ARCHIBALD & JANE had a son (“Jr”) born 1708-11 not reflected by the

IGI.  Names of baptised children WILLIAM & THOMAS match up with SC settlers but there likely is an

intervening generation.  For extension of the hypothesis, I am arbitrarily assigning both as children of the

WILLIAM born in 1715 as dates suggest they were contemporaries of ARCHIBALD “Jr’s” son ADAM

McKEE of Abbeville Co, SC.  THOMAS settled in Abbeville Co about the same time and WILLIAM settled

in adjacent Pendleton District about 20 years later.  THOMAS’ widow later appears among the Pendleton/

Anderson cluster.

===

..All the IGI events were in Killyleagh Parish of County Down, Ireland.

[9763] Killyleagh Par Reg Vol 1 – 1692-1757 Belfast PRO

(some gaps noted on microfilm I worked from prove significant)

===

..In the same parish, JOHN & ANN (CAMPBELL) McKEE named a daughter “GRIZEL” in 1714.  That

unique Scottish name was repeated for a daughter of ADAM McKEE. JOHN and other McKEEs from

Killyleagh – may have been ARCHIBALD Sr’s siblings.The name Grizel given to Adam McKee’s daughter

more likely was after Jane/Jean (nee Dixon)’s sister by that name but an interesting coincidence

===

There was an Archbald M’Kie of Penninghame, Wigtown, Scotland born in 1666; married to Isabell

Thomson (1695- )  in 1711 which couldn’t be the Archibald of Co Down, yet of possible interest.  This

Archbald was a son of Alexander M’Kie 1633-1713.  The source of the posting was [7661] Scottish

 

Church Records giving father Archbald and mother Issobell Thomson for christening(?) of daughter

Margaret. 5/4/1712

===

Noting that there was also at least one contemporary McKee in Drumbo where we find the Witherspoon’s

I picked up a reference to the christening of

Thomas M’Kee s/o John & Isabellow 11/19/1701 in Drumbo.  A family chart posting [9814] indicates

that this John McKee DIED IN USA.  His grandfather was shown to be a Thomas M’Kee born 1635 with

extension further back.  Isabellow’s parents or maiden name not shown.  The chart’s source was given

as Drumbo Presbyterian Par Reg Mic 637/2 Hodge Podge at Belfast PRO

===

There is an LDS site reference to CD#42 input by Emory Thomas Hildebrand of Marietta GA reflecting

the marriage to Jane Bell and that Archibald McKee Sr was born c1680 but no further details.  Four or

five IGI “hits” with different spellings but all seem to be different people giving them the same information

 

Killyleagh Presbyterian Parish Registers at Belfast PRO, October 1999

 

!..NOTE that connection of this ARCHIBALD to the SC McKEEs is circumstantial. However, he wa s

the only ARCHIBALD McKEE on the entire IGI for Ireland; Irish research indicated Archibal d was a

very rare name among McKEEs; yet the name was passed along in three McKEE families o f settlers

in SC (all

with distinct possibilities of being related to each other)

Reasons for linking to Archibald McKee OF COUNTY DOWN, Northern Ireland

a) We have good evidence linking our McKee family back to Archibald McKee “of Kingstree”

b) The McKee’s were particularly strong in “naming after” parent/grandparents etc

c) The name “Archibald” was repeated for multiple generations of SC and MO McKee’s

d) The Kingstree SC settlement was almost entirely Scotch-Irish settlers FROM COUNTY DOWN

e) The well documented Witherspoon family came to SC during the 1730s FROM COUNTY DOWN

f) Archibald of Kingstree & his son Joseph each had multiple marriages to Witherspoon’s

g) Kingstree Archibald shows up in SC with the 2nd or 3rd “wave” of Witherspoon family se ttlers

(“waves” per ledger of Witherspoon witness of Archibald’s 2nd marriage to his widowe d aunt)

h) The International Genealogical Index had only ONE Archibald McKee in all of Ireland

i) That was Archibald McKee OF COUNTY DOWN who married Jane Bell 4/10/1707

j) There was a gap in church records there during which the couples oldest children likel y were

born

k) from 1713 until 1729 they were having children every two to three years

l) their oldest son would likely have been born between 1708 and 1712 — good match agewi se

m) Kingstree Archibald’s son Joseph (likely youngest) was born in 1732/3

No “smoking gun” but sufficient circumstantual evidence for perhaps 90% probability. It is t rue that

there could have been other candidates who “fell through the cracks” (missing record s, etc) or that

Kingstree Archibald’s father was a sibling of Co Down Archibald but consciou s efforts to find other

viable candidates or to disprove the hypothesis (early death, event i n Ireland when our guy was in

America, etc) did nothing to refute this hypothesis or provid e a viable alternate. To my knowledge I

was likely the “culprit” in first drawing this concl usion but during the past couple decades others have

jumped onto the band wagon. More recent ly a researcher or researchers have done a more

thorough job of documenting “M’Kee” Killyleag h Church Record events. While they did not address

my “born in the gap” theory, their finding s confirm my notes for the other children of Co Down

Archibald and add records of his sibling s and his (presumed) father and grandfather. Their research

further indicated that the famil y likely moved away from Killyleagh . They say at least some moved

southward in Ireland an d do not address the likelihood that one or more of them went to America but

the time elemen t is again consistent with the hypothesis.

===

While “googling” I tightened the net around Archibald McKee with further information about hi s father

and grandfather. One undocumented source at another site has Archibald’s father a s James M’Kee

but two sources documented as based on Killyleagh church records agree with/exp and upon the LDS

microfilm & fiche I had examined. The “net” did not provide evidence of a mi gration to America but

definitely zeroes in the the family I had tentatively identified as th at of “Archibald Sr of Killyleagh:”

One family tree gave his birth year as 1691 which seems r ather tight — Unlike some of the others it

didn’t cite Killeyleagh church records so I’m ass uming that date was a guess based upon events laterin life. Cited sources were “Killyleag h Presbyterian Parish Registers at Belfast, his marriage record

(to Jane Bell) and christenin gs of children. I had one earlier estimate of 1677 which would be too far

in the other direc tion assuming the match to Thomas was correct — the source included Archibald as

the third o f seven children of Thomas McKee; grandchildren of James McKee.

===

There were three McKee landowners (Alexander, John & Thomas) listed for the area which includ ed

Killeyleagh in 1681 & 1688

===

. Archibald’s daughter Elizabeth christened 7/11/1713 as I had it copied. 9103510 Killyleag h Par

Reg Vol I 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, Additional information that she married James Moriso n in Jul

1748 in Killyleagh (ref #13020). No mention of children. Also records of other ch ildren.

These records all show that Archibald M’Kee was born in 1691 and married Jane Bell 4/10/170 7 in

Killyleagh, If they have his birth date correct he would have married when age 16 – no d eath date for

him — Files add that Archibald was a son of Thomas M;Kee born abt 1665; mothe r left blank.

Children shown for Archibald & Jane Bell McKee

James (I didn’t have him connected) +

no mention of “Kingstree” Archibald who I had speculated was christened during r ecord gap

Elizabeth (checks)

William (checks)

Mary (checks)

Thomas (checks) +

Hans (checks)

Jane (checks)

& Robert (checks) +

The three with (+)s have further family information that I didn’t have posted

.

..A rebuttable assumption is that ARCHIBALD & JANE had a son (“Jr”) born 1708-11 not reflecte d by

the IGI. Names of baptised children WILLIAM & THOMAS match up with SC settlers but ther e likely

is an intervening generation. For extension of the hypothesis, I am arbitrarily ass igning both as

children of the

WILLIAM born in 1715 as dates suggest they were contemporaries of ARCHIBALD “Jr’s” son ADAM

M cKEE of Abbeville Co, SC. THOMAS settled in Abbeville Co about the same time and WILLIAM

set tled in adjacent Pendleton District about 20 years later. THOMAS’ widow later appears amon g

the Pendleton/Anderson cluster.

===

..All the IGI events were in Killyleagh Parish of County Down, Ireland.

[9763] Killyleagh Par Reg Vol 1 – 1692-1757 Belfast PRO

(some gaps noted on microfilm I worked from prove significant)

===

..In the same parish, JOHN & ANN (CAMPBELL) McKEE named a daughter “GRIZEL” in 1714. That

un ique Scottish name was repeated for a daughter of ADAM McKEE. JOHN and other McKEEs from

Kill yleagh – may have been ARCHIBALD Sr’s siblings.The name Grizel given to Adam McKee’s

daughte r more likely was after Jane/Jean (nee Dixon)’s sister by that name but an interesting coinci

dence

===

There was an Archbald M’Kie of Penninghame, Wigtown, Scotland born in 1666; married to Isabel l

Thomson (1695- ) in 1711 which couldn’t be the Archibald of Co Down, yet of possible inter est. This

Archbald was a son of Alexander M’Kie 1633-1713. The source of the posting was [7 661] Scottish

Church Records giving father Archbald and mother Issobell Thomson for christeni ng(?) of daughter

Margaret. 5/4/1712

===

Noting that there was also at least one contemporary McKee in Drumbo where we find the Wither

spoon’s I picked up a reference to the christening of

Thomas M’Kee s/o John & Isabellow 11/19/1701 in Drumbo. A family chart posting [9814 ]

indicates that this John McKee DIED IN USA. His grandfather was shown to be a Thomas M’Ke eborn 1635 with extension further back. Isabellow’s parents or maiden name not shown. Th e chart’s

source was given as Drumbo Presbyterian Par Reg Mic 637/2 Hodge Podge at Belfast PR O

 

Notes for Jane Bell:

Ancestry.com had two references to this marriage through the “Belt” surname but access limited.  It may

be safe to assume that descendents of one or more of Jane’s brothers migrated to America.

===

The M’Kee ancestry.com base picked up the marriage and birth of children to her and Archibald but only

reference given was “10348 Killyleagh Par Reg Vol I 1692-1757 Belfast PRO”.  Nothing found about her

parents and so far no “hits” searching for contemporary Bells of Killyleagh.

 

 

Killyleagh Par Reg – Vol I – 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, October 1999

 

Searching for possible Bell migration to SC I found that

JOHN BELL (1749-  ) s/o William & Esabell Bell came to SC from N. Ireland 1/5/1768 on Brigantine

Chichester at age 19, received a land grant in the Grantville area of SC now known as Abbeville/Donalds

(note that Adam McKee was one of founders of church there)  He served during the Rev at age 24 with

the 8th Rangers and was a Deacon at the Old Saluda Presbyterian Church.  He married an Elizabeth

(surname not known).  His will in Abbeville was administered by William & Samuel Bell who possibly

were his brothers. This John Bell would have been a generation or two later than Jane but very likely

they share a common ancestor.  I am establishing a tentative link via a “Papa” Bell for Jane, also a

brother with sons John, William & Samuel — ALL DEFINITELY TENTATIVE

 

 

 

More About Archibald McKee and Jane Bell:

Marriage: July 10, 1707, Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland

Children of Archibald McKee and Jane Bell are:

1                 i.    Archibald McKee, born Bet. 1708 – 1711 in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland; died 1776 in Prince Fredericks Parish, Williamsburg Township; Craven County, South Carolina; married (1) Unknown; married (2) Mary Ann Witherspoon April 25, 1757 in South Carolina  [?]; married (3) Elizabeth O’Brien Aft. 1765.

ii.    James McKee, born August 20, 1711 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland; died 1771 in Ardmillen, Tullynakil, Down County, Ireland; married Susanna Girvins November 19, 1739 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland; born 1712 in Killyleagh, County Down, Ireland.

 

Notes for James McKee:

 

This James McKee was assigned by the Irish researcher as a son of Archibald & Jane Bell McKee but I

didn’t pick it up on the IGI.  If I recall correctly there was one baptismal record for an unnamed child I

didn’t pin down.   They do cite Killyleagh Par Reg Vol I 1692-1757 (Belfast PRO version) and Super Will

Index on James “of Ardmillen” dated 1771.  No other sources cited.

===

Dates may be tight or could represent another son born during the christening records gap.  There were

multiple children named James among children within successive generations and I’m not entirely

comfortable with the match — christening date??

At any rate they show that this James McKee

dob unknown,

married Susanna Girvins in 1739

and died in 1771 — cites “super will index” — Ardmillen

they had a daughter named Elizabeth who was christened 5/15/1744 in Killyleagh

may be more to pick up on sons William and James

 

 

Killyleagh Par Reg – Vol I – 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, October 1999

Super Will Index gives will date 1771 of Ardmillen

 

 

Notes for Susanna Girvins:

Killyleagh par register shows illegitimate son John bap 21 Sep 1739 to her and Jas M’Kee; marriage record for Susanna Girven and James M’Kee 19 9br 1739

 

More About James McKee and Susanna Girvins:

Marriage: November 19, 1739, Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland

 

iii.    Elizabeth McKee, born July 11, 1713; married James Morrison July 1748 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland; born June 28, 1713 in Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland.

 

Notes for Elizabeth McKee:

 

Part of the family located by “googling”.  Christened 7/11/1713 as I had it copied.

9103510 Killyleagh Par Reg Vol  I 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, Additional information that

she married James Morison in Jul 1748 in Killyleagh (ref #13020).  No mention of

children.

These records all show that Archibald M’Kee was born in 1691, no death date for him —

and that he was a son of Thomas M;Kee born in 1665; mother left blank.

 

 

Notes for James Morrison:

Killyleagh Par Reg – Vol I – 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, October 1999

 

More About James Morrison and Elizabeth McKee:

Marriage: July 1748, Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland

 

iv.    William McKee

 

Notes for William McKee:

Christening record on IGI but appar. left Killyleagh Parish before marriage. Link to parents clear but both children links circumstantual.  The Anderson Co, SC McKEE branch William came from Co.Antrim (just north of Co.Down) and this WILLIAM is tentatively considered the parent of the older Pendleton Distr. SC WILLIAM.  Noting Pendleton interaction with widow of THOMAS who settled in Old 96 (Abbeville Co) ca. 1772 I’m also “penciling in” this William as the father of Thomas McKee.

 

EXPLANATION OF THE “MAYBE”

..The christening record establishes that William was a son of Archibald & Jane Bell McKee BUT I am

using this record as a “parking place” for possible descendency links between “our” branch of SC

McKee’s and:

a)Thomas McKee of Abbeville, SC — Adam McKee’s neighbor who came to SC decades later

b) the Archibald and two William McKee’s who settled in Pendleton District, SC in 1799

This William McKee  apparantly. left Killyleagh Parish before marriage. Family interactions while in SC

could have been coincidental but there was strong encouragement for SC settlers to bring relatives to

help settle this frontier area (providing a buffer for settlements of eastern SC).  The link to this William’s

parents is  clear but both children links are speculative “for developmental purposes”.

===

The Anderson Co (aka Pendelton District), SC McKEE branch William came from Co.Antrim (just north of

Co.Down) and this WILLIAM is tentatively considered the parent of the older Pendleton Distr. SC

WILLIAM.  Noting Pendleton interaction with widow of THOMAS who settled in Old 96 (Abbeville Co) ca.

1772

I’m also “penciling in” this William as the father of Thomas McKee.  He may or may not have been

William “Senior”s brother and definitely their arrivals in SC were a couple decades apart.

 

 

 

Killyleagh Par Reg – Vol I – 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, October 1999

 

More About William McKee:

Christening: October 13, 1715, Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland

 

v.    Mary McKee, born in Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland; married John Shaw; born Abt. 1700 in Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland.

 

Notes for Mary McKee:

Killyleagh Par Reg – Vol I – 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, October 1999; an IGI record lists marriage 19 Jul 1730

 

More About Mary McKee:

Christening: November 25, 1716, Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland

 

vi.    Thomas McKee, married Mary Ligget August 03, 1740 in Killinchy, Down County, Ireland.

 

Notes for Thomas McKee:

The “birth” date is actually when he was christened

===

ancestry.com posting based upon Killyleagh church records and other sources with “M’Kee” surname

Thomas s/o Archibald & Jane Bell M’Kee was christened 4/5/1719 (confirms my info) and married Mary

Ligget 8/4/1740 (I didn’t have marriage connected or their children)

William M’Kee +

James M’Kee

Jane M’Kee

Interestingly a reasonable match for Thomas McKee family of Abbeville except for info that Abbeville

Thomas born a generation later.  Their son William was extended as

William M’Kee christened 12.30/1750

Wm married Jane M’Kee abt 1790 in Ireland  cites Killinchy marriages pg 173

(possibly married his cousin??; the marriage c1790 rules him out as Abbeville Thomas McKee)

— death — “of Killinchy, Down, N Ireland;

 

 

 

Killyleagh Par Reg – Vol I – 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, October 1999

 

More About Thomas McKee:

Christening: April 05, 1719, Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland

 

Notes for Mary Ligget:

Hodge Podge film lists mg Saintfield parish reg –  has missing year

 

More About Thomas McKee and Mary Ligget:

Marriage: August 03, 1740, Killinchy, Down County, Ireland

 

vii.    Hanns McKee, died Aft. 1788 in Carricknaveagh, Killinchy, Down, Northern Ireland; married Mary Harper August 25, 1752 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland.

 

Notes for Hanns McKee:

“birth date” is when he was christened — 5/18/1727 Killyleagh Co Down

per Ancestry.com he was s/o James and Marge Campbell M’Kee

He m/Mary Harper 8/25/1752 in Killyleagh; 2 children Jane & Nancy

 

 

 

Christening July 1722 in Killyleagh; Irish researcher matched it with Deputy Court

Cheque Book Downe May 1790 D654/A3/1B lists at Carricknavew

David Makee 10/23/1783

John Magee 10/23/1783

Hans Magee 12/3/1788

 

 

 

Killyleagh Par Reg – Vol I – 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, October 1999 Deputy Court Cheque Book Downe May 1790 D654/A3/1B lists at Carricknavea David Makee – 23 Oct 1783, John Magee 23 Oct 1783, Hans Magee 3 Dec 1788

 

More About Hanns McKee:

Christening: May 18, 1727, Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland

 

More About Hanns McKee and Mary Harper:

Marriage: August 25, 1752, Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland

 

viii.    Jane McKee, married Thomas Weir April 1747 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland; born Abt. 1720 in Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland.

 

Notes for Jane McKee:

Christening 5/2/1725 Killyleagh, Down, NIreland.  Record also lists her as d/o

Archibald & Jane Bell M’Kee and shows she married Thos Wier Apr 1747 in Killyleagh

citing Killyleagh Par Reg Vol I 1692-1757 Belfast PRO.

 

 

Killyleagh Par Reg – Vol I – 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, October 1999

 

More About Jane McKee:

Christening: May 02, 1725, Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland

 

More About Thomas Weir and Jane McKee:

Marriage: April 1747, Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland

 

ix.    Robert McKee, met Margaret Rogers; born Abt. 1735 in Killyleagh, County Down, Ireland.

 

Notes for Robert McKee:

In “googling” Archibald McKee/Jane Bell I came upon two hits — one involving this Robert McKee

 

It cited Killyleagh Par Reg, Vol I – 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, October 1999

Robert was christened 5/11/1729 Killyleagh, Down, N Ireland

his parents were Archibald M’Kee and Jane Bell.

Robert apparantly fathered one child but record noted “not married”

The mother “Family I” was Margaret (Margt) Rogers and if I read it correctly the child was named

Archibald (Archd) McKee– Might this have been the Archibald McKee line which came to Pendleton

District in 1799??  Too young to have been Kingstree Archibald.

Neither of the googling hits made mention of the families leaving Ireland although at least a few of

them did leave County Down within a time frame permitting association with the SC McKee’s

 

 

 

Killyleagh Par Reg – Vol I – 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, October 1999

 

More About Robert McKee:

Christening: May 11, 1729, Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland

 

Notes for Margaret Rogers:

Killyleagh par reg gives illeg child Archd 2 9br 1752 with Robt M’Kees

 

 

Generation No. 3

        4.  Thomas McKee, born 1665 in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland; died in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland.  He was the son of 8. James McKee.

 

Notes for Thomas McKee:

The information that James is the father of Archibald is unverified.  This is from information that I have been given.  This still needs to be researched and verified.  It could be a possiblity since Archibald also had a son named James.

 

I had placed this record (with given name unknown) as a “parking place” for possible siblings of County

Down Archibald McKee.   It tends to “flesh out” with the posting of Killyleagh Church Record’s including

Archibald’s father and grandfather

===

One undocumented web source had Archibald’s father as James M’Kee but two sources I found while

googling are based on Killyleagh church records and show Thomas as his father.  Its to be noted from

my own examination of the Killyleagh microfilm that the church christening records do not give the name

of the mother so there is some risk of association between McKee contemporaries with identical given

names. When available, church marriage records or other evidence do provide that link.   I don’t have

reason to doubt that the postings I’m picking up properly matched records to the right families.

===

.  Archibald’s daughter Elizabeth christened 7/11/1713 as I had it copied.  9103510 Killyleagh Par Reg

Vol  I 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, Additional information that she married James Morison in Jul 1748 in

Killyleagh (ref #13020).  No mention of children.

These records all show that Archibald M’Kee was born in 1691, If correct he would have married when

age 16 – no death date for him — adds that Archibald was a son of Thomas M;Kee born abt 1665; mother

left blank.

Thomas’ father was shown as James M’Kee; mother left blank.  This Thomas had 7 children

John

Michael

Archibald

James

Elizabeth

Darby

and          Samuel

 

Noting several adult HANS McKee’s and the propensity for “naming after” pop and/or grandpop there are

some viable candidates to be a brother or father of Archibald McKee Sr and there was indeed a James in

Killeyleigh who could have been a sibling named James Jr.  Appears though that the James was

younger than Arch Sr.

===

In date order, Killeyleigh events I picked up from Family History Center resources with potential:

3/20/1700   HANS McKee m/Mary McKee  (perhaps widow of sibling or cousin?)

1703            Jane McKee m/Alex R. Young

7/10/1707   ARCHIBALD m/JANE BELL

(note record gap between these events)

3/12/1713   Margaret McKee m/Wm. Martin

7/11/1713   ARCHIBALD’s daughter Elizabeth christened

1713            Jon McKee m/Ann Campbell

1714            Jon McKee m/Abigail Gordan

1/13/1715   Jane McKee m/Ion Lowden

10/13/1715 ARCHIBALD’s son William christened

10/1/1716   JOHN McKee’s son John Jr christened

 

11/25/1716 ARCHIBALD’s daughter Mary christened

1/15/1717   William McKee’s daughter Jane christened

5/20/1718   Hugh McKee m/Rose Hannah

6/15/1718   James McKee’s daughter Jane christened

1718            William McKee m/Jennet Hunter

4/5/1719     ARCHIBALD’s son Thomas christened

4/10/1719   Alex’r McKee’s son Hugh christened

6//1719        JAMES McKee’s son JAMES Jr christened

9/17/1721   JAMES McKee’s son Robert christened

9/6/1722     William McKee’s son James christened

11/13/1722 Hugh McKee’s daughter Mary Ann christened

1722            ARCHIBALD’s son HANS christened

3/15/1725   James McKee’s daughter Rose christened (a Rose m/Jas Weaver in 1749)

5/2/1725     ARCHIBALD’s daughter Jane christened

1/23/1727   William’s son Thomas christened

5/18/1727   JAMES’ son HANS christened

3/29/1729   William McKee’s son Robert christened

5/11/1729   ARCHIBALD’s (youngest) son Robert christened

1729            Sarah McKee m/Thos. King

7/12/1730   Hugh McKee’s daughter Mary christened

7/19/1730   Mary McKee m/John Shaw

3/11/1731   James McKee’s daughter Mary christened

1731            William McKee’s son HANS christened

1739            James McKee m/Susanne Girven

1752            one of these HANS McKee’s m/Mary Harper

===

Alexander, John and Thomas McKee were among those who held farms from the Hamilton estates

(Killyleagh & Bangor of Co Down) in 1681 and 1688 (Hamilton manuscripts pp108-111, 125-131).

James Hamilton received “all the lands in the Upper Clannaboyle and the Great Ards which had been

possessed by “Con McNeale McBryan Feartagh O’Neal”  or his father Bryandn Feartagh O’Neale in his

livetime, including land on which Killyleagh was established  as recompense for services to James the 1st

.  Con lived in the old mansion house of Castlereagh, two or three miles distant from Carrickfergus Castle

(now Belfast) and as a “cadet” ruled the Upper Clannaboyle country which consisted of the north half of

county Down (aka the Upper Clannaboye country)  The patent was finally issued under the Great Seal 4/

16/1605.   The king had granted land formerly belonging to Con on the express condition that he should ”

plant” it with Scottish and English colonists.  As soon as their patents were passed Hamilton and two

others receiving patents “crossed into Scotland to call upon their whole kith and kin to aid them in the

plantation of their vast estates” (Hamilton & Montgomery were from Ayrshire.  Hamilton was of the family

of Hamilton of Dunlop.  “there is no doubt that he (Hamilton) did “plant” the land which he had acquired

with Scottish tenants, the most of them evidently from the same counties in Scotland — Ayr, Renfrew,

Wigtown, Dumfries and Kirkcudbright.

===

WIGTOWN, Scotland– The source for placing Thomas as “of Wigtown” was the web postings linked to

Archibald of County Down, Ireland.  Doughtie quotes from Angus Mackays “The Book of Mackay” as

placing the “Wigton” Mackays/McKies as from the Galloway MacKay line — “The Galloway MacKays, of

whom there were various families holding a considerable amount of land in WIGTON, Kirkcudbrightshire

&c such as Camiodone, Raigarne, Craichlo, Mertoun, Balmegee &c appear as Makke, Makee, Makge,

Makgeee, Makgie, McGie, McGhie & Mackghie but towards the close of the 16th century THEY APPEAR

GENERALLY AS McKIE & McGHIE.”  Other clans mentioned from that quoted source generally used

variations of McKAY so this seems consistent with the derivation of the “McKee” pronunciation.

===

 

The Break of Killyleagh

In April 1689 a battle was fought near the town when Col Talbot of Cormac O’Neal’s Regiment

defeated supporters of King William under Henry Hunter

 

 

Killyleagh Presbyterian Parish Registers at Belfast PRO, October 1999

Children of Thomas McKee are:

2                 i.    Archibald McKee, born Abt. 1677 in Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland; died Aft. 1729 in Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland; married Jane Bell July 10, 1707 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland.

ii.    John McKee, born 1687 in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland; died August 1767 in Dromara, County Down, Northern Ireland; married Mary Hamilton June 30, 1713 in Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland; born 1686 in Dromara, Down, Northern Ireland; died January 27, 1754 in Dromara, Down, Northern Ireland.

 

Notes for John McKee:

[7162] John M’Kee of Killyleagh, Down, N Ireland was born 1687 to Thomas M’Kee (mother’s name not

known) and died 8/27/1767 in Dromara, Co Down, N. Ireland.  He was buried in Dromara Graveyard.

Inscription “G31” states he died 1767 aged 80 years.  He married Mary Hamilton 6/30/1713 in

Downpatrick [129850 and they had four children

David

James (+)

Hugh (+)

Cuddy

===

There was a contemporary John McKee of County Down who married an “Isabellow” c1701 and listed

with six children — Thomas, John, another John “yeoman”, James, Isabellow and Ann.  Yeoman John

and James extended but no source notes on the Isabellow I picked up.

 

 

Dromara Graveyard Inscription G31 states he died 1767 aged 80 years

 

More About John McKee:

Burial: August 1767, Dromara Graveyard, Dromara, Down, Northern Ireland

 

Notes for Mary Hamilton:

Dromara Graveyard Inscription G31 gives her age in 1754 of 68 years; IGI lists marriage as 30 Nov 1713 at Downpatrick

 

More About Mary Hamilton:

Burial: January 1754, Dromara Graveyard, Dromara, Down, Northern Ireland

 

More About John McKee and Mary Hamilton:

Marriage: June 30, 1713, Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland

 

iii.    Michael McKee, born 1689 in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland; married Jane ? Abt. 1716 in Ireland.

 

Notes for Michael McKee:

Michael M’Kee 971590 born abt 1689 of Killyleagh, Down, N Ireland s/o Thomas M’Kee; grandfather

James; no maternal data m/Jane M’Kee abt 1716 in Ireland.  Index note “He is a parent in Killyleagh

parish register.  Added to this family because of name, date and location”

 

 

He is a parent in Killyleagh parish register.  Added to this family because of name, date, and location.

 

More About Michael McKee and Jane ?:

Marriage: Abt. 1716, Ireland

 

iv.    James McKee, born December 12, 1693 in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland; died 1741 in Edengary, County Down, Northern Ireland; married Margaret Campbell February 20, 1717/18 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland; born 1699 in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland.

 

Notes for James McKee:

One undocumented source has Archibald’s father as James M’Kee but two sources I found while

googling which are based on Killyleagh church records

===

Ancestry.com posting #1711 on James M’Kee (James Jr) of Dromore, Down, N. Ireland christened 2/4/

1724 in Killyleagh & died 1760 “of Dromore” shows s/o James & Margt Campbell M’Kee

James Jr m/Hannah Brown 11/22/1753 and had James/John & William

“Super Will Index gives date of 1760 of Dromore; GI lists father of Anthony, James, William & John as

James.  Years do not work for Anthony.  Editors have put him as brother of James”

===

.  Archibald’s daughter Elizabeth christened 7/11/1713 as I had it copied.  9103510 Killyleagh Par Reg

Vol  I 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, Additional information that she married James Morison in Jul 1748 in

Killyleagh (ref #13020).  No mention of children.

These records all show that Archibald M’Kee was born in 1691, If correct he would have married when

age 16 – no death date for him — adds that Archibald was a son of Thomas M;Kee born abt 1665; mother

left blank — this James II would be Archibald Sr’s brother..

—  James M’Kee s/o Thomas  & grandson of James christened 12/12/1693 Killyleagh, Down;

m/Margt Campbell 2/20/1718 [#12984] and had ten children

Jane, James, John, Robert, another James, Rose, Hans, John, Mary and Anthony

died 1741 Edengary, Aghaderg, Down, N. Ireland

Note that Pendleton County Wm McKee also married a Campbell but much later.

Source cites [10092] Killyleagh Par Reg Vol I 1692-1757 Belfast PRO and Super Will Index giving his will

as dated 1741 of Edengary.  Remark added “This whole family seemed to move south and east over to

Seapatrick area and it seems likely that James went to Edengary.”  Of course its also possible that when

they migrated from Killyleagh some of them went to America so this material neither locks in nor rebuts

my earlier assumptions concerning Archibald McKee of Kingstree, SC.

===

note shows based on Killyleagh Par Reg Vol1 1602-1757 and super will index showing 1741 will of

James “of Edengary” with “This whole family seemed to move sough and east over the Seapatrick area

and it seems likely that James went to Edengary

===

…Another Campbell/McKee connection was a MARGARET ORR who married one of the James McKee’s

c1725 — her mother was Jane nee Campbell and her father James Orr.  Margaret born c1695 in

Ballyblack, Down, NIreland.  McKee children were Big Davie MKee of the Temple, James Sr, Thomas,

Alexander, Hugh, John, Richard & Jane.  Some extensions not tracked.  Source cited as :hodge podge

pedigree from Belfast PRO Oct 1999 and another source giving Margaret’s birth as abt 1688.  Her

husband James (c1695-c1800) posted just below her shows he was a son of Hugh M’Kee and grandson

of John M’Kie (1625-1684 m1659) with (*) indicating info posted on that John’s father  They lived on the

 

estate of Toddstown and were on rent roll of Saintfield estate in 1751 as of Tullywest.  Book of McKee p

119 states that James McKee of Tullywest, s/o Hugh born c1695 had 20 children, many of whom

migrated to Pennsylvania (specifically naming David, James, Hugh & John)

===

An unrelated record but picked up because it relates to those Seapatrick McKees mentioned above.

The record showed William M’Kee s/o Samuel & Jane Skelly M’Kee and grandson of Thomas M’Kee was

born in 1750.  William was named in the Householders Index of Kilpike and/or Ballykeil ” and added to

the family by researchers “because of location and date”

 

 

Killyleagh Par Reg – Vol I – 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, October 1999

Super Will Index gives his will dated 1741 of Edengary.  This whole family seemed to move south and east over to Seapatrick area, and it seems likely that James went to Edengary.

 

 

Notes for Margaret Campbell:

Killyleagh marriage record

 

Marriage Notes for James McKee and Margaret Campbell:

Killyleagh marriage record

 

More About James McKee and Margaret Campbell:

Marriage: February 20, 1717/18, Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland

 

v.    Elizabeth McKee, born July 31, 1696 in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland.

 

Notes for Elizabeth McKee:

web ref# 9441(Killyleagh Par Reg Vol I 1692-1757, Belfast PRO– christened 7/31/1696

, Killyleagh, Down, N.Ire; father=Thomas; mn not given.  No further info about her on

that site

 

 

vi.    Darby McKee, died 1726 in Levallyreagh, County Down, Ireland.

 

Notes for Darby McKee:

ancestry.com shows he was born c1725 and died in 1765 “of Levallyreagh, Dromora, Co Down — based

on Super Will Index.  They don’t have his wife’s name but there were three children

Peter (line extended further)

Michael (not extended) &

John (line extended further)

 

 

His given name was blank in Killyleagh Parish Register Vol I (1692-1757) but editors placed him ”

because he seems to fit the family”  The “SuperWill Index” gave date of 1726 “of Levallyriagh”  Darby

had two sons — James & Peter.  No information about his wife.

 

 

Given name is blank in Killyleagh Par Reg – Vol I – 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, October 1999; editors have merged in Darby because it seems to fit in this family.

Super Will Index gives date of 1726 of Levallyriagh

 

 

More About Darby McKee:

Christening: June 09, 1699, Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland

 

vii.    Samuel McKee, born July 03, 1702 in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland; died 1776 in Ballymachanallen, Tullyish, County Down, Northern Ireland; married (1) Elizabeth Meharry February 23, 1741/42 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland; born 1720 in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland; died 1748 in Ballymachanallen, Tullyish, County Down, Northern Ireland; married (2) Jane Skelly December 26, 1748 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland; born 1720 in Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland.

 

Notes for Samuel McKee:

web posting 9442 (plus another posting on William M’Kee as grandson of Thomas)

reflects Samuel m/Jane Skelly and William born “abt 1750” of Kilpike, Seapatrick, Down, N. Ireland.

William was named in the Householders Index of Kilpike and “added to this family because of location

and date”

— the posting on Samuel shows he was christened 7/3/1702 in Killyleagh and that he died 1776 in

Ballymacanallen, Tullylish, Down, N Ire; son of Thomas M’Kee

His 1st marriage was 2/23/1742 in Killyleagh to Elizth Meharry

children by that marriage were Thomas & Samuel (Samuel Jr +)

His 2nd marriage was to Jane Skelly12/26/1748 in Killyleagh [12996]

 

children by 2nd marriage = William and “Dl” (Donald)

9442 cites Killyleagh Par Reg 1692-1757 and also Super Will Index with will date of 1776 for Samuel at

Ballymacanallan.

 

 

Killyleagh Par Reg – Vol I – 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, October 1999; Super Will Index gives will date of 1776 for Samuel at “Ballymacanallan”

 

Notes for Jane Skelly:

Killyleagh marriage record gives 23 Feb 1742

 

Marriage Notes for Samuel McKee and Jane Skelly:

Killyleagh marriage record

 

More About Samuel McKee and Jane Skelly:

Marriage: December 26, 1748, Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland

 

 

6.  John Bell, born 1650 in Antrim, Ireland.  He married 7. Agnes Nielson.

7.  Agnes Nielson

Child of John Bell and Agnes Nielson is:

3                 i.    Jane Bell, born Abt. 1687 in Scotland or Ireland; died Aft. 1729 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland; married Archibald McKee July 10, 1707 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland.

 

 

Generation No. 4

        8.  James McKee, born 1642 in Wigtown, Scotland; died in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland.  He was the son of 16. Robert McKie.

 

Notes for James McKee:

From ancestry.com — THIS JAMES WAS USED “TO LINK  KNOWN  GENERATIONS” — No

documentation but seems to fit with Killyleagh Parish Records  I ADDED HANS & JANE based upon my

own examination of the microfilm.

===

Web searches listed James McKee as the father or grandfather of Archibald McKee of County Down with

at least one posting placing Thomas McKee as James son and Archibald’s father.  I’m not certain how

this was determined as the church records cited (or at least the LDS microfilm version I had accessed)

simply listed the father of children christened more recently than would have been the case for Thomas.

The lack of identification of mothers strongly suggests that the person who made the finding pretty much

saw the same basic record as I did but obviously he or she had more time to study it and I’m inclined to

accept the posting at face value.  Each set of entries related to a single event and did not appear to be in

family or date (or even local jurisdiction) sequence.  The site covered Scotland as well as Ireland events.

===

Posting 9448 for James M’Kee shows James M’Kee of Myrton-McKee, Penninghame, Wigtown, Scotland

born c1642 died County Down, N. Ireland; father  Robert MKie Burgess-Wigtown;

source 9448 “Presbyterian Parish Registers – Belfast PRO Vol 1 1692-1757 “name added to link known

generations”

children

Archabald (extended)

Thomas (extended)

William (extended)

James (extended)

Hans (extended)

Jane

His GRANDFATHER shown as

Thomas M’KIE Sheriff-Wigtown (1580-1650)

and his grandmother Annabil Agnes Brown (MackBrume – 1595-1640 ) m/1608

Posting for son THOMAS M’KEE listing father as James (1642-   ) gave James father as Robert M’Kie

Burgess-Wigtown and extended the line on beyond that.  Children for that Thomas provide firm link to

those providing information on that site.

Robert M’KIE Burgess-Wigtown b1627 d1662 m1643 but no name for wife

===

WIGTOWN, Scotland is in the Machurs region of Dumfries and Galloway.  This is along the coast in the

extreme southwestern part of Scotland where the “North Channel” becomes the “Irish Sea”.   Historic

Wigtownshire/Wigtown County is the western portion of the Galloway region and lies entirely within the

Dumfries and Galloway council area.   The IGI lists well over a hundred “McKie”s christened in Wigtown

during the early 18th century and later

===

There were three McKee landowners listed for the Hamilton lands (which included Killyleagh) in 1681

and 1688 — Alexander, John & Thomas.  They were perhaps sons or nephews of this James McKee??.

===

I picked up the sons Thomas and “Archabald” from a web posting based primarily on church records.

 

===

 

In a posting of the Antrim Presbytery there was mention that a Rev Thomas Gowan was present at the

General Synod in Antrim in 1706 with Mr Arthur Maxwell as ruling elder and then with Mr James McKee

in 1707.  This may or may not have been this same James McKee but “Killyleagh” was a part of the

search criterea so at least there was a jurisdictional overlap.  The article began with Rev Henry

Livingstone “the first Presbyterian minister, as far as we know to come to Drumbo was Henry Livingstone,

a nephew of the famous John Livingstone of Killinchy.. who was ordained or ‘perhaps appointed is the

word’ in 1655”

 

 

 

Presbyterian Parish Registers – Belfast PRO Vol 1 1692-1757 – Oct 1999;  Name added to link known generations

Children of James McKee are:

4                 i.    Thomas McKee, born 1665 in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland; died in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland.

ii.    Archibald McKee, born 1663 in Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland; died October 28, 1736 in Templepatrick, Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland.

 

Notes for Archibald McKee:

This “Archabald M’Kee” (1663-1736) was shown as the father of Robert M’Kee who was christened 3/29/

1729 in Killyleagh, County Down, N.Ireland.  It cites [10304] Killyleagh Par Reg – Vol 1 – 1692-1757 at

Belfast PRO.  No spouse information for Archabald but marriage shown as 1688 (estimate?) with son

William born in 1690.

===

This “Archabald” M’Kee had a son named Archibald who was born in 1688 and died in 1737.  His son

would have been a contemporary of his cousin Killeyleagh Archibald.  He is identified on the posting as ”

of Donaghadee, Down, N Ireland” and he married Izabell Davidson c1720 in Ireland.

===

Archibald was a relatively rare name within McKee’s of that era but I found an Archibald McKie (1512-

1583) s/o Patrick and Janet McDowall McKie who were mentioned on pg 354 of the Book of Mackay and

are posted on the web site from which I picked up early references to the Killyleagh McKee’s.  I didn’t

track that Patrick on back but the source shows a namesake Patrick (1555-1628) and presumably from

spelling these McKie’s were in Scotland — nothing on them tying to County Down.  The source

information cites Scottish Inquisitiones.  Archibald probably became popular as a result of the Archibald —

– prominent in the Reformation

 

 

 

 

 

This gravestone was partially destroyed before 1916 and only a fragment remains now at Templepatrick Graveyards “…(McKe)e…(ed Octobr. ye) 28 (1736 aged 73) years.”

Editors have assumed the Archabald given name since the grave is located next to the later Archabald and since his grandfather was named Archabald.

 

 

More About Archibald McKee:

Burial: October 1736

 

iii.    William McKee, born 1666 in Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland; died June 14, 1743 in Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland; married Jennet Hunter 1718 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland.

 

Notes for William McKee:

Ancestry.com places Robert’s christenings as a grandson of “Archabald” and shows a different mother

than my assumption below  but apparently didn’t include James or Thomas — Age info actually fits better

so probably should move after rechecking to see whether they had any other details or documentation

for the William they place here.  We also have the issue of other possible grandchildren of the older ”

Archabald” being the ones reflected by 1720s christenings.

===

I am assuming the children attached to “link” James McKee on the ancestry.com web site were placed

there based upon contemporary adult McKee’s reflected by christening records.  Postings of children are

from my own reading — need to recheck web site for what if anything they show.  Note they did not show

a birth date or marriage for this William.  I’m tentatively identifying his as the William McKee who married

Jennet Hunter in 1718.  IF the christening records do not belong with this William they likely fit with a

cousin or nephew of “our” Archibald.

===

Their extension differs from my assumption.  They match him up with a William M’Kee of Donaghadee,

Co Down born c1666, died 6/14/1743 and buried at Templepatrick, Donaghadee.  Marriage c1690 to

unidentified spouse — 3 children

Alexander (extended)

William (extended) &

David (not extended)

Note that their conclusion does NOT FIT KILLYLEAGH — uncertain which has greater weight

“Templepatrick Graveyard inscription #129 reads ‘Here lieth ye body of William McKee who died June ye

14th 1743 aged 77 years.  Also his son Alexander McKee who died January ye 31 1748/9 aged 56 years.

Also the body of William McKee son to the late Robert McKee of Sloanstown who departed this life May

ye 26 1787 aged 26 years.'”

 

 

 

Templepatrick Graveyard inscription #129 reads:  “Here lieth ye body of William McKee wh died June ye 14th 1743 aged 77 years.  Also his son Alexander McKee who died January ye 31 1748/9 aged 56 years.  Also the body of William McKee, son to the late Robert McKee of Sloanstown, who departed this life May ye 26 1787 aged 26 years.”

 

More About William McKee:

Burial: June 1743

 

More About William McKee and Jennet Hunter:

Marriage: 1718, Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland

 

iv.    James McKee, Jr, born Abt. 1672 in Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland; died 1726 in Mullough, Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland.

 

Notes for James McKee, Jr:

 

I am assuming that ancestry.com placed James as a son of the “link” James based upon the records of

children christened but need to recheck their posting.  I’m inserting children from my own reading of the

microfilm which may or may not be THIS James McKee — quite likely however this James & “our”

Archibald were either brothers or cousins.

6/-/1719  James McKee Jr christened — mother not shown

(I did not pick up a marriage record for James)

9/17/1721  James McKee’s son Robert was christened

3/15/1725  James McKee’s daughter Rose was christened (a Rose m/Jas Weaver in 1749)

5/18/1727  James McKee’s son Hans was christened

3/11/1731   James McKee’s daughter Mary was christened

===

ancestry.com cites Killyleagh Parish Registers & Super will date of Mullogh in 1726 with different set of

children than my assumption.  They show

James M’Kee c1672-1726 of Killyleagh, Down s/o 1642 James and grandson of 1627 Robert;; name

of wife not shown; 5 children

Jane (not extended)

John (not extended)

Gawen (extended)

Ursula (not extended)

Sarah (not extended)

 

 

Killyleagh Presbyterian Parish Registers at Belfast PRO, October 1999

Super Will Index gives will date of Mullogh in 1726

 

 

v.    Hans McKee, born Abt. 1675 in Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland; married Mary McKee March 20, 1699/00 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland.

 

Notes for Hans McKee:

This Hans M’Kee was from the ancestry.com postings.  He MAY be the one I found from the church

microfilm who married Mary McKee 3/20/1700 who was the earliest adult McKee I found among those

records. Mary’s surname was shown as McKee leading me to assume she may have been a widow,

perhaps of one of Hans’ brothers.   I am tentatively inserting that marriage for him but need to recheck

ancestry.com to see whether there are any details posted there which I overlooked.

===

Checking ancestry.com after above entry they reached the same conclusion Hans was s/o James &

grandson of Robert with marriage to Mary M’Kee 3.20/1700.  They show Alexander M’Kee as their son

(which I had not yet concluded) citing “Killyleagh Presbyterian Parish Registers at Belfast PRO, October

1999”  No indication of extending son Alexander & I didn’t track him.

 

 

Killyleagh Presbyterian Parish Registers at Belfast PRO, October 1999

 

Notes for Mary McKee:

I inserted the marraige as to James McKee’s son Hans reflected by ancestry.com.  If that source showed

this marriage I missed it.   I had picked up the marriage from the microfilm — it DOES reflect her surname

as McKee leading me to believe she may have been a widow, perhaps of one of Hans’ brothers.

 

 

Killyleagh Par Reg – Vol I – 1692-1757, Belfast PRO, October 1999

 

More About Hans McKee and Mary McKee:

Marriage: March 20, 1699/00, Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland

 

vi.    John McKee, married (1) Abigail Gordon in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland; married (2) Ann Campbell 1713 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland; died 1714.

 

Notes for John McKee:

 

I did NOT find a John M’Kee on ancestry.com which fits with the microfilm I examined and am tentatively

adding him to their James McKee “link”.  Following are the entries I picked up from the microfilm

1713     Jon McKee m/Ann Campbell

1714    Jon McKee m/Abigail Gordan  (rightly or wrongly I’m assuming Ann Campbell McKee died??

10/1/1716  John McKee Junior christened — mother not shown

 

 

More About John McKee and Ann Campbell:

Marriage: 1713, Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland

 

vii.    Jane McKee, born 1680 in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland; married Alexander Young September 08, 1703 in Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland; born Abt. 1670 in Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland.

 

Notes for Jane McKee:

I am assuming that ancestry.com picked up the Jane McKee I noted from the microfilm

who married Alex Young in 1703 but need to recheck to see whether they show this

marriage for her or have any other documention I overlooked.

===

Some of my assumptions confirmed including this one.  Ancestry.com shows Jane d/o

1642 James and granddaughter of 1627 Robert marriex Alexander (Alex) Young on 9/8

/1703 in Killyleagh.  No indication of children and cited source=Killyleagh parish

register.  They estimate her birth as abt 1680 “of Killyleagh”

 

 

Killyleagh parish register

 

More About Alexander Young and Jane McKee:

Marriage: September 08, 1703, Killyleagh, Down County, Ireland

 

viii.    Margaret McKee, born in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland.

 

Notes for Margaret McKee:

On ancestry.com came up as wife of a Willm Martin without link to James/Thomas

M’Kee etal but shows Margaret M’Kee m/Willm Martin 3/12/1813 in Killyleagh.  No info

on his parents.  Re-check for the record on her to see where she fits in.

 

 

 

Generation No. 5

        16.  Robert McKie, born 1627 in Wigtown, Scotland; died 1662 in County Antrim, Ireland.  He was the son of 32. Thomas McKie and 33. Annabil Agnes Mackbrume.

 

Notes for Robert McKie:

His father was banished from Wigtown 1/16/1636 so Robert would have been about eight or nine years

old at the time of the family migration to Northern Ireland.  The link was based upon “selected Judiciary

Cases 1624-1650” (Scotland) and a Ballywalter gravestone  of TMK and AMB with “the honest man

Thomas Makie Burgess of Stranaver who deceist and his wife Annabil Mackbrume deceist” plus a crest

resembling arms of McKie family of Bargaly, County Kirkcudbright.

===

Interestingly Kirkcudbright Town Council Records p983 in 1655 show that ROBERT was “putt in suir”

due to nonpament of “the sowme of ane hundreth merkis principall xxli”    Robert was just five or six

years old when his father was banished from Scotland so no direct connection of this to the earlier event

unless there was a carryover upon Thomas’ death due to possible debt or legal obligation.  It appears

 

though that both father and son did quite well in Northern Ireland and were respected citizens.

===

In 1656 (p1023) Griss Shirpro and her spouse are “cautioner” for Robert McKieis sister and on that same

page another entrie indicated “Robert McKie is owed money”.  The Connor “Super Will Index” reflects a

will of 1662 for Robert of Antrim.

 

The marriage was reportedly during 1643 in Ireland but researcher did not show her name; two children

 

 

 

 

Kirkcudbright Town Council Records p 983 1655 “The quhilk day William ffullartoune proveist being chargit be letters of Captioune rsit at the instance of Thomas Robsone merchand burges of Kirkcudbricht to tak and apprehend Robert McKie burges of Wigtoune and to putt him in suir waird firmance and captivitie and deteine him thereintill ay and quhill he maid payment to the said Thomas of the sowme of ane hundreth merkis principall xxli…The said William ffullartoune proveist in obedience to the said charge did tak and apprehend the said Robert McKie and putt him in the tolbuith of Kirkcudbricht…p 986 1655…Did in obedience to the said charge putt the said Robert McKie to libertie And thervpone the said Robert requirit act.”

p 1023 1656 Griss Shirpro and her spouse are cautioner for Robert McKieis sister.

p 1031 1656 Robert McKie is owed money.

Super Will Index gives will date of 1662 of Antrim (Connor index)

 

 

 

His father was banished from Wigtown 1/16/1636 so Robert would have been about eight or nin e

years old at the time of the family migration to Northern Ireland. The link was based upo n “selected

Judiciary Cases 1624-1650” (Scotland) and a Ballywalter gravestone of TMK and AM B with “the

honest man Thomas Makie Burgess of Stranaver who deceist and his wife Annabil Mac kbrume

deceist” plus a crest resembling arms of McKie family of Bargaly, County Kirkcudbright .

Children of Robert McKie are:

8                 i.    James McKee, born 1642 in Wigtown, Scotland; died in Killyleagh Parish, Down County, Ireland.

ii.    William McKee, born 1655 in Myrton-McKee, Penninghame, Wigtown, Scotland; died November 07, 1733 in Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland.

 

Notes for William McKee:

posting 7365 shows he was born 1655 “of Myrton-McKee, Penninghame, Wigtown, Scotland

and died 11/7/1733 of Donaghadee, Down, N Ireland

buried Nov 1733 Templepatrick, Donaghadee, Down

father Robert M’KIE Burgess-Wigtown

married abt 1675 Ireland –name of wife not shown

children David & William shown on this posting

source “Templepatrick gravestone inscription #154 reads “Here lieth ye body of William McKie who

 

departed this wife Novbr Ye 7th aged 78 years”

 

 

 

Templepatrick Gravestone inscription #143 reads:  “Here lieth ye body of William McKie who departed this life Novbr. Ye 7th 1733 aged 78 years.”

 

 

More About William McKee:

Burial: November 1733, Templepatrick, Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland

 

 

Generation No. 6

        32.  Thomas McKie, born 1580 in Myrton-McKee, Penninghame, Wigtown, Scotland; died 1650 in Whitechurch, Ballywalter, County Down, Ireland.  He was the son of 64. Andrew McKie and 65. Mackay of Wiggenshire.  He married 33. Annabil Agnes Mackbrume 1608 in Wigtown, Scotland.

33.  Annabil Agnes Mackbrume, born 1595 in Wigtown, Scotland; died 1640 in Ballywalter, County Down, Ireland.

 

Notes for Thomas McKie:

Posting 9448 for James M’Kee shows James M’Kee of Myrton-McKee, Penninghame, Wigtown, Scotland

born c1642 died County Down, N. Ireland; father  Robert MKie Burgess-Wigtown;

source 9448 “Presbyterian Parish Registers – Belfast PRO Vol 1 1692-1757 “name added to link known

generations”  Wigtown records on the International Genealogical Index include many “McKie”s but are of

 

events after 1700.  I;m not sure of evidence used to connect Thomas to the McKee’s of County Down but

accept them “in good faith”.  Notes for Thomas’ son Robert (#7212)

“Robert M’Kie Burgess-Wigtown;

Birth abt 1627 of Myrton=McKee, Penninghame, Wigtonshire, Scotland

Death 1662 County Down or Antrim, N Ireland (no source cited but precise year of death)

Father Thomas M’Kie, Sheriff, Wigtown

Mother Annabil Agnes Brown (Mackbrume)

Marriage 1643 Ireland (no source or name of wife cited but precise year)

Children James & William

It appears they tied some reference to Robert, s/o Thomas in Wigtown to perhaps a tombstone

inscription, tax record or census (??) but didn’t document it as such.  No IGI records that I know of turned

up this early but there could have been some civil or parish record of an adult Robert who was a former

Robert of Wigtown.  Too bad it wasn’t documented by notes.

The record on Thomas M’Kie (#10335) then shows

“Thomas M’Kie Sheriff-Wigtown (likely civil record of office or mention as an adult)

Birth abt 1580 of Myrton-McKee, Penninghame, Wigtonshire, Scotland (soft date)

Death abt1650 Whitechurch, Ballywalter, Down, Ireland (solid location but soft date)

Father Andrew M’Kie Burgess

Marriage to Annabil Agnes Brown (Mackbrume) abt 1608, Wigtown Scotland

(soft date but almost certainly from undocumented printed or written Wigtown source)

Four children = John, Patrick, Robert [Burgess-Wigtown] and Agnes;John & Robert lines extended

Family tree shows Thomas as s/o Andrew M’Kie Burgess & — Mackay born c1558 m/1575

and grandson of John M’GHIE Merchant-Burgess (no info on John’s wife)

maternal grandfather Thomas Mackay b1504 – d —-, m1538 wife name not shown

Ahh! solid documentation of basis for linking

“Horizontal stone on the ground at the foot of a McWhinney stone.  It is undated but the style is of the

1630-1660 period.  The inscription is raised roman capitals, running round the edge and continuing

across the centre.  Below are the arms – in chief two ravens pendant from an arrow fesswise and in base

a lion passant.  Between is a hand or a glove.  These resemble the arms of the family of McKie of

Bargaly, County Kirkcudbright.  Round the arms are the initials TMK and AMB.  The honest man Thamas

Makie Burgess of Stranraver wha deceist and his wife Annabil Mackbrume deceist:

===

In “Selected Judiciary Cases (Scotland) 1624-1650” pp538-9 “Thomas McKie, sumtyme schireff clerk

of Wigtown…contravening of ane act and sentence of banischment…court of Justiciarie, haldin within the

tolbuth of Edinburgh…upone the xvi day of Januar 1636 yeiris … the dome and sentence of banishment

was pronuncet aganis him upone the second day of Februare thaireftir 1636 ordaning him nocht only to

be declairet infamous sua to be repute and estamat and to have lost his office…adjudget to be

baneischet furth of this kindome of Scotland during all the dayis of his lyftyme.”

===

History of the Lands and their Owners in Galloway 941.49 H2m V2 p82 states

In February 1629 Thomas M’Kie had sasine of the lands of Little Elrig and in January 1631 of the half

of the lands of Meikle Elrig and Mylnes..

.In October 1642 William M’kie had sasine of the lands of Elrig;

p475 names Thomas M’Kie Sheriff Clerk of Wigton as witnesses of an annexation of Whithort 19 Sep

1622

v1 p85 states “About 1604 Sir Hew Mongomerie of Braidstane in Ayrshire having obtained a crown grant

of one third of the O’Neil lands led over a colony of Scots, chiefly from the west country, with whom he

peopled almost the entire of Ulster.  The previous intercourse between Ireland and the west of Scotland

was, of course, greatly increased by this event, and nowhere more so than with Galloway…” p335 “In

May 1635 Thomas M’Kie had sasine of the lands of Maidland &c

p336 “There was a reversion in Feb 1643 by Thomas M’Kie of the same farm

 

There was also a precept of Clare Constat 25th Aug 1631 by John Vans of Barnbarroch, superior of the

lands of Kirkland, in favour of John M’Kie, SON AND HEIR to the LATE THOMAS M’KIE of KIRKLAND

 

Earlier postings by what appears to be the same researcher, not individually documented but apparantly

from a published history then link to Andrew M’Kie of Wigonshire and six generations from the fourteenth

to sixteenth century as reflected by this PAF.

===

From George Wilson McKee’s “The McKees of Virginia and Kentucky (1891)

Irish or Celtic origin

12th century – the “main body” of them went into Scotland to assist Wm II drive pirates from Caithness

early 16th century — due to civil feuds of Scotland many migrated back to Ireland

1641 – Persecution on account of their religion under reign of Charles I — escape to N Ireland

1688 – again religious persecution under reign of James II

1738 – large migration to PA/VA included five to ten or eleven McKee brothers (xref Book of McKee’s)

(some sources tend to link them with common Scottish ancester to “our” County Down McKee’s

So far I haven’t established a solid link but effect in common from above events

===

Why banished? — A posting for son Robert indicates that ROBERT was detained and charged at the

instance of Thomas Robsone merchand burges of Kirkcudbricht  for “payment of the sowme of ane

hundreth merkis principall xxii” (p986 1655)so it appears the family’s “high crime” may have resulted

from failure to pay either a debt or a fine

===

A posting for Annabil [101170 has remark “Listed as Agnes Brown, wife of Thomas M’Gie of Wigtown in

sasine 1626 Buried under name of Annabil Mackbrume in Whitechurch cemetery”  That posting gives

her birth as ‘abt 1595 of Wigtonshire, Scotland and her death as between 1640-1660 with burial at

Whitechurch, Ballywalter Down N Ireland.

I had picked up the extension for son Robert.  There is also one for John.

===

A listing of names titled “The Scottish Plantation of Down and Antrim” (somewhere between Bruce,

James III and Flodden?) had three McKees — Thomas, John and a second Thomas.  IF continuity in the

source book (which seems to jump around) is sound “Hector was further required carefully to enroll the

men and arms in a book, to be consulted which troops might be needed for active service…evident that a

large number of settlers had come with Sir Hugh Montgomery to the Ards during the first four years of

colonization.  Scanning a rather extensive listing for alternate spellings I didn’t find any of the customary

alternate spellings for McKee/McKay.

 

 

“Second son was named after her father Thomas (Mackay) of Strathnaver”

 

Whitechurch Graveyard, Ballywalter:

“[Horizontal stone on the ground at the foot of a McWhinney stone.  It is undated but the style is of the 1630-1660 period.  The inscription is in raised roman capitals, running round the edge and continuing across the centre.  Below are the arms: – in chief two ravens pendant from an arrow fesswise and in base a lion passant.  Between is a hand or a glove.  These resemble the arms of the family of McKie of Bargaly, County Kirkcudbright.  Round the arms are the initials T M K and A M B].  The honest man Thomas Makie Burgess of Stranraver wha deceist and his wife Annabil Mackbrume deceist.” In “selected Judiciary Cases [Scotland] 1624-1650”, pp 538-9:  “Thomas McKie, sumtyme schireff clerk of Wigtown….contravening of ane act and sentence of banischment…court of Justiciarie, haldin within the tolbuth of Edinburgh…upone the xvi day of Januar 1636 yeiris…the dome and sentence of banischment was pronuncet aganis him upone the secund day of Februare thaireftir 1636, ordaning him nocht only to be declairet infamous sua to be repute and estamat, and to have lost his office…adjudget to be baneischet furth of this kingdome of Scotland during all the dayis of his lyftyme…”

History of the Lands and their Owners in Galloway 941.49 H2m V 2, pg 82 states “In February 1629, Thomas M’Kie, had sasine of the lands of Little Elrig, and in January 1631, of the half of the lands of Meikle Elrig and Mylnes…In October 1642, William M”kie had sasine of the lands of Elrig.”  P 475 names Thomas M’Kie, Sheriff Clerk of Wigton as witnesses of an annexation of Whithorn 19 Sep 1622.  V. 1, p 85 states:  “About 1604, Sir Hew Montgomerie of Braidstane, in Ayrshire, having obtained a crown grant of one-third of the O’Neil lands, led over a colony of Scots, chiefly from the west country, with whom he peopled almost the entire of Ulster.  The previous intercourse between Ireland and the west of Scotland was, of course, greatly increased by this event, and nowhere more so than with Galloway…” P. 335 states:  “In May 1635, Thomas M’Kie had sasine of the lands of Maidland, &c.”P 336: “There was a reversion, in Feb. 1643, by Thomas M’Kie to Wm. M’Kie of the same farm….There was also a precept of Clare Constat, 25th August 1651, by John Vans of Barnbarroch, superior of the lands of Kirkland, in favour of John M’Kie, son and heir to the late Thomas M’Kie of Kirkland.”

 

 

 

May see surname as M’Ghie

 

 

More About Thomas McKie:

Burial: Whitechurch Graveyard, County Down, Ireland

 

Notes for Annabil Agnes Mackbrume:

Listed as Agnes Brown, wife of Thomas M’Gie of Wigtown in sasine 1626 Buried under name of “Annabil Mackbrume” in Whitechurch cemetery.

 

More About Annabil Agnes Mackbrume:

Burial: 1640, Whitechurch Graveyard, County Down, Ireland

 

More About Thomas McKie and Annabil Mackbrume:

Marriage: 1608, Wigtown, Scotland

Children of Thomas McKie and Annabil Mackbrume are:

16               i.    Robert McKie, born 1627 in Wigtown, Scotland; died 1662 in County Antrim, Ireland.

ii.    John McKie, born 1622 in Wigtown, Scotland; died 1692 in Maidland, Wigtown, Scotland; married Marion Wilson Abt. 1667.

 

Notes for John McKie:

John apparantly remained in Scotland after his brother and father went to Northern Ireland.  Posting

shws he married abt 1667 in Scotland and had six children (all of them extended but not all copied)

The children were Andrew, John, Thomas, William, James and Elizabeth with surname posted as “M’Kie”

Elizabeth MAY have been the person spoken of as a Descendant of Iver McKay and Ann Miller of Bladen

County, NC whose fare to America came from a bequest by John McIver & Deborah McKeithan to

Alexander McKAY to defray the expense of transporting his sisters Jean & Margaret from Ireland to

America.

===

The documentation for John

10458 – sasines 1651 and 1692

 

History of the Lands and Their Owners in Galloway FHL #941.49 H2m 1994 v2 p319 “On the 27th

December 1692, Andrew, son and heir of John M’Kie of Maitland (Wigtown) was served heir to the land

of Meikle and Little Eldrick, Garnachie (Garchu) parts of the barony of Mertoun M’Kie, then called

Myrtoun Herries”  with an added note “This is especially interesting since William M’Kie, a cousin of John,

and his wife Isobel had sasine of Meikle and Little Rigs in 1668.  They must have died without issue”

===

I didn’t track to the possible link but a Grissell M’Kie christened 5/24/1713 in Penninghame, Wigtown,

Scotland who died 1780 of Culbratten, Kirkcudbright Scotland may have been his granddaughter or

great granddaughter

 

 

 

sasines 1651 and 1692

History of the Lands and Their Owners in Galloway, FHL #941.49 H2m 1994, v 2, p 319 states: “On the 27th December 1692, Andrew, son and heir of John M’Kie of Maitland (Wigtown) was served heir to the lands of Meikle and Little Eldrick, Garnachie (Garchu), parts of the barony of Mertoun M’Kie, then called Myrtoun Herries.”

This is especially interesting, since William M’Kie, a cousin of John, and his wife Isobel had sasine of Meikle and Little Rigs in 1668.  They must have died without issue.

 

 

More About John McKie and Marion Wilson:

Marriage: Abt. 1667

 

iii.    Patrick McKie, born 1625 in Penninghame, Wigtown, Scotland; died January 12, 1655/56.

 

Notes for Patrick McKie:

The Patrick ancestry.com has as s/o Thomas & Annabil not extended BUT might be

the guy shown further down in notes.  For the one they place notes show

from Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court Deeds 1623-1675 at Dumfries Archives, Scotland

2183 Obligation (12 July 1675) by Dvid Dumbar of Baldone, narrating a Bond to him

(of the date hereof) by Richard Broune, lawful son to the deceased Gilbert Broune of

Bakbie and Agnes McKee, his spouse, for L5000 Scots paable at Martinmas next with

L1000 of penalty promising that he shall not use execution against the said spouses

 

for payment thereof but that it shall be lawful for him to deduse comprysing againtst the

said Agnes, PATRICK and John McKeis her brothers for further security… at

Kirkcudbright 18 Aug 1655, witnesses Gilbert Broune in Kempiltoun, Gavin Bround,

brother to the said Richard…”  Note from Bond below that Patrick must have died

before 1/12/1656

===

2184 Bond of Warandice (12 July 1675) by the foresaid David Dumbar, narrating that

the foresaid Richard Broune and Agnes McKie have at the date hereof disponed to him

their 10 merkland of Kirland of Wigtoune.. pertaining to the said Agnes through the

DEATHS OF HER FORESAID FATHER AND BROTHERS, therefore the said David

now declares that there is… a Discharge granted by the Said Agnes to Roger

Gordoune of Balmey… of all debts or sums of money that may be claimed from them

as heirs to the said deceased Thomas McKie, under the penalty of L100.  At

Kirkcudbright 12 January 1656, witnesses [same]..

===

ancestry.com has a contemporary Patrick McKie they show as s/o Thomas but

grandson of Andrew M’Kie of Wigonshire — very possibly kin  That Patrick’s father

(Thomas) was born 1602 and died 1641

Patrick M’Kie Sr born c1635 of Auchland, Wigtown, died 1699 of Auchland. Married

Catherine Lauder c1658 in Scotland.  Three children (all extended) Patrick, Alexander

& William.  Notes “History of the Lands and Their Owners in Galloway v1 p351 states

“In 1689 Patrick M’Kie was owner of Auchland.  On the 26th July 1695 Catherine

Lauder had sasine of ane wood and Milne of Auchland.  Who she was we do not trace.

She may have been the spouse of Patrick M’Kie as we learn that he had a son Patrick

who on the 27th July 1699 was served heir to his father in the ten merk land of

Auchland and merk land of Markbreddan”  It then states “Editors have placed Patrick

in this family because of location and dates and the fact that Thomas father was Patrick

.

 

 

Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court Deeds 1623-1675 at Dumfries Archives, Scotland, October 2001:  “2183 Obligation (12 July 1675) by David Dumbar of Baldone, narrating a Bond to him (of the date hereof) by Richard Broune, lawful son to the deceased Gilbert Broune of Bakbie, and Agnes McKie, his spouse, for L5000 Scots paable at Martinmas next, with L1000 of penalty, promising that he shall not use execution against the said spouses for payment thereof, but that it shall be lawful for him to “deduce comprysing” against the said Agnes, Patrick, and John McKeis, her brothers for further security…At Kirkcudbright 18 Aug 1655; witnesses Gilbert Broune in Kempiltoun, Gavin Broune, brother to the said Richard…” “2184 Bond of Warrandice (12 July 1675) by the foresaid David Dumbar, narrating that the foresaid Richard Broune and Agnes McKie have, at the date hereof, disponed to him their 10 merkland of Kirland of Wigtoune…pertaining to the said Agnes through the deaths of her foresaid father and brothers; therefore the said David now declares that there is…a Discharge granted by the Said Agnes to Roger Gordoune of Balmey…of all debts or sums of money that may be claimed from them as heirs to the said deceased Thomas McKie, under the penalty of L100.  At Kirkcudbright 12 January 1656; witnesses [same]…”

 

More About Patrick McKie:

Burial: January 1655/56

 

iv.    Agnes McKie, born 1629 in Myrton-McKee, Penninghame, Wigton, Scotland; married Richard Broune of Bakbie Abt. 1645; born 1622 in Bagbie, Kirkmabreck, Kirkcudbright, Scotland; died in Kirkcudbirght, County Down, Ireland.

 

Notes for Agnes McKie:

from Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court Deeds 1623-1675 at Dumfries Archives, Scotland

2183 Obligation (12 July 1675) by Dvid Dumbar of Baldone, narrating a Bond to him

(of the date hereof) by Richard Broune, lawful son to the deceased Gilbert Broune of

Bakbie and Agnes McKee, his spouse, for L5000 Scots paable at Martinmas next with

L1000 of penalty promising that he shall not use execution against the said spouses

for payment thereof but that it shall be lawful for him to deduse comprysing againtst the

said Agnes, Patrick and John McKeis her brothers for further security… at

Kirkcudbright 18 Aug 1655, witnesses Gilbert Broune in Kempiltoun, Gavin Bround,

brother to the said Richard…”

===

2184 Bond of Warandice (12 July 1675) by the foresaid David Dumbar, narrating that

the foresaid Richard Broune and Agnes McKie have at the date hereof disponed to him

their 10 merkland of Kirland of Wigtoune.. pertaining to the said Agnes through the

deaths of her foresaid father and brothers, therefore the said David now declares that

there is… a Discharge granted by the Said Agnes to Roger Gordoune of Balmey… of

all debts or sums of money that may be claimed from them as heirs to the said

deceased Thomas McKie, under the penalty of L100.  At Kirkcudbright 12 January

1656, witnesses [same]..?

 

 

 

Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court Deeds 1623-1675 at Dumfries Archives, Scotland, October 2001:  “2183 Obligation (12 July 1675) by David Dumbar of Baldone, narrating a Bond to him (of the date hereof) by Richard Broune, lawful son to the deceased Gilbert Broune of Bakbie, and Agnes McKie, his spouse, for L5000 Scots paable at Martinmas next, with L1000 of penalty, promising that he shall not use execution against the said spouses for payment thereof, but that it shall be lawful for him to “deduce comprysing” against the said Agnes, Patrick, and John McKeis, her brothers for further security…At Kirkcudbright 18 Aug 1655; witnesses Gilbert Broune in Kempiltoun, Gavin Broune, brother to the said Richard…” “2184 Bond of Warrandice (12 July 1675) by the foresaid David Dumbar, narrating that the foresaid Richard Broune and Agnes McKie have, at the date hereof, disponed to him their 10 merkland of Kirland of Wigtoune…pertaining to the said Agnes through the deaths of her foresaid father and brothers; therefore the said David now declares that there is…a Discharge granted by the Said Agnes to Roger Gordoune of Balmey…of all debts or sums of money that may be claimed from them as heirs to the said deceased Thomas McKie, under the penalty of L100.  At Kirkcudbright 12 January 1656; witnesses [same]…”

 

More About Richard Bakbie and Agnes McKie:

Marriage: Abt. 1645

 

 

Generation No. 7

        64.  Andrew McKie, born 1548 in Penninghame, Wigtown, Scotland.  He was the son of 128. John McGhie.  He married 65. Mackay of Wiggenshire 1575 in Wigtown, Scotland.

65.  Mackay of Wiggenshire, born 1558 in Strathnaver, Scotland.  She was the daughter of 130. Thomas MacKay.

 

Notes for Andrew McKie:

 

{10528} Andrew M’Kie Burgess –  Reg of Privy Council Andrew Makky burgess of Striveling – complaint

Birth “abt 1548 of Myrton-McKee, Penninghame, Wigtown, Scotland (10527) s/o Hohn M’Ghie Merchant-

Burgess;

Christening “of Striveling, Scotland

Msrriage abt 1575 Scotland to –Mackay

Children: Andrew, Thomas Sheriff Wigtown, Alexander, Patrick, Robert

===

“Beth K” posted a “correction Book of McKee MacKays of Scotland pg 233 which included a reference to

contemporary Patrick McKe

“Patrick McKe was burgess of Wigtown, 1575 (RPC, 11, p503)”  The name Patrick seems to have also

been given to children of succeeding generations of this family.  I’m assuming that the Patrick of

Wigtown was the son of Andrew by that name — or he could have been a nephew.

===

WIGTOWNSHIRE is an historic county of Scotland forming the western division of Galloway and

occupying the southwestern extremity as well as the most southerly land of Scotland.  It is bounded on

the north partly by the Irish channel or frith of Clyde, principally by Ayrshire and to a small extent by

Kirkcudbrightshire, on the east by Kirkcudbrighshire, on the sourth by the Irish sea and on the west by

the Irish channel  Communities in Wigtownshire include Glencuce, Newton Stewart, Stranraer, Whithorn

and Wigtown.

In Scotland the pre-reformation Catholic Church began keeping baptismal and marriage registers from

1553 which became more widespread with registers of burials under the reformed Church of Scotland

after 1560. <note though that there were some quite unique spellings>

===

ancestry.com has a contemporary M’Kie (Patrick) born c1555 of Stanord, Minnigaff, Kirkcudbright,

Scotland who died aft 5/29/1628 of Craignyne, Wigtonshire, Scotland shown as a son of

ARCHIBALD M’KIE.  I don’t find a link to Andrew or his father but Patrick’s grandfather was also named

Patrick (1465-1530) who m/ Janet M’Dowall (1484-… .) in 1505.  The 1655 Patrick named a son Archibald

. Sources included The Book of Mackay pg 354 and Scottish Inquisitiones Kirkcudbright Q941 A21 Vol 1 ”

Patricius Makki Maii 29 1628 haeres Alexandri Makkie de Stanord fratris germani–lands Stanord,

Tonnergie, in parochiam de Monygoff”

===

Excerpts from “The Scot in North Britain, North Ireland and North America” by Chas A Hanna 1902

In December 1557 a number of nobles came out on the side of the Reformation movement and joined in

a bond known as the First Covenant by which they agreed to assist each other in advancing the

reformation of religion in “maintaining God;s true congregation and renouncing the congregation of Satan

”  Among those who subscribed were ARCHIBALD Campbell, Earl of Argyle and his son  ARCHIBALD

(Lord Lorne), Alexander Cunningham, Earl of Glencairn (and others)

1581 —   James Stuart, son of Mary — In the spring of 1581 the king ratified Craig’s Confession of Faith

which thus became the first National Covenant of Scotland.  The king found a minister of Stirling, named

Robert Montgomery, who consented to play the part of his tulchan and the king sought to impose this

puppet upon the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

.. The Great Plantation of Ulster

James seems to have seen that the parts of Scotland nearest Ireland and which had most intercourse

with it, were most likely to yield proper colonists.  He resolved therefore to enlist the assistance of the

 

great families of the southwest, trusting that their feudal power would enable them to bring with them

bodies of colonists.  Grants were made to the Duke of Lennox, the Earl of Abercom and his brothers, the

Cunninghams, Crawfords and Lord Ochiltree (and others)

…The two counties which have been most thoroughly transformed by this emigration are the two which

are nearest Scotland and were the first opened up for emigrants (County Down & County Antrim)  <A 19

th century County Down voters list (rated above :L12 for poor-rates) arranged in order of frequency had

M’Kie as the third most prominent name; same analysis for County Antrim did not include M’Kie or

Witherspoon among the 21 top surnames –but Wilson was ranked second and Bell tenth

…Laird Bomby as he is called afterwards became Lord Kirkcudbright and his great castle stands to this

day—  Some of these failed to implement their bargains but (others whose) straitened means led them to

seek fortune in Ireland, their social position enabled them without difficulty to draw good colonists from

their own districts and so fulfil the terms of the “plantation” contract which bound them to “plant”.

…From 1610 to 1630 1500 acres was granted to Sir Thomas Boyd, Knt of Bedlay (Bonehawe)

Renfrewshire  “1500 acres, James Himilton, Earl of Abercorn (transferred from Sir Thomas Boyd) bawn

and large strong castle begun; 3 freeholders, 10 lessees; able to produce 100 men with arms.

…Plantation of Down & Antrim — “Both Hamilton and Montgomery, as soon as their patents were passed

by the Irish Council crossed into Scotland to call upon their whole kith and kin to aid them in the

plantation of their vast estates.  Both were Ayrshire men,…Hamilton of Dunlop while Montgomery was of

the great Ayrshire family of that name.

…James I was anxious to place a garrison there that would be able not only to shut the door, but to keep

it shut in the face of his French or Spanish enemies and accordingly when an attempt was made at the

Revolution to force the door, the garrison was there — the advanced outpost of English power 00 to shut

it in the face of the planter’s grandson and so to save the liberties of England at the most critical moment

in its history.  (battle of Roslin

 

 

Notes for Mackay of Wiggenshire:

“Second son was named after her father Thomas (Mackay) of Strathnaver”

 

More About Andrew McKie and Mackay Wiggenshire:

Marriage: 1575, Wigtown, Scotland

Children of Andrew McKie and Mackay Wiggenshire are:

32               i.    Thomas McKie, born 1580 in Myrton-McKee, Penninghame, Wigtown, Scotland; died 1650 in Whitechurch, Ballywalter, County Down, Ireland; married Annabil Agnes Mackbrume 1608 in Wigtown, Scotland.

ii.    Andrew McKie, Jr, born 1578 in Kirkcudbirght, Scotland; died 1629; married Marioun M’Kee 1606 in Scotland.

 

Notes for Andrew McKie, Jr:

 

Researchers placed this Andrew McGhie as s/o Andrew McKie because he became a burgess of

Kirkcudbright.

Kirkcudbright Burgesses 1576-1699 Part 1 FHL 941.49 H2t lists McGhie Andro chopman

ad B gratis cautioner John Ewart elder 27.4.1614 and in a list of burgesses of 1629 also.  Editors have

placed him in this family because many burgesses and other civil leaders were in this family and his

nephew and grand nephew were named Andrew.”

Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court Records p369, 1599 “The quhilk day Androw McKie is admittit burges gratis

becaus he maryit ane burges dochter with power to vse the liberteis of the said burgh and is suome as

vse and fund William Fullartoun cautioner for his cairgis belanging to the town and he to duell in the toun

vtherwayis thir presentis to be null”  He was also mentioned in multiple other actions.

===

Andrew married Marioun M’Kee c1606 and they had 6 children

Margaret

William (+)

Alexander Merchant-Burgess

Adam Provost-Bailie  (+)

unnamed

Andrewbus  (+)

 

 

More About Andrew McKie and Marioun M’Kee:

Marriage: 1606, Scotland

 

iii.    Alexander McKie, born 1585 in Penninghame, Wigtown, Scotland; died in County Down, Ireland; married Grizel M’Kie 1625; born 1607 in Kirkcudbirght, Scotland; died 1657.

 

Notes for Alexander McKie:

I backed into some of this from individual postings but belongs as brother of Thomas

===

Note that Alexander accounts for the McKee’s found in Drumbo near the Witherspoon’s.  His line

includes the five McKee brothers who settled in Pennsylvania.  Alexander married 1607-1657 Grizel

M’Kie in 1625.  She was a d/o Patrick M’Kie 1576-1645) and Mary M’Dowall (1584-1629) who married in

1606.

ancestry record for their son Thomas has more about Drumbo & Pennsylvania.

===

ancestry.com note “Probably went with his brother Thomas to Ireland and was one of those on the

muster rolls in 1641

===

note under Grizel — It was presumed that Alexander married into Sir Patrick’s family in order to explain

the family;s land holdings in County Down since Patrick was granted 1000 acres there.

“Scottish Inquisitions – Kirkcudbright Q941 A21 Vol 1 lists “Grissell M’Kie dochter to Sir Patrick M’Kie of

Large Knight, Feb 3, 1657 heir portioner of Alexander M’Kie appearand of Large, her brother- third paird

of Stranord Tonnerghie within Monigoffe.

 

===

under John M’Kie s/o Alexander & Grizel

John M’Kie born c1625 of Myrton-McKee Penninghame, Wigton, Scotland, died aft 1684 Killaney, Co

Down, s/o Alexander & Grizel.  John married c 1659 in Ireland (bride name not given) and had six

children — no Thomas for that posting???

James

John

Patrick (+)

Hugh (+)

Alexnder (+)

William (+)

Alexander b1585 & Grizel (1607-1657) shown as John’s parents; Andrew M’Kie Burgess (1548) was

grandfather so appears belongs here

 

 

Notes for Grizel M’Kie:

It was presumed that Alexander married into Sir Patrick’s family in order to explain the family;s land

holdings in County Down since Patrick was granted 1000 acres there.  source note for HER

“Scottish Inquisitions – Kirkcudbright Q941 A21 Vol 1 lists “Grissell M’Kie dochter to Sir Patrick M’Kie of

Large Knight, Feb 3, 1657 heir portioner of Alexander M’Kie appearand of Large, her brother- third paird

of Stranord Tonnerghie within Monigoffe.

 

 

More About Alexander McKie and Grizel M’Kie:

Marriage: 1625

 

iv.    Patrick McKie, born 1587 in Penninghame, Wigtown, Scotland; died October 17, 1673 in Wigtonshire, Scotland; married Elizabeth Gordon 1610 in Scotland.

 

Notes for Patrick McKie:

 

ancestry.com –  Patrick M’Kie c1587-bef 10 17 1674 birth of Myrton-McKee, Penninghame, Wigtonshire,

Scotland; death of Cairne, Inch, Wigtonshire, Scotland.  s/o Andrew M’Kie Burgess & ( ) Mackay, m

Elizabeth Gordon c1610 two children  Fergus (not extended) & Thomas who was a merchant & burgess

Source- History of the Lands and Their Owners in Galloway v1 p170 “A family of the name of M’Kie then

followed as owners (of Cairne, Inch).  Patrick M’Kie is styled of Kairne in 1635.  In May 1641 Patrick

M’Kie and his spouse Elizabeth Gordon had sasine of the lands of Cairne.  He had issue, Fergus who on

the 17th October 1674 was served heir to his father in the lands of Cairne-Multibruche.  He seems to

have been succeeded by his brother Thomas as we find 25th September 1688 Thomas, merchant-

burgess Belfast, son of Patrick M’Kie of Carne served heir of Carne-Mucklebrugh.

 

 

More About Patrick McKie:

Burial: October 1673

 

More About Patrick McKie and Elizabeth Gordon:

Marriage: 1610, Scotland

 

v.    Robert McKie

 

 

Generation No. 8

        128.  John McGhie, born 1517 in Balgarane, Wigtonshire, Scotland; died 1594.  He was the son of 256. Alexander McGhie.

 

Notes for John McGhie:

per ancestry.com John M’Ghie Merchant-Burgess “of Balgarane, Wigtonshire, Scotland was born c1517

and died after 1594.  He was a son of Burgess Alexander M’Ghie and grandson of Alexander &

Katherine Mackay.  His; mother’s name not known.  He married c1539 to (unknown) and had at least

three children, two of whome also became Burgess.

William  (+)

Andrew  (+) — “our” extension is through his son Andrew

Gilbert  (+)

Sources cited were sasines of 1638 William giving 4 generations

Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court p47 #1577 Johne McKa was sworn as a juror

p303 1594 – “The quhilk day Johnne McGhie chopman (like a tinker) is admittit freman and burges of the

said burgh with power to him to use all liberteis fredomes and prewilegis thairof and hes suorne to be leill

and trew to the toun, defend the commoun weill libertieof the same keip wache vard stent and skat and

remane within the toun utherwayis his fredome to be null and expyre”

On p330/1 1596 he is called a merchant burgess, James McKie was surety for him in 1587 p217

 

Children of John McGhie are:

64               i.    Andrew McKie, born 1548 in Penninghame, Wigtown, Scotland; married Mackay of Wiggenshire 1575 in Wigtown, Scotland.

ii.    William McKie, born 1540 in Balgarane,Wigtown, Scotland; died 1602; married Margaret Mure 1563 in Scotland; born 1542 in Torhousemuir, Kirkmabreck, Kirkcudbright, Scotland.

 

Notes for William McKie:

 

brother of Andrew, ancestry.com entry for him shows he was born c1540 (of Balgarante, Wigtonshire,

Scotland” and died after 1602.  He married Margaret Mure c1563 in Scotland and they had two sons

William whose surname was spelled Mackay, M’Kie and McGhie &

James M’Kie who became a Burgess of Kirkcudbright

===

Sources include sasines 1638 for his grandson naming 4 generations back

Also Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court entry p218 “The burrow court of Kirkcudbricht halden in the tolbuith of

 

the samin the fyft day of July 1587… The quhik day Williame McGhie producit our sourane lordis breif

direct to the provest and bailleis of the said burgh for seruiving him air to uniquhil Alexander McGhie his

guidsir… togidder with his clame as air of lyne to his said umquhill guidsir… The quhilk day the Inqueist

abovewritten all in one voce without discrepance finis and eliueris that Williame McGhie burges of the

said burgh is narrest and laufull air of lyne to umquhil Alexander McGhie his guidsire burges of the said

burgth.

William was listed as bailie and James McKie as a member of the Inquest panel

p104 1579 “The quhilk day the prouest counsall and cowmountie ordanis ane of the bailzeis to pas to the

new kirkyaird and thair gif seasing to Williame McGhie, sone and air to vinquhill Johnne McGhie… nixt

adiacent to Thomas McCartnayes houses confirme to his fatheris infeftment thairin”

Kirkcudbright Town Council Records 1656 p2022 “Agreement between Mr James McGhie of Aire and

Robert Glendonyng of Billis… that as airis portioneris to vinquhil William McGhie ther grandsir Quhilk

tenement zaird and pertinentis thereof the said Mr James McGhie did sell and sispone to Johne

Lidderdaill and Margaret Hendrie his spous… the said Robert Glendonyng consentis…”  note added that

this must refer to William, James & Robert’s wife Grisel’s grandfather.

In 1602 p422 William is bailie

 

 

More About William McKie and Margaret Mure:

Marriage: 1563, Scotland

 

iii.    Gilbert McKie

 

Notes for Gilbert McKie:

brother of Andrew, posted from entry for their father.

 

 

130.  Thomas MacKay, born 1504 in Strathnaver, Scotland.

Child of Thomas MacKay is:

65               i.    Mackay of Wiggenshire, born 1558 in Strathnaver, Scotland; married Andrew McKie 1575 in Wigtown, Scotland.

 

 

Generation No. 9

        256.  Alexander McGhie, born 1494 in Balgarane, Wigtownshire, Scotland; died July 05, 1587 in Balgarane, Wigtownshire, Scotland.  He was the son of 512. Alexander MacKay and 513. Katherine ?.

 

Notes for Alexander McGhie:

Source Reference– [240] Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court p218 “The burrow court of Kirkcudbricht haldin in

the tolbuith of the samin the fyfth day of July 1587.  The quihilk day Williame McGhie producit our

souerane lords breif direct to the provest and baileis of the said burgh for seruing him air to urnquhill

Alexander McGhie his guidsir…togidder with his clame as air of lyne to his said umquhill guidsir…The

quhilk day the Inqueist abovewritten all in ane voce without discrepance findis and eliueris that Williame

McGhie burges of the said burgh is narrest and lauful air of lyne to umquhill Alexander McGhie his

guidsir burges of the said burgh…”

 

 

More About Alexander McGhie:

Burial: July 1587

Child of Alexander McGhie is:

128             i.    John McGhie, born 1517 in Balgarane, Wigtonshire, Scotland; died 1594.

 

 

Generation No. 10

        512.  Alexander MacKay, born 1465 in Wigtown, Scotland; died 1503 in Wigtown, Scotland.  He was the son of 1024. Gilbert MacKie and 1025. Marion de Keith.  He married 513. Katherine ?.

513.  Katherine ?

 

Notes for Alexander MacKay:

 

Source note [129] — Alexander had a Royal Charter for lands in Wigtown :Alexandro Makke de

Balgarane, et Katerine eius spouse, terras de Balgarane…ac terras de Culslaucach…in dominio Galwidie

vic Wigtoun”  Tom Mackay notes “The fact is that he has signed off on the property to transfer it into the

name jointly of himself and his wife Katherine, but if they should die without heirs, the property would

then revert to the nearest of kin of Alexander, since the property was originally his.

Also on 4/21/1503 under James IV there was qmq Wil. Makky, proprietor in Montrose with an obligation

of annual payment (ie property tax) ann. red. 10 sol de tenemento Alex Machy (Reg Mag Sig xiii 600=

Great Seal (2:576-577, item #2716)

 

Children of Alexander MacKay and Katherine ? are:

256             i.    Alexander McGhie, born 1494 in Balgarane, Wigtownshire, Scotland; died July 05, 1587 in Balgarane, Wigtownshire, Scotland; married Abt. 1517.

ii.    Blaise McGhie

 

Notes for Blaise McGhie:

from tree of Alexander — I’m assuming Blaise was a female; nothing more on him/her

 

 

 

 

 

Generation No. 11

        1024.  Gilbert MacKie, born 1425 in Wigtonshire, Scotland.  He was the son of 2048. Malcom MacKay.  He married 1025. Marion de Keith 1450.

1025.  Marion de Keith, born 1430.

 

Notes for Gilbert MacKie:

 

Reference [4537] on Gilbert:  Info taken from The Book of Mackay

birth abt 1425 of Wigtonshire, Scotland; no death information,

s/o Malcolm Mackay 1390- …, grandson of another Gilbert M’Kie; no maternal info except m/1418

married abt 1450 in Scotland to Marion de Keth

2 children; Malcolm & Alexander Mackay both extended but I just picked up Alexander

Source Info = “Chart from The Clan Mackay – families of McKee or McKie or Mackie living in Galloway, ”

The Book of Mackay” pg 353 states that he received the third part of the barony of Crachlaw, Longaster

and Barnagachrie c1450 (Reg Mag Sig v69) upon his marriage to Marion de Keith

Blackcastle Manuscript p6 states “King James II…1437…[gave] Gilbert Mackay…Charter to Lands in

Wigtonshire wherein he is designed (most probably in reference to his descent from Malcolm Earl of Ross

) “Gilberto Mackie, Malcolmson” Mag.Sig.Lob V (Reg Mag Sig v69 = Great Seal 2;153-154 item #732

dates 7/14/1459

Tom Mackay translates “King James II in July probably 14th, 1459, confirmed the transfer of lands

from Mareote, his wife, to the two of them, but if they do not have heirs, the lands noted, one third of the

barony of Crachlew, Longastir and Barmakgachin in township of Wigtown would revert to Mareote’s

nearest relative, since she originally had title.

 

 

More About Gilbert MacKie and Marion de Keith:

Marriage: 1450

Child of Gilbert MacKie and Marion de Keith is:

512             i.    Alexander MacKay, born 1465 in Wigtown, Scotland; died 1503 in Wigtown, Scotland; married Katherine ?.

 

 

Generation No. 12

        2048.  Malcom MacKay, born 1390 in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland.  He was the son of 4096. Gilbert M’Kie.

 

Notes for Malcom MacKay:

posting taken from Chart from the Clan Mackay–families of McKee or McKie or Mackie living in Galloway

and from Blackcastle Manuscript p6 which stated “King James II…1437…(gave) Gilbert Mackay…Charter

to Lands in Wigtonshire wherein he is designed (most probably in reference to his descent from Malcolm

Earl of Ross) Gilberto Mackie, Malcolmson” Mag.Sig.Lib V

birth abt 1390 of Cumloden, Minnigaff, Kirkcudbright, Scotland

father Gilbert M’Kie; grandfather Neil M’Kie; no maternal info on any generation

marriage abt 1418, spouse not named

three children Patrick, Gilbert and William — all extended but I just picked up Gilbert’s line

===

chart apparantly takes line back before 1232 Martin Mackay ; more to download & key in

 

Children of Malcom MacKay are:

1024           i.    Gilbert MacKie, born 1425 in Wigtonshire, Scotland; married Marion de Keith 1450.

ii.    Patrick MacKie

iii.    William MacKie

 

 

Generation No. 13

        4096.  Gilbert M’Kie, born 1355.  He was the son of 8192. Neill M’Kie.

Child of Gilbert M’Kie is:

2048           i.    Malcom MacKay, born 1390 in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland; married 1418 in Scotland.

 

 

Generation No. 14

        8192.  Neill M’Kie, born 1316.  He was the son of 16384. John M’Kie.

Child of Neill M’Kie is:

4096           i.    Gilbert M’Kie, born 1355.

 

 

Generation No. 15

        16384.  John M’Kie, born 1285.  He was the son of 32768. Iye M’Kie.

Child of John M’Kie is:

8192           i.    Neill M’Kie, born 1316.

 

 

Generation No. 16

        32768.  Iye M’Kie, born 1260; died 1294.  He was the son of 65536. Martin MacKay.

Child of Iye M’Kie is:

16384         i.    John M’Kie, born 1285.

 

 

Generation No. 17

        65536.  Martin MacKay, born 1232.  He was the son of 131072. Iye Hugh MacEthj.

Child of Martin MacKay is:

32768         i.    Iye M’Kie, born 1260; died 1294.

 

 

Generation No. 18

        131072.  Iye Hugh MacEthj, born 1200 in Strathnaver, Scotland.  He was the son of 262144. Hugh MacEthj.

Child of Iye Hugh MacEthj is:

65536         i.    Martin MacKay, born 1232.

 

 

Generation No. 19

        262144.  Hugh MacEthj, born 1165.  He was the son of 524288. Malcolm MacEth.

Child of Hugh MacEthj is:

131072       i.    Iye Hugh MacEthj, born 1200 in Strathnaver, Scotland.

 

 

Generation No. 20

        524288.  Malcolm MacEth, born 1120; died 1168.  He was the son of 1048576. Hugh or Angus MacEth and 1048577. Sister of King Malcolm IV.

Child of Malcolm MacEth is:

262144       i.    Hugh MacEthj, born 1165.

 

 

Generation No. 21

        1048576.  Hugh or Angus MacEth, born 1097.  He was the son of 2097152. Aoidh Heth.  He married 1048577. Sister of King Malcolm IV.

1048577.  Sister of King Malcolm IV, born 1137.

Child of Hugh MacEth and Sister Malcolm is:

524288       i.    Malcolm MacEth, born 1120; died 1168.

 

 

Generation No. 22

        2097152.  Aoidh Heth, born 1060 in Scotland.  He was the son of 4194304. Malcolm III and 4194305. Margaret Atheling.

Child of Aoidh Heth is:

1048576     i.    Hugh or Angus MacEth, born 1097; married Sister of King Malcolm IV.

 

 

Generation No. 23

        4194304.  Malcolm III, born 1031; died November 13, 1093 in England.  He was the son of 8388608. Duncan I and 8388609. Sybilla of Northumbria.  He married 4194305. Margaret Atheling.

4194305.  Margaret Atheling, born 1045; died November 16, 1093.  She was the daughter of 8388610. Edward Atheling and 8388611. Agatha ?.

 

Notes for Malcolm III:

Blackcastle Manuscript (1832) quoted Vide Collectanea de Robus Albanicis V1P341

Book of MacKay and other sources posted to the web take this line all the way back to NOAH & THE ARK

See M’Kee2.rtf for downloaded Royal Pedigree, notes etc not yet posted

 

 

King of Scotland (Alba), 1058-1093.

Malcolm III “Canmore” defeated king Mac Bethad mac Findláech (Macbeth) in battle in 1057, but did not succeed to the kingship until Macbeth’s stepson king Lulach was killed in 1058. He was killed in battle by the Normans in England in 1093.  In Gaelic  Máel Coluim mac Donnchada (Malcolm III “Canmore”) Malcolm III, grandson of Malcolm II., King of Scotland, called Canmore (Caen Mor, or great head) because of the large size of his head, was born in 1024, before his father was called to the throne, and he became king at the time of his victory over Macbeth in 1039, remaining so until his death in 1093. He was buried at Icelmkill. He married about 1059 (1) Ingibiorg, and about 1069 (2) Margaret (St. Margaret), daughter of Edward the Exile (Etheling). Margaret died in Edinburgh Castle of grief at the death of her husband, November 16, 1093, and was buried at Dumfermline. In 1250 Margaret was declared a saint and on June 19, 1259 her body was taken from the original stone coffin and placed in a shrine of pinewood set with gold and precious stones near the high altar. In Scotland the grace cup is called St. Margaret’s blessing. When Scotland became Protestant the remains of St. Margaret and her husband, Malcolm III., were carried to Spain and placed in the Escorial, built in her honor by King Philip II, of Spain.

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_III

Máel Coluim mac Donnchada (Modern Gaelic: Maol Chaluim mac Dhonnchaidh,[1] called in most Anglicised regnal lists Malcolm III, and in later centuries nicknamed Canmore, “Big Head”,[2][3] either literally or in reference to his leadership,[4] “Long-neck”;[5] died 13 November 1093), was King of Scots. It has also been argued recently that the real “Malcolm Canmore” was this Malcolm’s great-grandson Malcolm IV, who is given this name in the contemporary notice of his death.[6] He was the eldest son of King Duncan I (Donnchad mac Crínáin). Malcolm’s long reign, lasting 35 years, preceded the beginning of the Scoto-Norman age.

 

Malcolm’s Kingdom did not extend over the full territory of modern Scotland: the north and west of Scotland remained in Scandinavian, Norse-Gael and Gaelic control, and the areas under the control of the Kings of Scots would not advance much beyond the limits set by Malcolm II (Máel Coluim mac Cináeda) until the 12th century. Malcolm III fought a succession of wars against the Kingdom of England, which may have had as their goal the conquest of the English earldom of Northumbria. However, these wars did not result in any significant advances southwards. Malcolm’s main achievement is to have continued a line which would rule Scotland for many years,[7] although his role as “founder of a dynasty” has more to do with the propaganda of his youngest son David, and his descendants, than with any historical reality.[8]

 

Malcolm’s second wife, Saint Margaret of Scotland, was later beatified and is Scotland’s only royal saint. However, Malcolm himself gained no reputation for piety. With the notable exception of Dunfermline Abbey he is not definitely associated with major religious establishments or ecclesiastical reforms.

 

BackgroundMain article: Scotland in the High Middle Ages

Malcolm’s father Duncan I (Donnchad mac Crínáin) became king in late 1034, on the death of Malcolm II (Máel Coluim mac Cináeda), Duncan’s maternal grandfather. According to John of Fordun, whose account is the original source of part at least of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Malcolm’s mother was a niece of Siward, Earl of Northumbria,[9][10] but an earlier king-list gives her the Gaelic name Suthen.[11] Other sources claim that either a daughter or niece would have been too young to fit the timeline, thus the likely relative would have been Siward’s own sister Sybil, which may have translated into Gaelic as Suthen.

 

Duncan’s reign was not successful and he was killed by Macbeth (Mac Bethad mac Findlaích) on 15 August 1040. Although Shakespeare’s Macbeth presents Malcolm as a grown man and his father as an old one, it appears that Duncan was still young in 1040,[12] and Malcolm and his brother Donalbane (Domnall Bán) were children.[13] Malcolm’s family did attempt to overthrow Macbeth in 1045, but Malcolm’s grandfather Crínán of Dunkeld was killed in the attempt.[14]

 

Soon after the death of Duncan his two young sons were sent away for greater safety — exactly where is the subject of debate. According to one version, Malcolm (then aged about 9) was sent to England, and his younger brother Donalbane was sent to the Isles.[15][16] Based on Fordun’s account, it was assumed that Malcolm passed most of Macbeth’s seventeen year reign in the Kingdom of England at the court of Edward the Confessor.[17][18]

 

According to an alternative version, Malcolm’s mother took both sons into exile at the court of Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney, an enemy of Macbeth’s family, and perhaps Duncan’s kinsman by marriage.[19]

 

An English invasion in 1054, with Siward, Earl of Northumbria, in command, had as its goal the installation of Máel Coluim, “son of the King of the Cumbrians (i.e. of Strathclyde)”. This Máel Coluim, perhaps a son of Owen the Bald, disappears from history after this brief mention. He has been confused with King Malcolm III.[20][21] In 1057 various chroniclers report the death of Macbeth at Malcolm’s hand, on 15 August 1057 at Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire.[22][23] Macbeth was succeeded by his stepson Lulach, who was crowned at Scone, probably on 8 September 1057. Lulach was killed by Malcolm, “by treachery”,[24] near Huntly on 23 April 1058. After this, Malcolm became king, perhaps being inaugurated on 25 April 1058, although only John of Fordun reports this.[25]

 

[edit] Malcolm and Ingibiorg

Late medieval depiction of Máel Coluim III with MacDuib (“MacDuff”), from an MS (Corpus Christi MS 171) of Walter Bower’s Scotichronicon.If Orderic Vitalis is to be relied upon, one of Malcolm’s earliest actions as King may have been to travel south to the court of Edward the Confessor in 1059 to arrange a marriage with Edward’s kinswoman Margaret, who had arrived in England two years before from Hungary.[26] If he did visit the English court, he was the first reigning King of Scots to do so in more than eighty years. If a marriage agreement was made in 1059, however, it was not kept, and this may explain the Scots invasion of Northumbria in 1061 when Lindisfarne was plundered.[27] Equally, Malcolm’s raids in Northumbria may have been related to the disputed “Kingdom of the Cumbrians”, reestablished by Earl Siward in 1054, which was under Malcolm’s control by 1070.[28]

 

The Orkneyinga saga reports that Malcolm married the widow of Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Ingibiorg, a daughter of Finn Arnesson.[29] Although Ingibiorg is generally assumed to have died shortly before 1070, it is possible that she died much earlier, around 1058.[30] The Orkneyinga Saga records that Malcolm and Ingibiorg had a son, Duncan II (Donnchad mac Maíl Coluim), who was later king.[5] Some Medieval commentators, following William of Malmesbury, claimed that Duncan was illegitimate, but this claim is propaganda reflecting the need of Malcolm’s descendants by Margaret to undermine the claims of Duncan’s descendants, the Meic Uilleim.[31] Malcolm’s son Domnall, whose death is reported in 1085, is not mentioned by the author of the Orkneyinga Saga. He is assumed to have been born to Ingibiorg.[32]

 

Malcolm’s marriage to Ingibiorg secured him peace in the north and west. The Heimskringla tells that her father Finn had been an adviser to Harald Hardraade and, after falling out with Harald, was then made an Earl by Sweyn Estridsson, King of Denmark, which may have been another recommendation for the match.[33] Malcolm enjoyed a peaceful relationship with the Earldom of Orkney, ruled jointly by his stepsons, Paul and Erlend Thorfinnsson. The Orkneyinga Saga reports strife with Norway but this is probably misplaced as it associates this with Magnus Barefoot, who became king of Norway only in 1093, the year of Malcolm’s death.[34]

 

[edit] Malcolm and Margaret

Máel Coluim and Margaret as depicted in a 16th century armorial. Note the coats of arms both bear on their clothing — Malcolm wears the Lion of Scotland, which historically was not used until the time of his great-grandson William the Lion; Margaret wears the supposed arms of Edward the Confessor, her grand-uncle, although the arms were in fact concocted in the later Middle Ages.Although he had given sanctuary to Tostig Godwinson when the Northumbrians drove him out, Malcolm was not directly involved in the ill-fated invasion of England by Harald Hardraade and Tostig in 1066, which ended in defeat and death at the battle of Stamford Bridge.[35] In 1068, he granted asylum to a group of English exiles fleeing from William of Normandy, among them Agatha, widow of Edward the Confessor’s nephew Edward the Exile, and her children: Edgar Ætheling and his sisters Margaret and Cristina. They were accompanied by Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria. The exiles were disappointed, however, if they had expected immediate assistance from the Scots.[36]

 

In 1069 the exiles returned to England, to join a spreading revolt in the north. Even though Gospatric and Siward’s son Waltheof submitted by the end of the year, the arrival of a Danish army under Sweyn Estridsson seemed to ensure that William’s position remained weak. Malcolm decided on war, and took his army south into Cumbria and across the Pennines, wasting Teesdale and Cleveland then marching north, loaded with loot, to Wearmouth. There Malcolm met Edgar and his family, who were invited to return with him, but did not. As Sweyn had by now been bought off with a large Danegeld, Malcolm took his army home. In reprisal, William sent Gospatric to raid Scotland through Cumbria. In return, the Scots fleet raided the Northumbrian coast where Gospatric’s possessions were concentrated.[37] Late in the year, perhaps shipwrecked on their way to a European exile, Edgar and his family again arrived in Scotland, this time to remain. By the end of 1070, Malcolm had married Edgar’s sister Margaret, the future Saint Margaret of Scotland.[38]

 

The naming of their children represented a break with the traditional Scots Regal names such as Malcolm, Cináed and Áed. The point of naming Margaret’s sons, Edward after her father Edward the Exile, Edmund for her grandfather Edmund Ironside, Ethelred for her great-grandfather Ethelred the Unready and Edgar for her great-great-grandfather Edgar and her brother, briefly the elected king, Edgar Ætheling, was unlikely to be missed in England, where William of Normandy’s grasp on power was far from secure.[39] Whether the adoption of the classical Alexander for the future Alexander I of Scotland (either for Pope Alexander II or for Alexander the Great) and the biblical David for the future David I of Scotland represented a recognition that William of Normandy would not be easily removed, or was due to the repetition of Anglo-Saxon Royal name—another Edmund had preceded Edgar—is not known.[40] Margaret also gave Malcolm two daughters, Edith, who married Henry I of England, and Mary, who married Eustace III of Boulogne.

 

In 1072, with the Harrying of the North completed and his position again secure, William of Normandy came north with an army and a fleet. Malcolm met William at Abernethy and, in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle “became his man” and handed over his eldest son Duncan as a hostage and arranged peace between William and Edgar.[41] Accepting the overlordship of the king of the English was no novelty, previous kings had done so without result. The same was true of Malcolm; his agreement with the English king was followed by further raids into Northumbria, which led to further trouble in the earldom and the killing of Bishop William Walcher at Gateshead. In 1080, William sent his son Robert Curthose north with an army while his brother Odo punished the Northumbrians. Malcolm again made peace, and this time kept it for over a decade.[42]

 

Malcolm faced little recorded internal opposition, with the exception of Lulach’s son Máel Snechtai. In an unusual entry, for the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle contains little on Scotland, it says that in 1078:

 

“ Malcholom [Máel Coluim] seized the mother of Mælslæhtan [Máel Snechtai] … and all his treasures, and his cattle; and he himself escaped with difficulty.[43] ”

 

Whatever provoked this strife, Máel Snechtai survived until 1085.[44]

 

[edit] Malcolm and William Rufus

William Rufus, “the Red”, King of the English (1087–1100).When William Rufus became king of England after his father’s death, Malcolm did not intervene in the rebellions by supporters of Robert Curthose which followed. In 1091, however, William Rufus confiscated Edgar Ætheling’s lands in England, and Edgar fled north to Scotland. In May, Malcolm marched south, not to raid and take slaves and plunder, but to besiege Newcastle, built by Robert Curthose in 1080. This appears to have been an attempt to advance the frontier south from the River Tweed to the River Tees. The threat was enough to bring the English king back from Normandy, where he had been fighting Robert Curthose. In September, learning of William Rufus’s approaching army, Malcolm withdrew north and the English followed. Unlike in 1072, Malcolm was prepared to fight, but a peace was arranged by Edgar Ætheling and Robert Curthose whereby Malcolm again acknowledged the overlordship of the English king.[45]

 

In 1092, the peace began to break down. Based on the idea that the Scots controlled much of modern Cumbria, it had been supposed that William Rufus’s new castle at Carlisle and his settlement of English peasants in the surrounds was the cause. However, it is unlikely that Malcolm did control Cumbria, and the dispute instead concerned the estates granted to Malcolm by William Rufus’s father in 1072 for his maintenance when visiting England. Malcolm sent messengers to discuss the question and William Rufus agreed to a meeting. Malcolm travelled south to Gloucester, stopping at Wilton Abbey to visit his daughter Edith and sister-in-law Cristina. Malcolm arrived there on 24 August 1093 to find that William Rufus refused to negotiate, insisting that the dispute be judged by the English barons. This Malcolm refused to accept, and returned immediately to Scotland.[46]

 

It does not appear that William Rufus intended to provoke a war,[47] but, as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports, war came:

 

“ For this reason therefore they parted with great dissatisfaction, and the King Malcolm returned to Scotland. And soon after he came home, he gathered his army, and came harrowing into England with more hostility than behoved him … ”

 

Malcolm was accompanied by Edward, his eldest son by Margaret and probable heir-designate (or tánaiste), and by Edgar.[48] Even by the standards of the time, the ravaging of Northumbria by the Scots was seen as harsh.[49]

 

[edit] DeathWhile marching north again, Malcolm was ambushed by Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria, whose lands he had devastated, near Alnwick on 13 November 1093. There he was killed by Arkil Morel, steward of Bamburgh Castle. The conflict became known as the Battle of Alnwick.[50] Edward was mortally wounded in the same fight. Margaret, it is said, died soon after receiving the news of their deaths from Edgar.[51] The Annals of Ulster say:

 

“ Mael Coluim son of Donnchad, over-king of Scotland, and Edward his son, were killed by the French i.e. in Inber Alda in England. His queen, Margaret, moreover, died of sorrow for him within nine days.[52] ”

 

Malcolm’s body was taken to Tynemouth Priory for burial. The king’s body was sent north for reburial, in the reign of his son Alexander, at Dunfermline Abbey, or possibly Iona.[53]

 

On 19 June 1250, following the canonisation of Malcolm’s wife Margaret by Pope Innocent IV, Margaret’s remains were disinterred and placed in a reliquary. Tradition has it that as the reliquary was carried to the high altar of Dunfermline Abbey, past Malcolm’s grave, it became too heavy to move. As a result, Malcolm’s remains were also disinterred, and buried next to Margaret beside the altar.[54]

 

[edit] IssueMalcolm and Ingebjorg had 3 sons:

 

1.Duncan II of Scotland, succeeded his father as King of Scotland

2.Donald, died ca.1094

3.Malcolm, died ca.1085

Malcolm and Margaret had eight children, six sons and two daughters:

 

1.Edward, killed 1093.

2.Edmund of Scotland

3.Ethelred, abbot of Dunkeld

4.King Edgar of Scotland

5.King Alexander I of Scotland

6.King David I of Scotland

7.Edith of Scotland, also called Matilda, married King Henry I of England

8.Mary of Scotland, married Eustace III of Boulogne

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malcolm III was known as Máel Coluim mac Donnchada in the Gaelic in his day.

Malcolm was born on March 26, 1031 in Scotland.  He was the eldest son of Duncan I.  Duncan became king after the death of his grandfather Malcolm II, in 1034.  Duncan was killed by Macbeth on August 15, 1040.  Malcolm and his brother, Donalbane, were sent away shortly after their father’s death for safety reasons.  There is debate about where the brothers were sent, but England seems to be the most likely conclusion.

Reportedly Malcolm killed Macbeth and his son in 1057.  Malcolm then succeeded as king, and was inaugurated on April 25, 1058.   Malcolm married a widow, Ingibiorg, and the couple had a three sons, including the future King Duncan II.  Sometime before 1070, Ingibiorg died.

In 1068, Malcolm III granted exile to a group of English exiles.  The group returned in 1070 after possibly becoming shipwrecked.  Included in this group were Edgar Ætheling, the king exiled British king, and his sister, Margaret. Before the end of the year, Malcolm and Margaret married. The couple would have eight children.

While marching north, Malcolm was ambushed and killed. Malcolm died November 13, 1093 in Alnwick, Northumberland, England.   The conflict became known as the Battle of Alnwick.  Margaret and Malcolm’s oldest son, Edward was also killed.  Upon hearing of her husband and son’s death, Margaret mourned herself to death.  She died nine days after her husband and son.  Malcolm and Margaret are now buried at Dumfermline Abbey.

Malcolm reigned for 35 years, which was considered a long reign at that time.

Malcolm’s wife, Margaret, was later beatified.  She is Scotland’s only royal saint.  The chapel at Edinburgh Castle is named St. Margaret’s Chapel in her honor.

 

 

More About Malcolm III:

Burial: November 1093

 

Notes for Margaret Atheling:

niece of Edward the Confessor, of the Atheling Royal House

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_of_Wessex

Saint Margaret (c. 1045 – 16 November 1093), also known as Margaret of Wessex and Queen Margaret of Scotland, was an English princess of the House of Wessex. Born in exile in Hungary, she was the sister of Edgar Ætheling, the short-ruling and uncrowned Anglo-Saxon King of England. Margaret and her family returned to England in 1057, but fled to Scotland following the Norman conquest of England of 1066. Around 1070 Margaret married Malcolm III, King of Scots, becoming his Queen consort. She was a pious woman, and among many charitable works she established a ferry across the Firth of Forth for pilgrims travelling to Dunfermline Abbey, which gave the towns of Queensferry and North Queensferry their names. Margaret was the mother of three Kings of Scotland and a Queen consort of England. According to the Life of Saint Margaret, attributed to Turgot, she died at Edinburgh Castle in 1093, just days after receiving the news of her husband’s death in battle. In 1250 she was canonised by Pope Innocent IV, and her remains were reinterred in a shrine at Dunfermline Abbey. Her relics were dispersed after the Scottish Reformation and subsequently lost.

 

 

Early lifeMargaret was the daughter of the English prince, Edward the Exile and granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, king of England. After the Danish conquest of England in 1016, Canute had the infant Edward exiled to the continent. He was taken first to the court of the Swedish king, Olof Skötkonung, and then to Kiev. As an adult, he travelled to Hungary, where in 1046 he supported Andrew I’s successful bid for the throne. The provenance of Margaret’s mother, Agatha, is disputed, but Margaret was born in Hungary around 1045. Her brother Edgar the Ætheling and her sister Cristina were also born in Hungary around this time. Margaret grew up in a very religious environment in the Hungarian court. Andrew I of Hungary was known as “Andrew the Catholic” for his extreme aversion to pagans, and great loyalty to Rome, which probably could have induced Margaret to follow a pious life.

 

[edit] Return to EnglandStill a child, she came to England with the rest of her family when her father, Edward, was recalled in 1057 as a possible successor to her great-uncle, the childless Edward the Confessor. Her father died soon after the family’s arrival in England, but Margaret continued to reside at the English court where her brother, Edgar Ætheling, was considered a possible successor to the English throne. When the Confessor died in January 1066, Harold Godwinson was selected as king, Edgar perhaps being considered still too young. After Harold’s defeat at the battle of Hastings later that year, Edgar was proclaimed King of England, but when the Normans advanced on London, the Witenagemot presented Edgar to William the Conqueror who took him to Normandy before returning him to England in 1068, when Edgar, Margaret, Cristina and their mother Agatha fled north to Northumbria.

 

[edit] Journey to ScotlandAccording to tradition, the widowed Agatha decided to leave Northumbria with her children and return to the continent. However, a storm drove their ship north to Scotland, where they sought the protection of King Malcolm III. The spot where they are said to have landed is known today as St. Margaret’s Hope, near the village of North Queensferry. Margaret’s arrival in Scotland in 1068, after the failed revolt of the Northumbrian earls, has been heavily romanticized, though Symeon of Durham implied that her first meeting with Malcolm III of Scots may not have been until 1070, after William the Conqueror’s harrying of the north.

 

Malcolm was probably a widower, and was no doubt attracted by the prospect of marrying one of the few remaining members of the Anglo-Saxon royal family. The marriage of Malcolm and Margaret took place some time before the end of 1070. Malcolm followed it with several invasions of Northumberland, probably in support of the claims of his brother-in-law Edgar. These, however, had little result beyond the devastation of the province.[1]

 

[edit] FamilyMargaret and Malcolm had eight children, six sons and two daughters:

 

1.Edward, killed 1093.

2.Edmund of Scotland

3.Ethelred, abbot of Dunkeld

4.King Edgar of Scotland

5.King Alexander I of Scotland

6.King David I of Scotland

7.Edith of Scotland, also called Matilda, married King Henry I of England

8.Mary of Scotland, married Eustace III of Boulogne

[edit] Religious life This section requires expansion.

 

Margaret attended to charitable works, and personally served orphans and the poor every day before she ate. She rose at midnight to attend church services every night. She was known for her work for religious reform. She was considered to be an exemplar of the “just ruler”, and also influenced her husband and children to be just and holy rulers. A cave on the banks of the Tower Burn in Dunfermline was used by the queen as a place of devotion and prayer. St Margaret’s Cave, now covered beneath a municipal car park, is open to the public.[2]

 

[edit] DeathHer husband, Malcolm III, and their eldest son, Edward, were killed in a fight against the English at the Battle of Alnwick on 13 November 1093. Her son Edmund was left with the task of telling his mother of their deaths. Margaret was ill, and she died on 16 November 1093, three days after the deaths of her husband and eldest son.

 

[edit] Veneration

St Margaret’s Chapel, Edinburgh Castle

Ruins of St Margaret’s Church, Oslo

St Margaret’s Church in Dunfermline[edit] SainthoodSaint Margaret was canonised in the year 1250 by Pope Innocent IV in recognition of her personal holiness, fidelity to the Church, work for religious reform, and charity. On 19 June 1250, after her canonisation, her remains were moved to Dunfermline Abbey.[3] The Roman Catholic Church formerly marked the feast of Saint Margaret of Scotland on 10 June, because the feast of “Saint Gertrude, Virgin” was already celebrated on 16 November, but in Scotland, she was venerated on 16 November, the day of her death. In the revision of the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1969, 16 November became free and the Church transferred her feast day to 16 November.[4] However, some traditionalist Catholics continue to celebrate her feast day on 10 June. She is also venerated as a saint in the Anglican Church.

 

[edit] ChurchesSeveral churches are dedicated to Saint Margaret. One of the oldest is St Margaret’s Chapel in Edinburgh Castle, which was founded by her son King David I. The chapel was long thought to have been the oratory of Margaret herself, but is now considered to be a 12th century establishment. The oldest building in Edinburgh, it was restored in the 19th century, and refurbished in the 1990s.

 

St. Margaret’s Church (Margaretakirken) in Maridalen near Oslo, Norway, is dedicated to Saint Margaret of Scotland. The stone church dates from the middle of the 1200s. It is now a ruin, but after restoration in 1934 the church today is one of the best-preserved medieval buildings in Oslo after the Old Aker Church.[5]

 

Others include the 13th-century Church of St Margaret the Queen in Buxted, East Sussex,[6] and St Margaret of Scotland, Aberdeen.

 

[edit] Other establishmentsA number of foundations, particularly in Scotland, are named after Saint Margaret:

 

Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, which adopted the name in 1972

Queen Margaret College, Glasgow

Queen Margaret Union, a student union at Glasgow University

Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline

The towns of South Queensferry and North Queensferry mark the location of the ferry established by Queen Margaret

Queen Margaret Academy, Ayr

St Margaret’s Academy, Livingston

Queen Margaret College, Wellington, New Zealand

St Margarets School, Bushey

St. Margaret’s Secondary School and Primary School, Singapore

http://www.stmargaretssec.moe.edu.sg/ http://www.stmargaretspri.moe.edu.sg/

 

 

 

More About Margaret Atheling:

Burial: November 1093

Children of Malcolm and Margaret Atheling are:

2097152     i.    Aoidh Heth, born 1060 in Scotland.

ii.    Edward

iii.    Edmund, died 1097.

iv.    Ethelred

v.    Edgar, died 1107.

vi.    Alexander, died 1124.

vii.    David I, died 1153.

 

Notes for David I:

David I. (St. David), King of Scotland from 1124 until his death May 24, 1153, was hallowed by the people but never canonized. David was a wise and just king, born probably about 1085, ascended April 25, 1124. He shared his mother’s wisdom and love of civilization. He continued to found Augustinian monasteries, to strength Roman Christianity, and he much favored the Cistercians. He founded burghs of independent townsmen; and bishoprics; established the office of chancellor to issue official documents bearing the royal seal, and he made Norman feudal law apply to Scotland. His education and his favorites were English; but politically he aimed not merely at independence of the English king, but at control of the Northern shires of England. He gained control of Cumberland and Northumberland and the tyrannous William Comyn, Bishop of Durham. He became Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton and acquired a dangerous claim to Northumberland by his marriage. In 1113 he married Matilda, daughter of Waltheof, Count of Northampton and Huntingdon, Earl of Northumberland, and Judith, his wife, a niece of William the Conqueror.

 

viii.    Matilda, died 1118; married Henry I of England.

ix.    Mary, married Count of Boulogne Eustace.

 

 

Generation No. 24

        8388608.  Duncan I, born 1001 in Dunkeld,Perthshire,Scotland; died August 14, 1040 in Bothnagowan,Elgin,Morayshire,Scotland.  He was the son of 16777216. Crinan of Dunkeld and 16777217. Bethoc.  He married 8388609. Sybilla of Northumbria 1030.

8388609.  Sybilla of Northumbria, born 1010; died 1040.

 

Notes for Duncan I:

name in Gaelic is Donnchad mac Crínáin (Duncan I),

 

King of Scotland, was slain by his cousin, Macbeth, local chief of Moray in 1041. One source puts his death on August 14, 1040. He was also the King of Strathclyde. He married about 1030, a cousin (some say the sister) of Siward, Earl of Northumbria. Wurts records that he married Algitha, daughter of Uchtred, Earl of Northumberland and his wife, Elgifu, daughter of King Ethelred II.

 

_Duncan I (Donnchad) “The Gracious” King of Scotland___

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_I_of_Scotland

Donnchad mac Crínáin (Modern Gaelic: Donnchadh mac Crìonain;[2] anglicised as Duncan I, and nicknamed An t-Ilgarach, “the Diseased” or “the Sick”;[3] ca. 1001 – 14 August 1040)[1] was king of Scotland (Alba) from 1034 to 1040. He was son of Crínán, hereditary lay abbot of Dunkeld, and Bethóc, daughter of king Malcolm II of Scotland (Máel Coluim mac Cináeda).

 

Unlike the “King Duncan” of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the historical Duncan appears to have been a young man. He followed his grandfather Malcolm as king after the latter’s death on 25 November 1034, without apparent opposition. He may have been Malcolm’s acknowledged successor or tánaise as the succession appears to have been uneventful.[4] Earlier histories, following John of Fordun, supposed that Duncan had been king of Strathclyde in his grandfather’s lifetime, between 1018 and 1034, ruling the former Kingdom of Strathclyde as an appanage. Modern historians discount this idea.[5]

 

An earlier source, a variant of the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba (CK-I), gives Duncan’s wife the Gaelic name Suthen.[6] Whatever his wife’s name may have been, Duncan had at least two sons. The eldest, Malcolm III (Máel Coluim mac Donnchada) was king from 1057 to 1093, the second Donald III (Domnall Bán, or “Donalbane”) was king afterwards. Máel Muire, Earl of Atholl is a possible third son of Duncan, although this is uncertain.[7]

 

The early period of Duncan’s reign was apparently uneventful, perhaps a consequence of his youth. Macbeth (Mac Bethad mac Findláich) is recorded as his dux, literally duke, but in the context — “dukes of Francia” had half a century before replaced the Carolingian kings of the Franks and in England the over-mighty Godwin of Wessex was called a dux — this suggests that Macbeth was the power behind the throne.[8]

 

In 1039, Duncan led a large Scots army south to besiege Durham, but the expedition ended in disaster. Duncan survived, but the following year he led an army north into Moray, traditionally seen as Macbeth’s domain. There he was killed in action, at Bothganowan, now Pitgaveny, near Elgin, by his own men led by Macbeth, probably on 14 August 1040.[9] He is thought to have been buried at Elgin[10] before later relocated to the Isle of Iona.

 

 

 

Duncan I was known as Donnchad mac Crínáin in the Gaelic.  Duncan was possibly married to a woman named, Suthen, and they had at least two sons, Malcolm III and Donald.  Upon the death of his grandfather, Malcolm II, on November 25, 1034, Duncan became King of Scotland.  In 1040, he led an army north to Moray where he was killed in action on August 14, by Macbeth.  Macbeth then became king and reigned until Malcolm III killed him.

 

 

*This is the King Duncan, William Shakespeare based his famous play, Macbeth on.  However, the real Duncan was still a young man at the time of his death.

 

 

More About Duncan I:

Burial: August 1040, Isle of Iona, near Elgin, Scotland

 

More About Duncan and Sybilla Northumbria:

Marriage: 1030

Child of Duncan and Sybilla Northumbria is:

4194304     i.    Malcolm III, born 1031; died November 13, 1093 in England; married (1) Ingeborg of Halland; married (2) Margaret Atheling.

 

 

8388610.  Edward Atheling, born 1016; died 1057.  He married 8388611. Agatha ? 1040.

8388611.  Agatha ?, born 1018.

 

Notes for Edward Atheling:

“The Book of McKee,” pg 271 – pedigree from William Skene, D.C.L., LL.D., Historiographer-Royal of Scotland, in “Celtic Scotland,” Edinburgh 1890; this shows the history of Scotland as being the Irish Kings; also from “The Mackays of Strathnaver,” pg 305a (also in Book of McKee); “The Family of Alexander McCoy 929.273 M137mce states: The fourth [son] was Ethelred who was appointed by his father to be the abbot of Dunkeld, hence also the Primate of the Scottish Catholic Church founded by St. Columba in the 6th century A.D…Elthelred did [marry] so; his wife was the daughter of Lulach, a halfbreed Lord of Moray in extreme northern Scotland. His Saxon name, Ethelred, was unacceptable in the Highlands so he shortened it to Eth which was pronounced very much like the Celtic Aodha. Ethelred’s grandson, one Iye MacEth, became the first chief of Clan MacKay. The clan was named for him and one should expect it to be MacIye. In fact it is for the only acceptable pronunciation of MacKay in Scotland is MacKie, like Pie or Iye.”

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_the_Exile

Edward the Exile (1016 – Late August 1057), also called Edward Ætheling, son of King Edmund Ironside and of Ealdgyth. After the Danish conquest of England in 1016 Canute had him and his brother, Edmund, exiled to the Continent. Edward was only a few months old when he and his brother were brought to the court of Olof Skötkonung, (who was either Canute’s half-brother or stepbrother), with instructions to have the children murdered. Instead, the two boys were secretly sent to Kiev, where Olof’s daughter Ingigerd was the Queen. Later Edward made his way to Hungary, probably in the retinue of Ingigerd’s son-in-law, András in 1046, whom he supported in his successful bid for the Hungarian throne.

 

On hearing the news of his being alive, Edward the Confessor recalled him to England in 1056 and made him his heir. Edward offered the last chance of an undisputed succession within the Saxon royal house. News of Edward’s existence came at time when the old Anglo-Saxon Monarchy, restored after a long period of Danish domination, was heading for catastrophe. The Confessor, personally devout but politically weak, was unable to make an effective stand against the steady advance of the powerful and ambitious sons of Godwin, Earl of Wessex. From across the Channel William, Duke of Normandy also had an eye on the succession. Edward the Exile appeared at just the right time. Approved by both king and by the Witan, the Council of the Realm, he offered a way out of the impasse, a counter both to the Godwins and to William, and one with a legitimacy that could not be readily challenged.

 

Edward, who had been in the custody of Henry III, the Holy Roman Emperor, finally came back to England at the end of August 1057. But he died within two days of his arrival. The exact cause of Edward’s death remains unclear, but he had many powerful enemies, and there is a strong possibility that he was murdered, although by whom is not known with any certainty. It is known, though, that his access to the king was blocked soon after his arrival in England for some unexplained reason, at a time when the Godwins, in the person of Harold Godwinson, were once again in the ascendant. This turn of events left the throne of England to be disputed by Earl Harold and Duke William, ultimately leading to the Norman Conquest of England.

 

Edward’s wife was a woman named Agatha, whose origins are disputed. Their children were Edgar Ætheling, Saint Margaret of Scotland and Cristina. Edgar was nominated as heir apparent, but was too young to count for much, and was eventually swept aside by Harold Godwinson. Edward’s grandchild Edith of Scotland, also called Matilda, married King Henry I of England, continuing the Anglo-Saxon line into the post-Conquest English monarchy.

 

 

 

More About Edward Atheling:

Others: Twin

 

More About Edward Atheling and Agatha ?:

Marriage: 1040

Child of Edward Atheling and Agatha ? is:

4194305     i.    Margaret Atheling, born 1045; died November 16, 1093; married Malcolm III.

 

 

Generation No. 25

        16777216.  Crinan of Dunkeld, died 1045.  He married 16777217. Bethoc.

16777217.  Bethoc  She was the daughter of 33554434. Malcolm II.

 

Notes for Crinan of Dunkeld:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cr%C3%ADn%C3%A1n_of_Dunkeld

 

Crínán of Dunkeld (died 1045) was the lay abbot of the diocese of Dunkeld, and perhaps the Mormaer of Atholl. Crínán was progenitor of the House of Dunkeld, the dynasty which would rule Scotland until the later 13th century.

 

Crinán was married to Bethoc, daughter of King Malcolm II of Scotland (reigned 1005–1034). As Malcolm II had no son, the strongest hereditary claim to the Scottish throne descended through Bethóc, and Crinán’s eldest son Donnchad I (reigned 1034–1040), became King of Scots. Some sources indicate that Malcolm II designated Duncan as his successor under the rules of tanistry because there were other possible claimants to the throne.

 

Crinán’s second son, Maldred of Allerdale, held the title of Lord of Cumbria. It is said that from him, the Earls of Dunbar, for example Patrick Dunbar, 9th Earl of Dunbar, descend in unbroken male line.

 

Crinán was killed in battle in 1045 at Dunkeld.

 

Sir Iain Moncreiffe argued he belonged to a Scottish sept of the Irish Cenél Conaill royal dynasty.[1]

 

[edit] Crinán as Lay Abbot of DunkeldThe monastery of Saint Columba was founded on the north bank of the River Tay in the 6th century or early 7th century following the expedition of Columba into the land of the Picts. Probably originally constructed as a simple group of wattle huts, the monastery – or at least its church – was rebuilt in the 9th century by Kenneth I of Scotland (reigned 843–858). Caustantín of the Picts brought Scotland’s share of the relics of Columba from Iona to Dunkeld at the same time others were taken to Kells in Ireland, to protect them from Viking raids. Dunkeld became the prime bishopric in eastern Scotland until supplanted in importance by St Andrews since the 10th century.

 

While the title of Hereditary Lay Abbot was a feudal position that was often exercised in name only, Crinán does seem to have acted as Abbot in charge of the monastery in his time. He was thus a man of high position in both clerical and secular society.

 

The magnificent semi-ruined Dunkeld Cathedral, built in stages between 1260 and 1501, stands today on the grounds once occupied by the monastery. The Cathedral contains the only surviving remains of the previous monastic society: a course of red stone visible in the east choir wall that may be re-used from an earlier building, and two stone 9th century-10th century cross-slabs in the Cathedral Museum.

 

 

 

Notes for Bethoc:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethoc

 

Bethóc ingen Maíl Coluim meic Cináeda was the eldest daughter of King Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scots, who had no known sons.

 

The strongest hereditary claim of succession to the Scottish throne therefore passed through Bethóc. Princess Bethóc married Crínán, Abbot of Dunkeld. The first son of this marriage was Donnchad I, who ascended to the throne of Scotland in 1034. Early writers have asserted that Máel Coluim also designated Donnchad as his successor under the rules of tanistry because there were other possible claimants to the throne.

 

She is not to be confused with Bethóc ingen Domnaill Bain meic Donnchada.

 

 

Child of Crinan Dunkeld and Bethoc is:

8388608     i.    Duncan I, born 1001 in Dunkeld,Perthshire,Scotland; died August 14, 1040 in Bothnagowan,Elgin,Morayshire,Scotland; married Sybilla of Northumbria 1030.

 

 

Generation No. 26

        33554434.  Malcolm II, died November 25, 1034.  He was the son of 67108868. Kenneth II.

 

Notes for Malcolm II:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_II_of_Scotland

 

Máel Coluim mac Cináeda (Modern Gaelic: Maol Chaluim mac Choinnich,[1] known in modern anglicized regnal lists as Malcolm II; died 25 November 1034),[2] was King of the Scots from 1005 until his death.[3] He was a son of Cináed mac Maíl Coluim; the Prophecy of Berchán says that his mother was a woman of Leinster and refers to him as Máel Coluim Forranach, “the destroyer”.[4]

 

To the Irish annals which recorded his death, Máel Coluim was ard rí Alban, High King of Scotland. In the same way that Brian Bóruma, High King of Ireland, was not the only king in Ireland, Máel Coluim was one of several kings within the geographical boundaries of modern Scotland: his fellow kings included the king of Strathclyde, who ruled much of the south-west, various Norse-Gael kings of the western coasts and the Hebrides and, nearest and most dangerous rivals, the Kings or Mormaers of Moray. To the south, in the kingdom of England, the Earls of Bernicia and Northumbria, whose predecessors as kings of Northumbria had once ruled most of southern Scotland, still controlled large parts of the south-east.[5]

 

Early yearsIn 997, the killer of Causantín mac Cuilén is credited as being Cináed mac Maíl Coluim. Since there is no known and relevant Cináed alive at that time (Cináed mac Maíl Coluim having died in 995), it is considered an error for either Cináed mac Duib, who succeeded Causantín, or, possibly, Máel Coluim himself, the son of Cináed II.[6] Whether Máel Coluim killed Causantín or not, there is no doubt that in 1005 he killed Causantín’s successor Cináed III in battle at Monzievaird in Strathearn.[7]

 

John of Fordun writes that Máel Coluim defeated a Norwegian army “in almost the first days after his coronation”, but this is not reported elsewhere. Fordun says that the Bishopric of Mortlach (later moved to Aberdeen) was founded in thanks for this victory over the Norwegians.[8]

 

ChildrenMalcolm II demonstrated a rare ability to survive among early Scottish kings by reigning for twenty-nine years. He was a clever and ambitious man. Brehon tradition provided that the successor to Malcolm was to be selected by him from among the descendants of King Aedh, with the consent of Malcolm’s ministers and of the church. Ostensibly in an attempt to end the devastating feuds in the north of Scotland, but obviously influenced by the Norman feudal model, Malcolm ignored tradition and determined to retain the succession within his own line. But since Malcolm had no son of his own, he undertook to negotiate a series of dynastic marriages of his three daughters to men who might otherwise be his rivals, while securing the loyalty of the principal chiefs, their relatives. First he married his daughter Bethoc to Crinan, Thane of The Isles, head of the house of Atholl and secular Abbot of Dunkeld; then his youngest daughter, Olith, to Sigurd, Earl of Orkney. His middle daughter, Donada, was married to Findláich, Mormaer of Moray, Thane of Ross and Cromarty and a descendant of Loarn of Dalriada. This was risky business under the rules of succession of the Gael, but he thereby secured his rear and, taking advantage of the renewal of Viking attacks on England, marched south to fight the Sasunnaich. He defeated the Angles at Carham in 1018 and installed his grandson, Duncan, son of the Abbot of Dunkeld and his choice as Tanist, in Carlisle as King of Cumbria that same year.[9]

 

BerniciaThe first reliable report of Máel Coluim’s reign is of an invasion of Bernicia in 1006, perhaps the customary crech ríg (literally royal prey, a raid by a new king made to demonstrate prowess in war), which involved a siege of Durham. This appears to have resulted in a heavy defeat by the Northumbrians, led by Uhtred of Bamburgh, later Earl of Bernicia, which is reported by the Annals of Ulster.[10]

 

A second war in Bernicia, probably in 1018, was more successful. The Battle of Carham, by the River Tweed, was a victory for the Scots led by Máel Coluim and the men of Strathclyde led by their king, Owen the Bald. By this time Earl Uchtred may have been dead, and Eiríkr Hákonarson was appointed Earl of Northumbria by his brother-in-law Cnut the Great, although his authority seems to have been limited to the south, the former kingdom of Deira, and he took no action against the Scots so far as is known.[11] The work De obsessione Dunelmi (The siege of Durham, associated with Symeon of Durham) claims that Uchtred’s brother Eadwulf Cudel surrendered Lothian to Máel Coluim, presumably in the aftermath of the defeat at Carham. This is likely to have been the lands between Dunbar and the Tweed as other parts of Lothian had been under Scots control before this time. It has been suggested that Cnut received tribute from the Scots for Lothian, but as he had likely received none from the Bernician Earls this is not very probable.[12]

 

CnutCnut, reports the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, led an army into Scotland on his return from pilgrimage to Rome. The Chronicle dates this to 1031, but there are reasons to suppose that it should be dated to 1027.[13] Burgundian chronicler Rodulfus Glaber recounts the expedition soon afterwards, describing Máel Coluim as “powerful in resources and arms … very Christian in faith and deed.”[14] Ralph claims that peace was made between Máel Coluim and Cnut through the intervention of Richard, Duke of Normandy, brother of Cnut’s wife Emma. Richard died in about 1027 and Rodulfus wrote close in time to the events.[15]

 

It has been suggested that the root of the quarrel between Cnut and Máel Coluim lies in Cnut’s pilgrimage to Rome, and the coronation of Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II, where Cnut and Rudolph III, King of Burgundy had the place of honour. If Máel Coluim were present, and the repeated mentions of his piety in the annals make it quite possible that he made a pilgrimage to Rome, as did Mac Bethad mac Findláich (“Macbeth”) in later times, then the coronation would have allowed Máel Coluim to publicly snub Cnut’s claims to overlordship.[16]

 

Cnut obtained rather less than previous English kings, a promise of peace and friendship rather than the promise of aid on land and sea that Edgar and others had obtained. The sources say that Máel Coluim was accompanied by one or two other kings, certainly Mac Bethad, and perhaps Echmarcach mac Ragnaill, King of Mann and the Isles, and of Galloway.[17] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle remarks of the submission “but he [Máel Coluim] adhered to that for only a little while”.[18] Cnut was soon occupied in Norway against Olaf Haraldsson and appears to have had no further involvement with Scotland.

 

Orkney and MorayOlith a daughter of Máel Coluim, married Sigurd Hlodvisson, Earl of Orkney.[19] Their son Thorfinn Sigurdsson was said to be five years old when Sigurd was killed on 23 April 1014 in the Battle of Clontarf. The Orkneyinga Saga says that Thorfinn was raised at Máel Coluim’s court and was given the Mormaerdom of Caithness by his grandfather. Thorfinn, says the Heimskringla, was the ally of the king of Scots, and counted on Máel Coluim’s support to resist the “tyranny” of Norwegian King Olaf Haraldsson.[20] The chronology of Thorfinn’s life is problematic, and he may have had a share in the Earldom of Orkney while still a child, if he was indeed only five in 1014.[21] Whatever the exact chronology, before Máel Coluim’s death a client of the king of Scots was in control of Caithness and Orkney, although, as with all such relationships, it is unlikely to have lasted beyond his death.

 

If Máel Coluim exercised control over Moray, which is far from being generally accepted, then the annals record a number of events pointing to a struggle for power in the north. In 1020, Mac Bethad’s father Findláech mac Ruaidrí was killed by the sons of his brother Máel Brigte.[22] It seems that Máel Coluim mac Máil Brigti took control of Moray, for his death is reported in 1029.[23]

 

Despite the accounts of the Irish annals, English and Scandinavian writers appear to see Mac Bethad as the rightful king of Moray: this is clear from their descriptions of the meeting with Cnut in 1027, before the death of Máel Coluim mac Máil Brigti. Máel Coluim was followed as king or mormaer by his brother Gille Coemgáin, husband of Gruoch, a granddaughter of King Cináed III. It has been supposed that Mac Bethad was responsible for the killing of Gille Coemgáin in 1032, but if Mac Bethad had a cause for feud in the killing of his father in 1020, Máel Coluim too had reason to see Gille Coemgáin dead. Not only had Gille Coemgáin’s ancestors killed many of Máel Coluim’s kin, but Gille Coemgáin and his son Lulach might be rivals for the throne. Máel Coluim had no living sons, and the threat to his plans for the succession was obvious. As a result, the following year Gruoch’s brother or nephew, who might have eventually become king, was killed by Máel Coluim.[24]

 

Strathclyde and the successionIt has traditionally been supposed that King Eógan the Bald of Strathclyde died at the Battle of Carham and that the kingdom passed into the hands of the Scots afterwards. This rests on some very weak evidence. It is far from certain that Eógan died at Carham, and it is reasonably certain that there were kings of Strathclyde as late as the 1054, when Edward the Confessor sent Earl Siward to install “Máel Coluim son of the king of the Cumbrians”. The confusion is old, probably inspired by William of Malmesbury and embellished by John of Fordun, but there is no firm evidence that the kingdom of Strathclyde was a part of the kingdom of the Scots, rather than a loosely subjected kingdom, before the time of Máel Coluim II of Scotland’s great-grandson Máel Coluim mac Donnchada.[25]

 

By the 1030s Máel Coluim’s sons, if he had any, were dead. The only evidence that he did have a son or sons is in Rodulfus Glaber’s chronicle where Cnut is said to have stood as godfather to a son of Máel Coluim.[26] His grandson Thorfinn would have been unlikely to accepted as king by the Scots, and he chose the sons of his other daughter, Bethóc, who was married to Crínán, lay abbot of Dunkeld, and perhaps Mormaer of Atholl. It may be no more than coincidence, but in 1027 the Irish annals had reported the burning of Dunkeld, although no mention is made of the circumstances.[27] Máel Coluim’s chosen heir, and the first tánaise ríg certainly known in Scotland, was Donnchad mac Crínáin (“Duncan I”).

 

It is possible that a third daughter of Máel Coluim married Findláech mac Ruaidrí and that Mac Bethad was thus his grandson, but this rests on relatively weak evidence.[28]

 

Death and posterity

C19th engraving of “King Malcolm’s grave stone” (Glamis no. 2) at GlamisMáel Coluim died in 1034, Marianus Scotus giving the date as 25 November 1034. The king lists say that he died at Glamis, variously describing him as a “most glorious” or “most victorious” king. The Annals of Tigernach report that “Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, king of Scotland, the honour of all the west of Europe, died.” The Prophecy of Berchán, perhaps the inspiration for John of Fordun and Andrew of Wyntoun’s accounts where Máel Coluim is killed fighting bandits, says that he died by violence, fighting “the parricides”, suggested to be the sons of Máel Brigte of Moray.[29]

 

Perhaps the most notable feature of Máel Coluim’s death is the account of Marianus, matched by the silence of the Irish annals, which tells us that Donnchad I became king and ruled for five years and nine months. Given that his death in 1040 is described as being “at an immature age” in the Annals of Tigernach, he must have been a young man in 1034. The absence of any opposition suggests that Máel Coluim had dealt thoroughly with any likely opposition in his own lifetime.[30]

 

Tradition, dating from Fordun’s time if not earlier, knew the Pictish stone now called “Glamis 2” as “King Malcolm’s grave stone”. The stone is a Class II stone, apparently formed by re-using a Bronze Age standing stone. Its dating is uncertain, with dates from the 8th century onwards having been proposed. While an earlier date is favoured, an association with accounts of Máel Coluim’s has been proposed on the basis of the iconography of the carvings.[31]

 

On the question of Máel Coluim’s putative pilgrimage, pilgrimages to Rome, or other long-distance journeys, were far from unusual. Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Cnut and Mac Bethad have already been mentioned. Rognvald Kali Kolsson is known to have gone crusading in the Mediterranean in the 12th century. Nearer in time, Dyfnwal of Strathclyde died on pilgrimage to Rome in 975 as did Máel Ruanaid uá Máele Doraid, King of the Cenél Conaill, in 1025.

 

Not a great deal is known of Máel Coluim’s activities beyond the wars and killings. The Book of Deer records that Máel Coluim “gave a king’s dues in Biffie and in Pett Meic-Gobraig, and two davochs” to the monastery of Old Deer.[32] He was also probably not the founder of the Bishopric of Mortlach-Aberdeen. John of Fordun has a peculiar tale to tell, related to the supposed “Laws of Malcolm MacKenneth”, saying that Máel Coluim gave away all of Scotland, except for the Moot Hill at Scone, which is unlikely to have any basis in fact.[33]

 

 

Child of Malcolm II is:

16777217   i.    Bethoc, married Crinan of Dunkeld.

 

 

Generation No. 27

        67108868.  Kenneth II, born 954; died 995.  He was the son of 134217736. Malcolm I.

 

Notes for Kenneth II:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_II_of_Scotland

Cináed mac Maíl Coluim (Modern Gaelic: Coinneach mac Mhaoil Chaluim[1] anglicised as Kenneth II, and nicknamed An Fionnghalach, “The Fratricide”;[2] before 954–995) was King of Scots (Alba). The son of Malcolm I (Máel Coluim mac Domnaill), he succeeded King Cuilén (Cuilén mac Iduilb) on the latter’s death at the hands of Amdarch of Strathclyde in 971.

 

The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba was compiled in Kenneth’s reign, but many of the place names mentioned are entirely corrupt, if not fictitious.[3] Whatever the reality, the Chronicle states that “[h]e immediately plundered [Strathclyde] in part. Kenneth’s infantry were slain with very great slaughter in Moin Uacoruar.” The Chronicle further states that Kenneth plundered Northumbria three times, first as far as Stainmore, then to Cluiam and lastly to the River Dee by Chester. These raids may belong to around 980, when the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records attacks on Cheshire.[4]

 

In 973, the Chronicle of Melrose reports that Kenneth, with Máel Coluim I (Máel Coluim mac Domnaill), the King of Strathclyde, “Maccus, king of very many islands” (i.e. Magnus Haraldsson (Maccus mac Arailt), King of Mann and the Isles) and other kings, Welsh and Norse, came to Chester to acknowledge the overlordship of the English king Edgar the Peaceable.[5] It may be that Edgar here regulated the frontier between the southern lands of the kingdom of Alba and the northern lands of his English kingdom. Cumbria was English, the western frontier lay on the Solway. In the east, the frontier lay somewhere in later Lothian, south of Edinburgh.[6]

 

The Annals of Tigernach, in an aside, name three of the Mormaers of Alba in Kenneth’s reign in entry in 976: Cellach mac Fíndgaine, Cellach mac Baireda and Donnchad mac Morgaínd. The third of these, if not an error for Domnall mac Morgaínd, is very likely a brother of Domnall, and thus the Mormaer of Moray. The Mormaerdoms or kingdoms ruled by the two Cellachs cannot be identified.

 

The feud which had persisted since the death of King Indulf (Idulb mac Causantín) between his descendants and Kenneth’s family persisted. In 977 the Annals of Ulster report that “Amlaíb mac Iduilb [Amlaíb, son of Indulf], King of Scotland, was killed by Cináed mac Domnaill.” The Annals of Tigernach give the correct name of Amlaíb’s killer: Cináed mac Maíl Coluim, or Kenneth II. Thus, even if only for a short time, Kenneth had been overthrown by the brother of the previous king.[7]

 

Adam of Bremen tells that Sweyn Forkbeard found exile in Scotland at this time, but whether this was with Kenneth, or one of the other kings in Scotland, is unknown. Also at this time, Njal’s Saga, the Orkneyinga Saga and other sources recount wars between “the Scots” and the Northmen, but these are more probably wars between Sigurd Hlodvisson, Earl of Orkney, and the Mormaers, or Kings, of Moray.[8]

 

The Chronicle says that Kenneth founded a great monastery at Brechin.

 

Kenneth was killed in 995, the Annals of Ulster say “by deceit” and the Annals of Tigernach say “by his subjects”. Some later sources, such as the Chronicle of Melrose, John of Fordun and Andrew of Wyntoun provide more details, accurately or not. The simplest account is that he was killed by his own men in Fettercairn, through the treachery of Finnguala (also called Fimberhele or Fenella), daughter of Cuncar, Mormaer of Angus, in revenge for the killing of her only son.[9]

 

The Prophecy of Berchán adds little to our knowledge, except that it names Kenneth “the kinslayer”, and states he died in Strathmore.[10]

 

Kenneth’s son Malcolm II (Máel Coluim mac Cináeda) was later king of Alba. Kenneth may have had a second son, named either Dúngal or Gille Coemgáin.[11] Sources differ as to whether Boite mac Cináeda should be counted a son of Kenneth II or of Kenneth III (Cináed mac Duib).[12]

 

 

Child of Kenneth II is:

33554434   i.    Malcolm II, died November 25, 1034.

 

 

Generation No. 28

        134217736.  Malcolm I, born 900; died 954.  He was the son of 268435472. Donald II.

 

Notes for Malcolm I:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_I_of_Scotland

Máel Coluim mac Domnaill (anglicised Malcolm I) (c. 900–954) was king of Scots (before 943 – 954), becoming king when his cousin Causantín mac Áeda abdicated to become a monk. He was the son of Domnall mac Causantín.

 

Since his father was known to have died in the year 900, Malcolm must have been born no later than 901, by the 940s he was no longer a young man, and may have become impatient in awaiting the throne. Willingly or not—the 11th-century Prophecy of Berchán, a verse history in the form of a supposed prophecy, states that it was not a voluntary decision that Constantine II abdicated in 943 and entered a monastery, leaving the kingdom to Malcolm.[1]

 

Seven years later the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba says:

 

[Malcolm I] plundered the English as far as the river Tees, and he seized a multitude of people and many herds of cattle: and the Scots called this the raid of Albidosorum, that is, Nainndisi. But others say that Constantine made this raid, asking of the king, Malcolm, that the kingship should be given to him for a week’s time, so that he could visit the English. In fact, it was Malcolm who made the raid, but Constantine incited him, as I have said.[2]

 

Woolf suggests that the association of Constantine with the raid is a late addition, one derived from a now-lost saga or poem.[3]

 

 

In 945 Edmund of Wessex, having expelled Amlaíb Cuaran (Olaf Sihtricsson) from Northumbria, devastated Cumbria and blinded two sons of Domnall mac Eógain, king of Strathclyde. It is said that he then “let” or “commended” Strathclyde to Máel Coluim in return for an alliance.[4] What is to be understood by “let” or “commended” is unclear, but it may well mean that Máel Coluim had been the overlord of Strathclyde and that Edmund recognised this while taking lands in southern Cumbria for himself.[5]

 

The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba says that Máel Coluim took an army into Moray “and slew Cellach”. Cellach is not named in the surviving genealogies of the rulers of Moray, and his identity is unknown.[6]

 

Máel Coluim appears to have kept his agreement with the late English king, which may have been renewed with the new king, Edmund having been murdered in 946 and succeeded by his brother Edred. Eric Bloodaxe took York in 948, before being driven out by Edred, and when Amlaíb Cuaran again took York in 949–950, Máel Coluim raided Northumbria as far south as the Tees taking “a multitude of people and many herds of cattle” according to the Chronicle.[7] The Annals of Ulster for 952 report a battle between “the men of Alba and the Britons [of Strathclyde] and the English” against the foreigners, i.e. the Northmen or the Norse-Gaels. This battle is not reported by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and it is unclear whether it should be related to the expulsion of Amlaíb Cuaran from York or the return of Eric Bloodaxe.[8]

 

The Annals of Ulster report that Máel Coluim was killed in 954. Other sources place this most probably in the Mearns, either at Fetteresso following the Chronicle, or at Dunnottar following the Prophecy of Berchán. He was buried on Iona.[9] Máel Coluim’s sons Dub and Cináed were later kings.

 

 

Child of Malcolm I is:

67108868   i.    Kenneth II, born 954; died 995.

 

 

Generation No. 29

        268435472.  Donald II  He was the son of 536870944. Causantín mac Cináeda.

 

Notes for Donald II:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_II_of_Scotland

Domnall mac Causantín (Modern Gaelic: Dòmhnall mac Chòiseim),[1] anglicised as Donald II (died 900) was King of the Picts or King of Scotland (Alba) in the late 9th century. He was the son of Constantine I (Causantín mac Cináeda). Donald is given the epithet Dásachtach, “the Madman”, by the Prophecy of Berchán.[2]

 

LifeDonald became king on the death or deposition of Giric (Giric mac Dúngail), the date of which is not certainly known but usually placed in 889. The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba reports:

 

“ Doniualdus son of Constantini held the kingdom for 11 years [889–900]. The Northmen wasted Pictland at this time. In his reign a battle occurred between Danes and Scots at Innisibsolian where the Scots had victory. He was killed at Opidum Fother [modern Dunnottar] by the Gentiles.[3] ”

 

It has been suggested that the attack on Dunnottar, rather than being a small raid by a handful of pirates, may be associated with the ravaging of Scotland attributed to Harald Fairhair in the Heimskringla.[4] The Prophecy of Berchán places Donald’s death at Dunnottar, but appears to attribute it to Gaels rather than Norsemen; other sources report he died at Forres.[5] Donald’s death is dated to 900 by the Annals of Ulster and the Chronicon Scotorum, where he is called king of Alba, rather that king of the Picts. He was buried on Iona.

 

The change from king of the Picts to king of Alba is seen as indicating a step towards the kingdom of the Scots, but historians, while divided as to when this change should be placed, do not generally attribute it to Donald in view of his epithet.[6] The consensus view is that the key changes occurred in the reign of Constantine II (Causantín mac Áeda),[7] but the reign of Giric has also been proposed.[8]

 

The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba has Donald succeeded by his cousin Constantine II. Donald’s son Malcolm (Máel Coluim mac Domnall) was later king as Malcolm I. The Prophecy of Berchán appears to suggest that another king reigned for a short while between Donald II and Constantine II, saying “half a day will he take sovereignty”. Possible confirmation of this exists in the Chronicon Scotorum, where the death of “Ead, king of the Picts” in battle against the Uí Ímair is reported in 904. This, however, is thought to be an error, referring perhaps to Ædwulf, the ruler of Bernicia, whose death is reported in 913 by the other Irish annals.

 

Child of Donald II is:

134217736 i.    Malcolm I, born 900; died 954.

 

 

Generation No. 30

        536870944.  Causantín mac Cináeda, died 877.  He was the son of 1073741888. Kenneth MacAlpin.

 

Notes for Causantín mac Cináeda:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constant%C3%ADn_mac_Cin%C3%A1eda

 

Causantín or Constantín mac Cináeda (in Modern Gaelic, Còiseam mac Choinnich; died 877) was a king of the Picts. He is often known as Constantine I, in reference to his place in modern lists of kings of Scots, though contemporary sources described Causantín only as a Pictish king. A son of Cináed mac Ailpín (“Kenneth MacAlpin”), he succeeded his uncle Domnall mac Ailpín as Pictish king following the latter’s death on 13 April 862. It is likely that Causantín’s (Constantine I) reign witnessed increased activity by Vikings, based in Ireland and Northumbria, in northern Britain and he died fighting one such invasion.

 

 

Very few records of ninth century events in northern Britain survive. The main local source from the period is the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba, a list of kings from Cináed mac Ailpín (died 858) to Cináed mac Maíl Coluim (died 995). The list survives in the Poppleton Manuscript, a thirteenth century compilation. Originally simply a list of kings with reign lengths, the other details contained in the Poppleton Manuscript version were added from the tenth century onwards.[1] In addition to this, later king lists survive.[2] The earliest genealogical records of the descendants of Cináed mac Ailpín may date from the end of the tenth century, but their value lies more in their context, and the information they provide about the interests of those for whom they were compiled, than in the unreliable claims they contain.[3] The Pictish king-lists originally ended with this Causantín, who was reckoned the seventieth and last king of the Picts.[4]

 

For narrative history the principal sources are the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Irish annals. While Scandinavian sagas describe events in 9th century Britain, their value as sources of historical narrative, rather than documents of social history, is disputed.[5] If the sources for north-eastern Britain, the lands of the kingdom of Northumbria and the former Pictland, are limited and late, those for the areas on the Irish Sea and Atlantic coasts—the modern regions of north-west England and all of northern and western Scotland—are non-existent, and archaeology and toponymy are of primary importance.[6]

 

[edit] Languages and namesWriting a century before Causantín was born, Bede recorded five languages in Britain. Latin, the common language of the church, Old English, the language of the Angles and Saxons, Irish, spoken on the western coasts of Britain and in Ireland, Brythonic, ancestor of the Welsh language, spoken in large parts of western Britain, and Pictish, spoken in northern Britain. By the ninth century a sixth language, Old Norse, had arrived with the Vikings.

 

[edit] Amlaíb and ÍmarViking activity in northern Britain appears to have reached a peak during Causantín’s reign. Viking armies were led by a small group of men who may have been kinsmen. Among those noted by the Irish annals, the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are Ívarr—Ímar in Irish sources—who was active from East Anglia to Ireland, Halfdán—Albdann in Irish, Healfdene in Old English— and Amlaíb or Óláfr. As well as these leaders, various others related to them appear in the surviving record.[7]

 

Viking activity in Britain increased in 865 when the Great Heathen Army, probably a part of the forces which had been active in Francia, landed in East Anglia.[8] The following year, having obtained tribute from the East Anglian King Edmund, the Great Army moved north, seizing York, chief city of the Northumbrians.[9] The Great Army defeated an attack on York by the two rivals for the Northumbrian throne, Osberht and Ælla, who had put aside their differences in the face of a common enemy. Both would-be kings were killed in the failed assault, probably on 21 March 867. Following this, the leaders of the Great Army are said to have installed one Ecgberht as king of the Northumbrians.[10] Their next target was Mercia where King Burgred, aided by his brother-in-law King Æthelred of Wessex, drove them off.[11]

 

While the kingdoms of East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria were under attack, other Viking armies were active in the far north. Amlaíb and Auisle (Ásl or Auðgísl), said to be his brother, brought an army to Fortriu and obtained tribute and hostages in 866. Historians disagree as to whether the army returned to Ireland in 866, 867 or even in 869.[12] Late sources of uncertain reliability state that Auisle was killed by Amlaíb in 867 in a dispute over Amlaíb’s wife, the daughter of Cináed. It is unclear whether, if accurate, this woman should be identified as a daughter of Cináed mac Ailpín, and thus Causantín’s sister, or as a daughter of Cináed mac Conaing, king of Brega.[13] While Amlaíb and Auisle were in north Britain, the Annals of Ulster record that Áed Findliath, High King of Ireland, took advantage of their absence to destroy the longphorts along the northern coasts of Ireland.[14] Áed Findliath was married to Causantín’s sister Máel Muire. She later married Áed’s successor Flann Sinna. Her death is recorded in 913.[15]

 

In 870, Amlaíb and Ívarr attacked Dumbarton Rock, where the River Leven meets the River Clyde, the chief place of the kingdom of Alt Clut, south-western neighbour of Pictland. The siege lasted four months before the fortress fell to the Vikings who returned to Ireland with many prisoners, “Angles, Britons and Picts”, in 871. Archaeological evidence suggests that Dumbarton Rock was largely abandoned and that Govan replaced it as the chief place of the kingdom of Strathclyde, as Alt Clut was later known.[16] King Artgal of Alt Clut did not long survive these events, being killed “at the instigation” of Causantín son of Cináed two years later. Artgal’s son and successor Run was married to a sister of Causantín.[17]

 

Amlaíb disappears from Irish annals after his return to Ireland in 871. According to the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba he was killed by Causantín either in 871 or 872 when he returned to Pictland to collect further tribute.[18] His ally Ívarr died in 873.[19]

 

[edit] Last days of the Pictish kingdomIn 875, the Chronicle and the Annals of Ulster again report a Viking army in Pictland. A battle, fought near Dollar, was a heavy defeat for the Picts; the Annals of Ulster say that “a great slaughter of the Picts resulted”. Although there is agreement that Causantín was killed fighting Vikings in 877, it is not clear where this happened. Some believe he was beheaded on a Fife beach, following a battle at Fife Ness, near Crail. William Forbes Skene read the Chronicle as placing Causantín’s death at Inverdovat (by Newport-on-Tay), which appears to match the Prophecy of Berchán. The account in the Chronicle of Melrose names the place as the “Black Cave” and John of Fordun calls it the “Black Den”. Causantín was buried on Iona.

 

[edit] AftermathCausantín’s son Domnall and his descendants represented the main line of the kings of Alba and later Scotland.

 

 

Child of Causantín mac Cináeda is:

268435472 i.    Donald II.

 

 

Generation No. 31

        1073741888.  Kenneth MacAlpin, died February 13, 857/58.  He was the son of 2147483776. Alpín mac Eochaid.

 

Notes for Kenneth MacAlpin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_MacAlpin

 

Cináed mac Ailpín (Modern Gaelic: Coinneach mac Ailpein),[1] commonly Anglicised as Kenneth MacAlpin and known in most modern regnal lists as Kenneth I (died 13 February 858) was king of the Picts and, according to national myth, first king of Scots, earning him the posthumous nickname of An Ferbasach, “The Conqueror”.[2] Kenneth’s undisputed legacy was to produce a dynasty of rulers who claimed descent from him and was the founder of the dynasty which ruled Scotland for much of the medieval period.

 

 

King of Scots?Main article: Origins of the Kingdom of Alba

The Kenneth of myth, conqueror of the Picts and founder of the Kingdom of Alba, was born in the centuries after the real Kenneth died. In the reign of Kenneth II (Cináed mac Maíl Coluim), when the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba was compiled, the annalist wrote:

 

So Kinadius son of Alpinus, first of the Scots, ruled this Pictland prosperously for 16 years. Pictland was named after the Picts, whom, as we have said, Kinadius destroyed. … Two years before he came to Pictland, he had received the kingdom of Dál Riata.

In the 15th century Andrew of Wyntoun’s Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, a history in verse, added little to the account in the Chronicle:

 

Quhen Alpyne this kyng was dede, He left a sowne wes cal’d Kyned,

Dowchty man he wes and stout, All the Peychtis he put out.

Gret bataylis than dyd he, To pwt in freedom his cuntre!

When humanist scholar George Buchanan wrote his history Rerum Scoticarum Historia in the 1570s, a great deal of lurid detail had been added to the story. Buchanan included an account of how Kenneth’s father had been murdered by the Picts, and a detailed, and entirely unsupported, account of how Kenneth avenged him and conquered the Picts. Buchanan was not as credulous as many, and he did not include the tale of MacAlpin’s treason, a story from Giraldus Cambrensis, who reused a tale of Saxon treachery at a feast in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s inventive Historia Regum Britanniae.

 

Later 19th century historians such as William Forbes Skene brought new standards of accuracy to early Scottish history, while Celticists such as Whitley Stokes and Kuno Meyer cast a critical eye over Welsh and Irish sources. As a result, much of the misleading and vivid detail was removed from the scholarly series of events, even if it remained in the popular accounts. Rather than a conquest of the Picts, instead the idea of Pictish matrilineal succession, mentioned by Bede and apparently the only way to make sense of the list of Kings of the Picts found in the Pictish Chronicle, advanced the idea that Kenneth was a Gael, and a king of Dál Riata, who had inherited the throne of Pictland through a Pictish mother. Other Gaels, such as Caustantín and Óengus, the sons of Fergus, were identified among the Pictish king lists, as were Angles such as Talorcen son of Eanfrith, and Britons such as Bridei son of Beli.[3]

 

Modern historians would reject parts of the Kenneth produced by Skene and subsequent historians, while accepting others. Medievalist Alex Woolf, interviewed by The Scotsman in 2004, is quoted as saying:

 

The myth of Kenneth conquering the Picts – it’s about 1210, 1220 that that’s first talked about. There’s actually no hint at all that he was a Scot. … If you look at contemporary sources there are four other Pictish kings after him. So he’s the fifth last of the Pictish kings rather than the first Scottish king.”[dead link][4]

Many other historians could be quoted in terms similar to Woolf.[5]

 

A feasible synopsis of the emerging consensus, may be put forward, namely, that the kingships of Gaels and Picts underwent a process of gradual fusion,[6] starting with Kenneth, and rounded off in the reign of Constantine II. The Pictish institution of kingship provided the basis for merger with the Gaelic Alpin dynasty. The meeting of King Constantine and Bishop Cellach at the Hill of Belief near the (formerly Pictish) royal city of Scone in 906 cemented the rights and duties of Picts on an equal basis with those of Gaels (pariter cum Scottis). Hence the change in styling from King of the Picts to King of Alba. The legacy of Gaelic as the first national language of Scotland does not obscure the foundational process in the establishment of the Scottish kingdom of Alba.

 

[edit] BackgroundKenneth’s origins are uncertain, as are his ties, if any, to previous kings of the Picts or Dál Riata. Among the genealogies contained in the Rawlinson B 502 manuscript, dating from around 1130, is the supposed descent of Malcolm II of Scotland. Medieval genealogies are unreliable sources, but many historians still accept Kenneth’s descent from the established Cenél nGabráin, or at the very least from some unknown minor sept of the Dál Riata. The manuscript provides the following ancestry for Kenneth:

 

…Cináed son of Alpín son of Eochaid son of Áed Find son of Domangart son of Domnall Brecc son of Eochaid Buide son of Áedán son of Gabrán son of Domangart son of Fergus Mór …[7]

 

Leaving aside the shadowy kings before Áedán son of Gabrán, the genealogy is certainly flawed insofar as Áed Find, who died c. 778, could not reasonably be the son of Domangart, who was killed c. 673. The conventional account would insert two generations between Áed Find and Domangart: Eochaid mac Echdach, father of Áed Find, who died c. 733, and his father Eochaid.

 

Although later traditions provided details of his reign and death, Kenneth’s father Alpin is not listed as among the kings in the Duan Albanach, which provides the following sequence of kings leading up to Kenneth:

 

Naoi m-bliadhna Cusaintin chain,   The nine years of Causantín the fair;,

a naoi Aongusa ar Albain,   The nine of Aongus over Alba;

cethre bliadhna Aodha áin,   The four years of Aodh the noble;

is a tri déug Eoghanáin.   And the thirteen of Eoghanán.

Tríocha bliadhain Cionaoith chruaidh,   The thirty years of Cionaoth the hardy,  [citation needed]

 

It is supposed that these kings are the Constantine son of Fergus and his brother Óengus II (Angus II), who have already been mentioned, Óengus’s son Uen (Eóganán), as well as the obscure Áed mac Boanta, but this sequence is considered doubtful if the list is intended to represent kings of Dál Riata, as it should if Kenneth were king there.[8]

 

That Kenneth was a Gael is not widely rejected, but modern historiography distinguishes between Kenneth as a Gael by culture and/or in ancestry, and Kenneth as a king of Gaelic Dál Riata. Kings of the Picts before him, from Bridei son of Der-Ilei, his brother Nechtan as well as Óengus I son of Fergus and his presumed descendants were all at least partly Gaelicised.[9] The idea that the Gaelic names of Pictish kings in Irish annals represented translations of Pictish ones was challenged by the discovery of the inscription Custantin filius Fircus(sa), the latinised name of the Pictish king Caustantín son of Fergus, on the Dupplin Cross.[10]

 

Other evidence, such as that furnished by place-names, suggests the spread of Gaelic culture through western Pictland in the centuries before Kenneth. For example, Atholl, a name used in the Annals of Ulster for the year 739, has been thought to be “New Ireland”, and Argyll derives from Oir-Ghàidheal, the land of the “eastern Gaels”.

 

[edit] ReignCompared with the many questions on his origins, Kenneth’s ascent to power and subsequent reign can be dealt with simply. Kenneth’s rise can be placed in the context of the recent end of the previous dynasty, which had dominated Fortriu for two or four generations. This followed the death of king Uen son of Óengus of Fortriu, his brother Bran, Áed mac Boanta “and others almost innumerable” in battle against the Vikings in 839. The resulting succession crisis seems, if the Pictish Chronicle king-lists have any validity, to have resulted in at least four would-be kings warring for supreme power.

 

Kenneth’s reign is dated from 843, but it was probably not until 848 that he defeated the last of his rivals for power. The Pictish Chronicle claims that he was king in Dál Riata for two years before becoming Pictish king in 843, but this is not generally accepted. In 849, Kenneth had relics of Columba, which may have included the Monymusk Reliquary, transferred from Iona to Dunkeld. Other that these bare facts, the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba reports that he invaded Saxonia six times, captured Melrose and burnt Dunbar, and also that Vikings laid waste to Pictland, reaching far into the interior.[11] The Annals of the Four Masters, not generally a good source on Scottish matters, do make mention of Kenneth, although what should be made of the report is unclear:

 

Gofraid mac Fergusa, chief of Airgíalla, went to Alba, to strengthen the Dal Riata, at the request of Kenneth MacAlpin.[12]

 

The reign of Kenneth also saw an increased degree of Norse settlement in the outlying areas of modern Scotland. Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland, the Western Isles and the Isle of Man, and part of Ross were settled; the links between Kenneth’s kingdom and Ireland were weakened, those with southern England and the continent almost broken. In the face of this, Kenneth and his successors were forced to consolidate their position in their kingdom, and the union between the Picts and the Gaels, already progressing for several centuries, began to strengthen. By the time of Donald II, the kings would be called kings neither of the Gaels or the Scots but of Alba.[13]

 

Kenneth died from a tumour on 13 February 858 at the palace of Cinnbelachoir, perhaps near Scone. The annals report the death as that of the “king of the Picts”, not the “king of Alba”. The title “king of Alba” is not used until the time of Kenneth’s grandsons, Donald II (Domnall mac Causantín) and Constantine II (Constantín mac Áeda). The Fragmentary Annals of Ireland quote a verse lamenting Kenneth’s death:

 

Because Cináed with many troops lives no longer

there is weeping in every house;

there is no king of his worth under heaven

as far as the borders of Rome.[14]

 

Kenneth left at least two sons, Constantine and Áed, who were later kings, and at least two daughters. One daughter married Run, king of Strathclyde, Eochaid being the result of this marriage. Kenneth’s daughter Máel Muire married two important Irish kings of the Uí Néill. Her first husband was Aed Finliath of the Cenél nEógain. Niall Glúndub, ancestor of the O’Neill, was the son of this marriage. Her second husband was Flann Sinna of Clann Cholmáin. As the wife and mother of kings, when Máel Muire died in 913, her death was reported by the Annals of Ulster, an unusual thing for the male-centred chronicles of the age.

 

 

Child of Kenneth MacAlpin is:

536870944 i.    Causantín mac Cináeda, died 877.

 

 

Generation No. 32

        2147483776.  Alpín mac Eochaid

 

Notes for Alpín mac Eochaid:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alp%C3%ADn_mac_Echdach

 

Alpín mac Eochaid may refer to two persons. The first person is a presumed king of Dál Riata in the late 730s. The second is the father of Kenneth MacAlpin (Cináed mac Ailpín). The name Alpín is taken to be a Pictish one, derived from the Anglo-Saxon name Ælfwine; Alpín’s patronymic means son of Eochaid or son of Eochu.

 

[edit] Alpín father of King KennethIrish annals such as the Annals of Ulster and the Annals of Innisfallen name Kenneth’s father as one Alpín. This much is reasonably certain.

 

The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba usually begins with Kenneth, but some variants include a reference to Kenneth’s father: “[Alpín] was killed in Galloway, after he had entirely destroyed and devastated it. And then the kingdom of the Scots was transferred to the kingdom [variant: land] of the Picts.”

 

John of Fordun (IV, ii) calls Kenneth’s father “Alpin son of Achay” (Alpín son of Eochu) and has him killed in war with the Picts in 836; Andrew of Wyntoun’s version mixes Fordun’s war with the Picts with the Chronicle version which has him killed in Galloway.

 

[edit] Alpín of Dál RiataThe genealogies produced for Kings of Scots in the High Middle Ages traced their ancestry through Kenneth MacAlpin, through the Cenél nGabráin of Dál Riata to Fergus Mór, and then to legendary Irish kings such as Conaire Mór and the shadowy Deda mac Sin.

 

These genealogies, perhaps oral in origin, were subjected to some regularisation by the scribes who copied them into sources such as the Chronicle of Melrose, the Poppleton Manuscript and the like. Either by accident, or by design, a number of kings were misplaced, being moved from the early 8th century to the late 8th and early 9th century.

 

The original list is presumed to have resembled the following:

 

1. Eochaid mac Domangairt

2. Ainbcellach mac Ferchair

3. Eógan mac Ferchair

4. Selbach mac Ferchair

5. Eochaid mac Echdach

6. Dúngal mac Selbaig

7. Alpín

8. Muiredach mac Ainbcellaig

9. Eógan mac Muiredaig

10. Áed Find

11. Fergus mac Echdach

After modification to link this list of kings of Dál Riata to the family of Kenneth MacAlpin, the list is presumed to have been in this form:

 

1. Eochaid mac Domangairt

2. Ainbcellach mac Ferchair

3. Eógan mac Ferchair

8. Muiredach mac Ainbcellaig

9. Eogan mac Muiredaig

10. Áed Find

11. Fergus mac Echdach

4. Selbach mac Ferchair (called Selbach mac Eógain)

5. Eochaid mac Echdach (called Eochaid mac Áeda Find)

6. Dúngal mac Selbaig (name unchanged)

7. Alpín (called Alpín mac Echdach)

However, the existence of the original Alpín is less than certain. No king in Dál Riata of that name is recorded in the Irish annals in the early 730s. A Pictish king named Alpín, whose father’s name is not given in any Irish sources, or even from the Pictish Chronicle king-lists, is known from the late 720s, when he was defeated by Óengus mac Fergusa and Nechtan mac Der-Ilei. For the year 742, the Annals of Ulster are read was referring to the capture of “Elffin son of Crop” (the former reading had besieged rather than captured). Whether Álpin son of Crup is related to the Álpin of the 720s is unknown.

Child of Alpín mac Eochaid is:

1073741888 i.   Kenneth MacAlpin, died February 13, 857/58.

 

 

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3 comments

  1. I am a living descendent of Thomas Mckee’s son William through his daughter Jennet McKee who later married a Robert Reaney then there daughter Mariah Reaney married into the Archibald Boal family there daughter also named Mariah went onto marry the grandson of a revolutionary war hero named whom he was named after Israel Hilton Buker.

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