Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Descendants of James McKee

[ Home Page | First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page ]

Descendants of James McKee

Generation No. 2

2. JAMES HAMILTON² MCKEE (JAMES¹) was born Abt. 1849 in Glasgow, Parish of Renfrewshire, Scotland, and died in New Jersey or New York. He married RACHEL GREEN February 21, 1868 in Bridgeton, Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland, daughter of RICHARD GREEN and CATHERINE MCKECHNIE. She was born Abt. 1851 in Glasgow, Parish of Renfrewshire, Scotland, and died in New Jersey or New York.

Notes for JAMES HAMILTON MCKEE:
He was listed as a Plumber, Journeyman on his marriage registration, and resided at 39 Kirk Street in Glasgow at the time of his marriage.

The name Mackay is derived from the gaelic "Macaoidh" or "son of Hugh" .

Some historians have advised that the Mackays claim decent from the Royal House of Moray through the line of Morgund of Pluscarden and were originally known as Clan Morgan. This relationship with Clan Morgan is probably mythical. Around 710 A.D. a tribe known as the C'nel Lorne left Ireland to land in what is now known as Argyll in Scotland. This tribe is believed to be the progenitors of Clann MacAoidh. The C'nel Lorne are descended from Aedh, grand-son of the Irish king N'iall.

In 1160, Malcom IV removed the Clan, with other Moraymen, north to Ross, where they spread to Sutherland. They fought for Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, at the battle of Bannockburn on 24th June 1314. It was from the great-grandson of the Chief who fought for Bruce that the Clan took its name. In 1427 Angus Dubh Mackay was described as a leader of four thousand Strathnaver men.

Strathnaver is said to be the ancestral home of the Mackays. It is a region in the very north-west of Scotland, corresponding to the northern part of the modern county of Sutherland. The Mackays at one time possessed the stretch of land known as "Lord Reay's Country" from Drimholisten to Kylescue.

Charles I, in 1628 created the MacKay chief Lord Reay. Though they opposed Cromwell, the Mackays became staunch Whigs during both Jacobite uprisings of 1715 and 1745 (The Forty-Five).

The Mackays suffered badly in the Strathnaver clearances between 1815 and 1818. In 1829 the Reay estates passed to the Earl of Sutherland. This decline of fortune resulted in the descendants of one of the most famous and oldest of the true Gaelic Clans being scattered to many parts of the world.

List of Important Dates in Clan Mackay History
(From the list compiled in 1911 by the late Rev. Angus Mackay, Westerdale, expanded by the late Dr. George Mackay, F.R.C.S.E.,Edinburgh)

1160 - Expulsion of the MacEths from Moray.

c.1260 - Iye Mor MacEth married a daughter of Bishop Walter of Caithness.

1263 - Fight with King Haco's troops at Loch Eriboll.

1371 - Murder of the Mackay chieftains, father and son, at Dingwall.

c. 1403 - Battle of Tuiteam Tarbach, in which the Macleods were overthrown by the Mackays.

1411 - Battle of Dingwall, where Macdonald overcame Angus Du Mackay.

1425 - Angus Du spoils Moray.

1426 - Angus Du spoils Caithness.

1432 - Angus Du defeats Angus Moray at Drum nan Coup, near Tongue.

1437 - The Caithness men overthrown at Sandside Chase by Neil Mackay.

c. 1486 - Angus Roy Mackay overthrown and slain at Tarbet Church by the Rosses.

1487 - The Mackays defeat the Rosses at Aldicharrish, in revenge for the slaughter of Angus Roy.

1493 - The Mackays invade the Rosses again, and take much spoil.

1513 - The Mackays at Flodden, where John Riavach Mackay fell.

1518 - John Mackay makes a bond of friendship with Adam Gordon.

c. 1528 - The Mackays are associated with the Forbes in the feuds of the latter.

1542 - The Mackays at Solway Moss, where Iye Du Mackay is taken prisoner.

1544 - Mackay joins in the attack of Arran at Glasgow.

1548 - Mackay joins in the attack and capture of Haddington.

1562 - Mackay at the battle of Corrichie, where Huntly fell.

1566 - Mackay and Macleod of Assint burn Dornoch.

1571 - Mackay and the Master of Caithness burn Dornoch again.

1585 - Huistean Du Mackay at the siege of Marle.

1588 - Huistean Du joins the Earl of Sutherland, and marries his daughter the following year.

1612 - His son, Donald Mackay of Farr, captures the coiner Smith at Thurso after some sharp fighting.

1616 -(April) - Donald Mackay goes to London with his uncle, Sir Robert Gordon, and is knighted by James VI. at Theobalds.

1626 - Sir Donald Mackay embarks 3600 men at Cromarty for the Continental War under Count Mansfeld in the service of Christian IV of Denmark and Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.

1627 - Sir Donald holds the Pass of Oldenburgh, against overwhelming odds, with his regiment, and in the same year, while abroad, is created a Baronet of Nova Scotia by Charles I.

1628 (June 20) - Sir Donald Mackay created Baron Reay of Reay in the Peerage of Scotland by Charles I.

1629 - Christian IV. of Denmark is replaced by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden as Leader of the Protestant cause, and Lord Reay having raised fresh troops in Scotland takes service under the latter.

1630 - Lord Reay accompanies his Regiment to Germany, and is at the capture of Stettin, Damm and Colberg.

1631 - Reay is empowered by Charles I. to raise another 2000 for service with Gustavus Adolphus. He quarrels with David Ramsay at the English Court, and having challenged him to a duel, both are imprisoned in the Tower of London to preserve the peace.

1632 - Gustavus is killed at the battle of Lutzen and Reay is not repaid large sums of money duc to him by Gustavus and by Charles I. He has also domestic troubles and has to sell some of his estates, especially in Orkney.

1637 - He transfers his estates to his eldest son, John the Master of Reay.

1638 - The Marquis of Montrose, Lords Home, Boyd and Loudoun invite Lord Reay to meet them and others to consider the religious troubles of the time and sign the Covenant, which he does, unwillingly because of his long attachment to Charles I. (click here for more information)

1639 -1641 - Reay stays at home.

1642 - He goes to Denmark and commands the Regiment of his son, Colonel Angus Mackay.

1644 - Like Montrose, Reay espouses again the cause of King Charles I., and brings arms and money by sea to Newcastle. He aids Lord Crawford for several months in the defence of the city against the Scots Army. When the town is captured by General Leslie, Reay and Lord Crawford are sent as prisoners to Edinburgh Castle.

1645 - Following Montrose's victory at Kilsyth, Reay is liberated.

1646 - Montrose, having been instructed by King Charles I, to disband his forces and seek his own safety, writes to Reay advising him to do likewise. Montrose narrowly escapes from Angus to Norway, and Reay from Thurso to Denmark.

1649 - Charles I. executed at Whitehall on January 30th. Reay dies soon after at Bergen in Norway. His remains are sent home in a Danish frigate, and buried in the family vault at Kirkibol, Tongue. Neil Aberach falls at Thurso. John, 2nd Lord Reay, surprised and captured at Balveny Castle ,on the Spey, and imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle. Lady Reay effects his escape.
(Editors note: The place of Lord Reay's death remains uncertain - some have stated that he died in Bergen others have stated he died in Copenhagen. There is no reference in The Danish or Norwegian state papers of 1648-9 and the records of Bergen were destroyed in the fire of 1702. Reference source Dr. Ian Grimble)

1652 - The Mackays at the Battle of Worcester.

1654 - The Mackays spoil Sutherland, in the rising under Middleton.

1680 - George, 3rd Lord Reay, succeeds his grandfather, and has Sir George Munro of Culrain as his guardian.

1689 - General Hugh Mackay of Scourie, who had served with the Scots Brigade in Holland, is made Commander-in-Chief in Scotland by William, Prince of Orange; is defeated at Killiecrankie but wins the campaign against Claverhouse.

1692 - General Hugh Mackay having returned to Holland to aid the Dutch in their conflict with the French under Louis XIV., falls at Steinkirk.

1697 - His nephew, AEneas Mackay, a son of the 2nd Lord Reay, is now Commander of the Mackay Regiment in the Dutch Service. Wounded and worn out with campaigning he dies at Bath at the early age of 30 and is buried in the Chancel of Bath Abbey, where there is a tablet to his memory. His widow, a Dutch lady, returns to Holland with his only son, Donald, who grows up to command his father's regiment and become the founder of the branch of the Clan to which the Reay title passed in 1875.

1715 - The Mackays are anti-Jacobites, and help to restrain Seaforth during the rising.

1745 - The Mackays are actively anti-Jacobite.

1746 - The Mackays capture, at Tongue, gold sent from France to the Prince, and also capture the Earl of Cromarty at Dunrobin.

1778 - Rob Donn, the Mackay poet, dies.

1795 - The Reay Fencibles embodied.

1798 - Reay Fencibles at the Battle of Tara Hill, near Dublin.

1802 - The Reay Fencibles disbanded at Stirling.

1806 - "Mackay's Society" founded in Glasgow.

1815 - 1818 - The Strathnaver Clearances, by which the people were removed to make room for sheep.

1829 - The Reay estate sold to the Countess of Sutherland by Eric, 7th Lord Reay.

1875 - On the death of Eric, 9th Lord Reay, who was unmarried, the title passed to the branch of the family resident in Holland and descended from John, 2nd Lord Reay (see note under 1697). AEneas Mackay, a Baron of the Netherlands, Vice President of the Council of State and holder of the Cross of the Order of the Netherlands, became 10th Lord Reay. He died in 1876. His son, Donald James Mackay, succeeded as 11th Lord Reay, left Holland and was made a Peer of the United Kingdom as Baron Reay of Durness (8th October, 1881) with a seat in the House of Lords. Was appointed Governor of Bombay (1885-90) and Under-Secretary of State for India (1894-95) and was Lord Lieutenant of Roxburghshire.

Here is a well known song to a Scottish icon, by Murdoch Maclean

Gentlemen - the Tartan!

Here's to it!
The fighting sheen of it,
The yellow, the green of it,
The white, the blue of it,
The swing, the hue of it,
The dark, the red of it,
Every thread of it!

The fair have sighed for it,
The brave have died for it,
Foemen sought for it,
Heroes fought for it,
Honour the name of it,
Drink to the fame of it -

THE TARTAN!

Notes for RACHEL GREEN:
She was listed as a Yarn Winder on her marriage registration, and resided at 67 1/2 Kirk Street in Glasgow at the time of her marriage.

Marriage Notes for JAMES MCKEE and RACHEL GREEN:
The wedding was performed at The Free Church of Scotland, by Alec Wilson, Minister of Bridgeton Free Church.
The witnesses were James Hannah and Mary Bulloch.

More About JAMES MCKEE and RACHEL GREEN:
Marriage: February 21, 1868, Bridgeton, Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland

Children of JAMES MCKEE and RACHEL GREEN are:

	i.	BARBARA³ MCKEE, b. July 05, 1868, Calton, Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland; m. MR. FERGUSON.
	ii.	JAMES MCKEE.
	iii.	MARY MCKEE, m. MR. HUTCHINSON.
	iv.	JOHN MCKEE.
3.	v.	JOSEPH DUNN MCKEE, b. August 14, 1891, New York, New York; d. March 1986, Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey.
	vi.	ELIZABETH MCKEE, b. April 30, 1870, Calton, Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland.
	vii.	ISABELLA HENDRY MCKEE, b. June 08, 1872, Bothwell, Lanark, Scotland.

[ Home Page | First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page ]