D. L. Logan - The McKay Story From Ireland to America

Table of Contents

TheMcKay Story

FromIreland to America

D. L. Logan

ISBN: 9781370147717
Title: The McKay Story From Irelandto Western Pennsylvania
Author: D. L. Logan
Publisher: Smashwords, Inc.

A White Butterfly Publication

Published by White Butterfly Press2017

Copyright @ D.L.Logan 2017

This ebook islicensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not bere-sold. If you would like to share this book with another person,please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank youfor respecting the hard work of these McKays who compiled theinformation.

All rights reservedunder International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.Published in the United States by White Butterfly Press.

Thank you to theseMcKay family members who researched their branches of the McKayfamily tree:

Susan Zimmerman Elliott, the William and Eliza Lanigan McKay line via Daniel GrahamMcKay

Nancy McKay Seward, the William and Eliza Lanigan McKay line via Alexander B.McKay

Irene Smith McDaniel(1923-2003)

Thelma SmithLogan(1918-1997)

Thyrma SmithMcKay((1913-1999)

Ila HeckmanAyre,

The James andSarah McElroy McKay line, via John and Jane Hill McKay

Ann Wilson McKay,The Ballymena lines.

THEIRISH NAME Mac Aodha means son of Hugh. The families withvariations of this surname are also called: McCoy, MacHugh, MacKay,McKay. According to Ida Grehan, "It is possible that the MacCoysmay have originally crossed from Ulster to Scotland, although it ismore generally believed that they came from Islay and the islandsof Southern Scotland, accompanying the MacDonnells as gallowglassesor mercenaries. Today they are most numerous in the northern halfof Ireland [1]

Edward MacLysaght tells us that: MacCay/MacKay appears in thecensus of 1659 as "a principal Irish name in the northern baroniesof County Antrim and as MacCay a few years later in the HearthMoney Rolls of County Armagh." [2]

This is the story ofthe James and William McKay extended families who came to MercerCounty, Pennsylvania, between 1830 and 1848 from County AntrimIreland. Like other early immigrants from Ireland, they persistedin their goal to get to Western Pennsylvania, despite hazardoustravel and the pain of leaving some of their family membersbehind.

Children of WILLIAMMCKAY and JANE PORTER are:

2. i. JAMES M. MCKAY, b. 1801, County Antrim, N. Ireland;d. March 24, 1858, Lake Township, Pa..

3. ii. WILLIAM MCKAY, b. February 12, 1809, St. Anne'sShankill, Church of Ireland; d. September 18, 1871, FindleyTownship, Mercer Co. Pa..

iii. THOMAS MCKAY.

4. iv. ENEAS MCKAY,SR., b. 1793, Antrim County, N. Ireland; d. April 30,1867, Jackson Township, Mercer County.

5. v. JENNIE MCKAY, b. 1797, BushMills, County Antrim,Ireland; d. December 20, 1880, Mercer County, PA.

6. vi. SAMUEL MCKAY, b. 1802; d. March 04, 1870.

vii. HUGH MCKAY, b. 1800; d. March 23, 1865; m.NANCY.

7. viii. SAMUELMCKAY, b. 1804, Ireland; d. Coolspring, Mercer County, N. LibertyPost Office.

We have not established the origin of William and JaneMcKay, the parents of our original immigrants. They may have cometo Ireland from Glasgow, but the original ancestors were probablyIrish. We speculate that WILLIAM MCKAY (WILLIAM , WILLIAM J ) was born 1772 in Glasgow, and died 1812 in CountyAntrim, Ireland. He married JANE ANNE PORTER, daughter ofJOHN PORTER and MARGARET CALDER. She was born June 12, 1770in Glasgow, Scotland, and died in County Antrim,Ireland.

This history of the McKays is dedicated to my niece, MeganKilgour, who asked me to help her with a school project twentyyears ago. Her teacher wanted her to start a family tree. And so wedid. Also to the diligent Nancy McKay Seward who shared herrecollections of her elders and her meticulous recording of births,deaths and marriages in the William McKay line; and to SusanZimmerman Elliot who posted photos and history and ancestors whenthe Mercer County website was fairly new, so we could "find" eachothers' ancestors. Also to Ila Ayre, who attended the McKayreunions and always sends updates where she finds them. And,finally to Ann Wilson McKay who spent hours taking me to Antrimgraveyards and reviewing church records.

I started the JamesMcKay history with a list of people typed on a manual typewriter bymy mother and by Thyrma McKay in the 1950s.

As a child growingup 100 miles north of Pittsburgh in rural Western Pennsylvania, Ihad heard the adults speak of Ireland and Scotland at the annualfamily reunions. I had no real conception of where those placesmight be nor my connection to them, but I vividly remember walkingalong the wind-swept frozen marsh lands pretending to be on thebogs of Ireland or the moors of Scotland.

I have done nothingremarkable with my life: have written no symphony; built no realestate empire; made no fortune. Instead my energy has been consumedin determining who they were, why my family acted and spoke andinteracted the way it did. It was a harsh and unforgivingchildhood, Calvinist and not the least bit introspective. Peoplejust got on with their tasks: no joy was expected and nonereceived. The ancestors were ever-present. So, now, before I die Iwill try to record what I know and what I learned about theMcKays.

Dear Ancestor
Your tombstone stands among the rest
Neglected and alone
The name and date are chiselled out
On polished marble stone
It reaches out to all who care
It is too late to mourn
You did not know that I exist
You died and I was born
Yet each of us are cells of you
In flesh and blood and bone
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
Entirely not our own.

Dear Ancestor,

The place you filled
One hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left
Who would have loved you so
I wonder if you lived and loved
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot
And come to visit you.
--AuthorUnknown

WHY DID THEY chooseto come to America in the 1830s? Some possible reasons are listedbelow.

"THE CHEAPNESS oftravel between Ireland and Britain and between Britain and Americaencouraged step-wise migration. An emigrant could walk to aseaport such as Derry, pay one shilling to cross the Irish sea,save a few pounds from harvest work in the Glasgow or Liverpoolareas and, finally, buy a transatlantic passage.

"In Drummaul, CountyAntrim, it was stated, in this and in most districts, theindustrious and well conducted are almost the only emigrants, whilethe able bodied idlers and disorderly characters are but rarelyknown to leave the country.

Emigration was now becoming seen as the optimum course ofaction for those sons with no prospects of inheriting the familyplot. In Camlin, County Antrim, the Memoir compiler reported:

"the prevalence of emigration from this parish is probablyowing to the circumstances of a farmer generally leaving his farmto his eldest son who is charged with a certain portion to each ofthe other childrenthe other sons having got a little capitalusually emigrate. [3]

"The decline of the domestic linen industry and agriculturalimprovement were two factors behind emigration in these years. InMacosquin, County Derry, emigration had increased since the decayof the linen trade. In Desertmartin, County Derry, the DrapersCompany who were attempting to improve their estate wouldnt allowcottiers to reside on their manors. In Errigal, County Derry,within the last four years eight families have gone to America inconsequence of their land having been taken from them by theMarquis of Waterford who is enlarging the farms on his estate. Inthe parish of Coleraine the Memoir stated: