From SC to MO
A wagon train set out from the "Old 96" (Abbeville District) highlands of South Carolina, during the second decade of the 19th century -- almost certainly by 1817 -- headed for the land beyond the Mississippi River. One of the wagons carried the possessions of WILLIAM SETH McKEE and accompanying wagons almost certainly transported the household effects of SETH's older brother MICHAEL McKEE and of SAMUEL McKAY, (who was almost/already(?) SETH's brother-in-law and MICHAEL's son-in-law (depending upon whether the McKEE/McKAY marriages took place before they left SC or upon arrival in MO).
When
Was It? -- Separating Documenable
Fact from Tradition
Just when did our McKEEs and McKAYs come to Missouri? At the Poplar Bluff, MO library I ran across a loose-leaf typed abstract of early marriages in Cape Girardeau, the historic French settlement on the "Missouri side" of the Mississippi showing that SETH & MARY were married during 1811 at Cape Girardeau, MO. Attempting to verify this from the original records for Cape Girardeau County, no record could be found - in the index or during several "passes" through all recorded marriages prior to 1820.. Unlike the other typed entries, the abstract had just shown the year, rather than a specific date. Upon our next visit to the library, even the typed abstract had disappeared and I have never been able to determine who prepared it or upon what basis.. A newspaper article, Years and Years of Corn at Victoria by McKEE/McKAY descendent Gladys Lee CASTLEBERRY (more from it later) says about WILLIAM SETH,
"In 1811 we find him in our area".
Other researchers have concluded that the marriage was indeed during 1811 but that it was in South Carolina five years before the trip westward.
We can establish beyond doubt that the migration to Missouri was NOT as early as 1811! Three McKee brothers -- Michael, Adam Jr & William Seth -- were buyers at the estate sale for Edward Sharp on 10 Apr 1812 in Abbeville, SC. This was just three months after the birth of William Seth's firstborn son and William Seth purchased a spinning wheel for his bride. Definitely they were married in SC and were still there a year later.. A further search of Abbeville probate records didn't turn up documentation that our McKee brothers were there later but children's date/place of birth records point to their journey westward being in late 1816 or early 1817. Seth Green McKee was born 7 Aug 1816 and according to the 1850 census gave his birthplace as SC. William Ruen McKay was born the next year in Missouri, again relying upon census place of birth allegations. According to all traditions the McKees and McKays migrated together..
Goodspeed's The History of Jefferson (and other) Counties which was referred to
earlier, contains a biographical sketch written by SETH & MARY's youngest
son (Doctor Franklin McKEE) who gave 1817 as the date of the family's arrival in
Missouri. The sketch relates that
they initially settled in Gasconade County, where their nearest neighbor was 20
miles away. The County Tax List of
1819 for Gasconade Township (later to become Gasconade County) in "Franklin
County, Missouri Territory" lists "WILLIAM S. McKEE" confirming
that information. There were no
other McKEEs or McKAYs listed as they remained further east.
A family tradition holds that another brother to Michael & William Seth accompanied them to Missouri but did not like what he saw and immediately went back. The tradition does not identify which brother (Adam Jr, Eliezer or John?). We know Adam Jr died in Abbeville Co in 1820 and a church historian says Eliezer is buried in an unmarked grave at Greenville Church Cemetery. John was not found on the 1820 census (none available for Missouri that year) but the person I believe to have been "Adam's John" was on the 1830 Abbeville County census before migrating to Mississippi during the 1830s An Eliezer McKa / McKee who served during the Revolution and is believed by some to have been from "our" branch turns up in Cooper County, MO (per pension file) so we have a "which one?" challenge.to untangle.