"SCOTCH-IRISH"
McKEE/McKAY ROOTS
Various sources relating to the origins of family names contain differing, yet similar, conclusions concerning how and where the McKEE name evolved. McKEE is believed to have been the anglicization of the patronymical Gaelic name - MacAODH with the "Mac" (slurred into "Mc") designating "son of" or "descendent of". MacAODH literally means "descendent of fire" and AED or AODH was a pagan Irish deity. I cannot personally evaluate the phonetic transition of "AODH" to "KEE" or "KEY" but since several sources reached that conclusion, have no basis for doubting it. Other surnames reportedly Anglicized as McKEE/McKAY are from MacCAOCH (Gaelic=son of one-eyed or dim-sighted man) and McCU (a fast fierce hound).
The Gaelic language was introduced to Scotland around the sixth century by Irish settlers. Much like America, Scotland served as a "mixing pot" combining characteristics of the various native and invading peoples so that separate "Irish Gaelic" and "Scottish Gaelic" (spoken in the Northern & Western highlands of Scotland) are considered separate dialects of a common language (see Encyclopedia Americana or comparable sources). Thus we see that there was a common heritage between the Scotch and the Irish long before the Northern Ireland settlements which spawned the term "Scotch-Irish" describing transplanted protestent settlers from Scotland (almost certainly including "our" McKEE ancesters) shortly before many left that tumultuous environment to settle in America.
But that is jumping ahead. Let's back up to the sixth century (503 A.D.) when Fergas the Great led the second large colony of Gaelic settlers from Ireland into the highlands of Scotland. We can be quite certain that the ancesters of most of the McKEEs and McKAYs in America were a part of that settlement, although the surname had not yet evolved. The Clan Aodha reportly were among the earliest highlands settlers (see The Book of McKee. That same source notes that the Clan MACKAY was "one of the most noble, virulent and tumultuous" during the early centuries and that the MACKAY clan dates back at least as early as the ninth century.
A description of "The country which they occupied extracted from The House and Clan of Mackay is helpful in pinpointing the McCay/McKee turf in Scotland. and also of how the two surnames emerged from a common root:
"That
district in the northwest extremity of Scotland known by the name of Lord Reay's,
or Mackay's, country from Drimholisten, which divides it from Caithness on the
northeast, to Kylescow, an arm of the sea dividing it from Assiiit on the
southwest, is about eighty miles in length; and, at an average, about eighteen
miles in breadth. It stands
separated from Sutherland by the high mountains Bengrime, Ben-Clibrig, Benhie
and the forest from thence to Benloid in Assint. Mackay's country, previous to and for some time after the
reformation from popery, contained only two parishes, Dumess and Faff; but it
has since ben divided into four, viz.: Farr, Tongue, Dumess and Edderachillis.
" (House and Clan of Mackay, p. 1.)
"There have been various conjectures regarding the origin
of the name Mackay. Some have
alleged that the name lye is from the Gaelic word Oidh, which has very nearly
the same sound with lye, in that language, and sigiiifies a stranger or guest;
and Mack-lye is the Son of the Stranger: but the most probable supposition is that it is an Irish
name, derived from O'Donnel, which seems to be a name compounded of Odo and Niel,
i.e., Odo-Niel. There are several
charters and other writs extant, in which lye Mackay is called Odo Mackay, as
will afterwards appear. Sir Robert
Gordon as before mentioned, says that Donald, the son of this lye, was the first
who went under the name Mackay; but this seems a mistake, from the charters
granted to Mackays several ages before. It has also been said, and not without some degree of
evidence, that the names lye and Hugh are the same.
Hugh, as pronounced in English, and lye in Gaelic, have nearly the same
sound, and it will afterwards be seen that the same chief of the Mackays was
sometimes called Hugh, and at other times lye.
It frequently takes place that the same name is pronounced differently in
different places, arising from the idioms of speech, such as: what is sounded Mackay
in the north of Scotland is Mackie in
England, and in the more southern parts of Scotland in many instances; and in
Ireland the name Mackgliie. Upon
the whole, it seems most probable that the name originated from Ireland but at
what period is uncertain." (House
and Clan of Mackay, pp. 44, 45, 46.)
It
is stated in the "House and Clan of Mackay," p. 31, that
"Alexander came with two of his brethren out of Ireland to Caithness in
Scotland in the reign of William, the Lion."
Again
(House and Clan of Mackay, p. 28): "Lord Reay's family derived their
original from Ireland in the 12th century when King William, the Lion, reigned.
The occasion of their settling in the north is mentioned by Torfoeus, as
captains of a number of warriors, to drive the Norwegians out of Caithness."
"There
is no account of the ancestors of any family in these northern parts, excepting
those of the Mackays, having been engaged in expelling the Danes from Caithness;
from which it may be supposed, not only that Alexander, as already mentioned;
but also his son, Martin, and their descendants had lands there, and this seems
to be countenanced by the opinion that these descendants, of very ancient dates,
multiplied in Caithness under the names, not only Mackay, but of Farquar,
Morgan, Bain, or Bayne, Mackomas, Shil-Thomas and others.
And no other family have maintained their ground, or spread in these
northern countries as the Mackays have done." . . .
(House and Clan of Mackay, pp. 32 and 33.)
. If on the other hand "our" McKEEs paralleled the WITHERSPOONs (families with close association and at least two marriages in colonial SC) on their path to America, they may have been found around Lanark, Glasgow, Scotland before settling in Northern Ireland. Based upon an account written ca.1780 by a grandson, John WITHERSPOON came to SC on the Good Intent during 1734, assisting in building the church at Kingstree, SC. Land records place Archibald McKEE at Kingstree by 1740.
From
Scotland to Northern Ireland (Ulster)
Between 1610 and 1717 it is estimated that over a hundred thousand Scotish "Lowlanders" migrated to the "Ulster Plantation" (Northern Ireland). This migration was encouraged by the King who had a distrust of the Catholic population of Ulster and wanted to bring in settlers he considered more stable. The "dour" Scots looked like a good bet. In Scotland feudalism still existed and these folk were chomping at the bit to get out from under the domination of those who owned the land upon which they eked out their existence.
These Lowlanders were regarded as a simple folk but they were anxious to better themselves. "A notable aspect of the Reformation in Scotland was the enthusiastic commitment of the people to education.. The highest aspiration of a Lowland family was that a son might attend a university and become a minister or dominie" The word "dour" so often used to describe them comes from the same root as "durable" and this was also quite descriptive of their character. Most of them were devout followers of the Presbyterian faith. The Brithish "powers that be" seeking to settle down the tumultuous Ulster clime tended to polarize upon Catholic-Protestant distinctions and while these Presbyterians were of a differern denominational persuasion than the Anglicans they were considered less of a threat.
For over a hundred years the resettling of Ulster Plantation proved mutually beneficial. The Ulster tumult subsided although obviously these transplanted Lowlanders were not received with open arms by the Ulster Catholics upon whose domain they made heavy inroads. During that century the Ulster population mix changed dramatically. By 1717 there were about five Scots to every three Irishmen and one Englishman. The English planters represented the establishment and were mostly high civil officials, Anglican churchmen, businessmen and military keepers of the peace.