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ROBERT BOYD McKEE
ROBERT BOYD McKEE is of pure Scotch-Irish stock, his father, Robert
McKee, having been born in Ballyclare, Antrim, Ireland, in 1800, and his
mother being of an old Irish family. His father came to America about 1833. He
was a cooper by trade, and after working for some time in Virginia and
Maryland finally settled in Freeport about 1838.John Jackson, Mr. McKee’s great-grandfather on the maternal side, came from
Ireland in 1770, settling first in Lancaster county, then moving to near
Hannastown, Westmoreland county, and finally locating permanently in what is
now called Kiskiminetas township, Armstrong County. He cleared the land and
established the well-known Jackson farm, near Apollo, which is still held in
the family. Here a daughter was born, July 1, 1776, which tradition says was
the first child born to the white settlers in the territory then known as the
�Backwoods,� north of the Kiskiminetas river. This daughter married
William Hill, a native of County Tyrone, Ireland, April 5, 1798, and to them
nine children were born. The youngest daughter, Eliza, born in the bounds of
the famous �Appleby Manor� Sept. 17, 1815, was married to Robert McKee
Aug. 12, 1841, at her home in South Buffalo Township. Three children came to
them, the youngest, Robert Boyd, on Aug. 14, 1846. In the September following
the father died, leaving the mother with two children to battle with the
world.Robert B. McKee spent his childhood in Freeport, attending school for four
months of the year, and assisting his uncles on their farms, until his
sixteenth year, when he hired with a farmer for six dollars a month. After six
month’s service he began working on the old Pennsylvania canal, helping run
the ferry over the Allegheny at Freeport, working on the West Pennsylvania
railroad, and doing general chores until August, 1864, when he enlisted,
becoming a private in Company I, 5th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery. He was
promoted to corporal Oct. 5, 1864, and at the close of the war was honorably
discharged, June 30, 1865. Returning home he attended a select school and the
Freeport Academy during the balance of the summer and the following winter,
was then granted a certificate, and began to teach in the Wilson school in
North Buffalo township in November, 1866. Here he taught the four months’ term
and an additional month, for which the citizens raised the money, the
following winter took a school in Laneville, and thereafter was a teacher for
three years in the public schools of Freeport. This was a highly creditable
record in view of the limited work he had been able to do in the matter of
preparation-four months in the common schools before he was sixteen and but
two sessions in a select school and the academy after his return from the
army. His record for discipline and keeping the pupils interested was
unexcelled.Mr. McKee was married Dec. 22, 1870 to Mary Cecilia Bole, a member of an
old and respected family of the county, and in the spring of 1871 went to
housekeeping in Pittsburgh, where he was employed as foreman in an oil
refinery for four years. In the spring of 1875 he returned to Freeport and
bought and interest in the dry goods and grocery business with Levi Bush, the
firm being Bush & McKee. In 1879 he sold out and assumed charge of the
Freeport Journal, organized by him as a stock company, and purchased from the
original owners, who had started it in 1876. He gradually acquired all the
stock, running it alone until July, 1902, when his son Charles H. was taken
into the partnership. The paper under the editorial charge of Mr. McKee has
been a power for good in the community and has a large and steadfast list of
subscribers. It is conclusively proved to be the paper for the people, for
although others have at times been started in Freeport none has been able to
attain a foothold.Mr. McKee has four sons, all living; Burtt F., living in Oakmont, and
assistant manager of the American Typefounders Company (he is married and has
several children); Charles H.; Jesse C. employed on the Journal; and Robin B.,
purchasing agent for the West Penn Steel Works at Brackenridge, Pennsylvania.Mr. McKee is a member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he and his wife
were the leaders of the choir for over thirty years; he is also a member of
the I.O.O.F. and the G.A.R. He was an employee of the State Legislature in
1879, clerk of the State Senate in 1881, and secretary for Hon. Joseph G.
Beale in the 1908 session of Congress. From 1883 to 1884 he was in the revenue
service under Colonel Jackson, was a member and secretary of the school board
for six years, borough treasurer twenty years, helped organize and was for
over twenty years, a director of the Freeport Building & Loan Association,
member and secretary of the Freeport Cemetery Association for twenty-five
years, justice of the peace for two terms and a notary public for twenty
years.In 1902 he went to visit the birthplace of his father in Ireland and
included England and Scotland in the tour. He has been a Republican all of his
life until late years and expects to return to his first love when the party
is reorganized. He thinks his native land is the best place this side of
Ireland and the people good as gold. He has earned a modest competence, prides
himself on meeting all obligations promptly, loves his neighbors and friends,
does not worry about his enemies, is always ready to help a fellow who is down
and out, and would rather go fishing than attend a grand opera, although a
great lover of music. He has spent very busy life and now has no higher
ambition than to keep busy and helpful while he is permitted to remain on
earth.Source: Pages 369-370, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and
Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed March 2002 by Helen B. Miller for the Armstrong County Beers
Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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