(Provided courtesy of Mary Lou Inwood.)

92nd Collett-McKay Family Picnic Held

     More than 200 members of the Collett and McKay families attended the 92nd annual family reunion Saturday at the picnic grounds on the Gurneyville road. Many family picnics were held at this site, a shady grove, before the members of the group purchased it as a permanent place of meeting. The ground is a part of the military land purchased by Moses McKay, founder of the family here.
     Mrs. Sarah McKay Smith (Mrs. H. H.) has prepared a Collett-McKay family history, which was read at the reunion on Saturday, starting with Stephen Collett, who tradition says, was born on a ship as his parents were coming to America from France. His mother died and the father was lost in a wreck of the vessel before it reached shore, but the child, Stephen Collett, was rescued and founded the family in the new land.
     The Colletts were French Hugenots, three of whom fled from their native province, one going to England, another to the mountains of France and the third to England and eventually to America. He was the father of Stephen.
     Daniel Collett, the grandson of Stephen, and his family moved to Ohio in the fall of 1812 and settled on land now known as the Collett land near Jonahs Run Church. Daniel's daughter, Mercy, donated the land for the church and cemetery and members of the family have always worshipped there.
     In 1823 Jonathan Collett, son of Daniel and Mary, married Sarah, daughter of Moses and Abigail Shinn McKay. The next year her sister, Virginia, married Daniel Collett, brother of Jonathan, and in October 1830, Francis McKay, brother of Sarah and Virginia, married Mary Collett. That same year Francis' sister, Maria McKay, married Daniel H. Collett, making the two families united by four marriages between 1823 and 1830, thus creating a strong inter-relationship and close family ties among the members.
     The McKay family was established in America by Robert, a Scotch immigrant, who settled first in New Jersey before 1726. In 1731-32 he joined an expedition that settled in the Shenandoah Valley. He acquired 828 acres of land and his son, Robert Jr., spent his entire life on the tract, some of which is still owned by his descendants.
     Moses McKay, great-grandson of the Scotch immigrant, left the valley and came to Ohio, to become the founder of the family in this area. He and his wife, Abigail Shinn, whom he had married in Virginia, and their family moved to Waynesville in the fall of 1818 and built a double log cabin, which they occupied until 1828, when both Moses and Abigail died.
     The Colletts and McKays purchased many acres of land of the military survey and today almost 1,500 of these original acres are in possession of the descendants of Moses McKay and 1,900 acres of the Collett tracts in possession of the descendants of Daniel Collett. B. M. McKay of New Burlington has the original land grant to the McKays, signed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
     The first Collett-McKay family reunion was held in 1866 and has been held annually since that time. In all the years the picnic never has been "rained out." Rain has fallen on the day chosen for the picnic several times, but there "has always been some time for visiting," which is the primary purpose of the reunion, Mrs. McKay's history says.

Collett-McKy Picnic

     For the 92nd consecutive year the annual Collett-McKay family reunion and picnic will be held Saturday on the grounds on Gurneyville Rd. owned by the association. This tract is located about three and one-half miles southeast of New Burlington and may be reached from Wilmington by turning left on the Gurneyville Rd. from Route 68 north.