Tenth McKay
Reunion

     The tenth reunion of the McKay clan was held at Hotel Royal in Front Royal, Va., on Sunday Sept. 11, with sixty of the clan present.
     After greeting and a social hour in the lobby, luncheon was served in the dining room followed by a meeting. Marshall Gore presided and Mayor W. C. Deming gave the address of welcome.
     Talks were also made by Miss Virginia Hale, John W. Rust, Beverley McKay and others.
     Austin McKay was elected president for 1956 with Randolph Barbee as vice president.

MCKAY REUNION TO
BE HELD SUNDAY

     The McKay Clan will hold its annual reunion Sunday, September 11, 11 a. m., at the Hotel Royal, Front Royal. Lunch will be served by the hotel. All members are urged to be present.

RUST IS SPEAKER
ON UDC WEEKLY
RADIO PROGRAM

JOHN W. RUST, Commission Member.

     John W. Rust of Fairfax, Va., was the guest speaker, July 27, on the weekly WFTR radio program sponsored by the Warren Rifles Chapter, U. D. C. Mr. Rust, a distinguished lawyer and former state senator, is interested in Virginia's history and is particularly well acquainted with our section of the state. The following is a transcript of his talk:
     "I was very much pleased and gratified to receive an invitation to talk to the radio audience of Warren County and the Valley of Virginia, upon the subject of the Confederate Museum that is being built in Front Royal, Va., as my father, Captain John R. Rust of Company I, 12th Virginia Cavalry, and my mother, Nannie Antrim McKAy, were both natives of Warren County, Va., and I was born and reared at Nineveh, Warren County, Va., and continued to reside in the County until I was 20 years of age. I still own 500 acres of land on the Shenandoah River, about ten miles below Front Royal, which land has been in my family since 1747, and which land belonged to my grandmother, Mary Ann Ashby. So I am still very much connected with and interested in Warren County, and whatever affects Warren County, and the State of Virginia, is near and dear to me.
     "My father, Captain John R. Rust, and six first cousins joined the Confederate Army on the day after the State seceded from the Union, April 18, 1861, four Rust boys and two Shumate boys. Four were killed in battle, and my father and your townsman William O. Rust, who was the cashier of the bank in Front Royal for many years, and his brother, Bushrod Rust, who was Superintendent of Schools for many years in Roanoke, Va., were the only survivors of this terrible civil strife, the effects of which we are still feeling today. They were members of the famed Laurel Brigade, under General Rosser.
     "Eleven McKays were soldiers from Warren County, and the McKay Clan is establishing a memorial in the New Museum to their memory, and a memorial will also be contributed to the Rust soldiers of this war from Warren County.
     "I have not intended to be too personal in making my talk to you today, but I did want you to know that I am deeply interested in the progress and success of this Confederate Museum to honor as brave a body of soldiers as ever fought for the honor and integrity of their native land.
     When I was in the Virginia Senate I sponsored a bill along with your townsman and statesman, the late Senator Aubrey G. Weaver and the late Senator Henry W. Wickham of Hanover County, to erect a monument to Stonewall Jackson on the Manassas battlefield on the spot where he won his immortal name of "Stonewall." The State appropriated the sum of $25,000 for that purpose and the monument now stands as a lasting tribute to this great Virginian, one of God's most noble men. No finer man or soldier ever lived and died for his home and native land. Would to God we now had more men of his sterling qualities and valor to guide us through the perilous times in which we live and find our country today.
     "The least we Southern people can do is to erect museums and to write in stone and bronze the deeds of valor and courage of the Southern Soldier in order that their true history may be preserved for future generations.
     "It is most gratifying that this spot was chosen for this Confederate Museum as it was here that so many of the battles of this war were fought and where Jackson's men defeated Banks in the famous Valley campaign that has been studied by military men of all nations as an example of the highest standard of successful maneuvering of men in battle.
     "I knew so many of Jackson's men personally as they visited my father on many occasions and I have listened for hours to their wonderful tales of valor and bravery in the defense of this Valley against untold odds in numbers and supplies. For four long years they resisted the hordes of the North, fully armed and equipped, with unsurpassed bravery and courage, and it is but fitting that we should all be united in making this Confederate Museum one of the finest in the South.
     "I was instrumental in the erection of the Museum on the Manassas Battlefield, having been president of the Manassas Battlefield Confederate Park and I hope to do all that I can to make a great success of this fine memorial to the Southern Soldier.
     "I have a number of relics that I intend to give to this museum, including bullets, belt buckles, cannon balls, etc. I recently found something on my farm on the Shenandoah River, owned by my grandfather, Charles B. Rust, that I think will be of interest to many people. It is one of John Brown's pikes that he delivered to the slaves in this Valley, under the assumed name of Smith, when he rented property near Harper's Ferry prior to his infamous attack upon Virginia and Harper's Ferry in the vain hope that the slaves would rise up and kill their masters with these crude, barbarous weapons, a thousand of which were made by his adherents in Collinsville, Conn., but not a single slave used them against his master. These pikes are about 18 inches long, made of fine steel, and hammered to a fine sharp point, and were placed in a long handle and used like a spear. These pikes were evidently delivered to my grandfather's slaves with the admonition to use them to kill him and his wife and children as he had 45 slaves at the beginning of the War between the States. However, crazy John Brown was not able to incite the slaves to kill their masters and he met a just and proper death upon the gallows after his abortive attack upon the United States Arsenal at Harper's Ferry. I hope I may obtain one of these pikes for this museum.
     "Except for the erection of this museum to house the many war relics that are fast becoming extinct and lost to future generations, history cannot be properly preserved and the future sons of the North and South will never know of the sacrifices that were made on both sides in this useless war. On the farm on which I was reared at Nineveh the First Maryland Regiment, North, and the First Maryland Regiment, South, fought each other, and brother fought brother, and uselessly killed each other. My mother was given the flag of the First Maryland Regiment, North, by a Southern soldier, who had captured it in this battle and she hid it under the house until after the war. She gave it to the Turner Ashby Camp at Winchester many years ago. The soldier said he would return for the flag if he lived after the war, but he never came back.
     "No section of the State suffered more during this conflict than this part of the Valley. Winchester changed hands more than any other city of the country, and Front Royal was a close second as the Northern and Southern troops marched through the streets of this Town continuously for the period of four long years. Sheridan destroyed the crops and burned the barns, and carried away the cattle, horses and other stock and made of this fine section a desert, in order to destroy what was known as the bread basket of the Confederacy.
     "However, this section of the Valley has now recovered partially from his cruel and inhuman war, and its vast fields are yielding as fine crops as any section of the world. Its people the flourishing and prosperous and have a great future before them, but they can never forget the devastation of 1861 to 1865, and this Confederate Museum will contain relics that will impress upon future generations the history of these times, and the many fine memorials to the various fine families of this Valley and County, will perpetuate their memories for all times, and great credit should be given to the noble women and men who have had a part in this great work.
     "We should all take off our hats to Miss Laura Virginia Hale, and the other fine women who have had such a prominent part in the erection of this Confederate Memorial, and who have given so freely of their time and efforts to such a noble achievement in honor of our sacred dead, who gave their all for the Southern cause and the defense of their homes and State.
     "I appeal to all who may hear my voice over this radio station to have some part in the erection of this Confederate Memorial and in perpetuating the memory of the brave and noble men who served in the Confederate army from this County and Section, by contributing to the erection of this Museum."

Confederate Museum Report

     At its annual reunion last summer, the McKay Family Association voted to donate $500 to the Warren Rifles Confederate Museum as a group memorial to the eleven known McKay soldiers who served in the Confederate Army. The Hon. John Rust of Fairfax was appointed chairman of a committee to collect this fund and to choose a memorial unit toward which to apply it. Recently Mr. Rust mailed a check for the full amount of this memorial to the Museum Treasurer, Mrs. Joseph M. Burke.
     After due consultation with the Museum Committee, Mr. Rust's Committee chose as the McKay Memorial unit a beautiful arch just inside the Main Exhibition Room of the Museum building. This was considered an especially appropriate place inasmuch as the Buck family memorial--a flag niche--is to be located at the opposite end of this room. Thus the two handsomest memorial units in the Main Museum Room will honor the two families of McKay and Buck, which have figured so prominently in the history of Warren County through many generations.
     Robert McKay, Sr., founder of the Virginia family, was the first settler of what is now Warren County. His was among the famous party of sixteen families who came into the Shenandoah Valley with Joist Hite, the greatest promoter of colonization in early Valley history. Robert McKay staked out his claim in the present Fork District along the south branch of the Shenandoah. His son, Robert McKay, Jr., took up 828 acres along Crooked Run near the site of Cedarville. There, about 1733, he built a two-story home of walnut logs which is the oldest house standing in Warren County today.
     The McKays were a famous family and in the following generations their homesteads dotted the landscape from Front Royal to Winchester. They cleared and cultivated broad acres, reared and educated large families and helped to build a great civilization in one of the garden spots of the world. In the "martial sixties" eleven scions of this pioneer stock volunteered for service in the Confederate Army. They included:
     Corporal Alfred A. McKay, Co. E, 7th Va. Cavalry.
     Charles Lewis McKay, Co. E, Ashby's Reg't. of Cavalry; later Co. I, 12th Va. Cav.. Died in prison.
     Capt. Jesse Clay McKay, Co. E, 12th Va. Cav.
     Jacob Francis McKay, Co. E, 12th Va. Cav.
     James Edwin McKay, Quartermaster Serg't. 12th Va. Cav.
     Corp. John W. McKay, Co. I, 12th Va. Cav.
     Joseph Casper McKay, Co. I, 12th Va. Cav.
     Lieut. Henry Clay McKay, Co. A, 6th Ky. Inf.
     John McKay, Co. F, 18th Va. Cav.
     Thomas Buck McKay, Co. B, 17th Va. Infantry; later of Co. B, Mosby's Bat. of Cavalry.
     Jesse H. McKay (branch of service unknown)
     The military records of the above soldiers are being compiled by the McKay family historian, Mr. Hunter B. McKay, of Belmont, Mass., and will be published when completed.

TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE McKAY CLAN OF VIRGINIA:

     As you probably know the Warren Rifles Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, with the cooperation of the Warren County-Front Royal Chamber of Commerce and the governing officials of the Town of Front Royal and the County of Warren, have undertaken to build a Confederate Museum on Chester Street, Front Royal, Virginia, on land donated by Dr. Bernard Samuels, which will be the only Confederate Museum located in the famed Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, where "Stonewall" Jackson, Turner Ashby, John S. Mosby and Belle Boyd won renown as devoted heroes of the Southern Cause.
     All of the prominent families of Warren County who had soldiers in the War Between the States, have been requested to contribute to the erection of this Museum and to place Memorials to their beloved dead in this Museum to perpetuate their memories and exploits.
     In view of the fact that the McKays had about eleven soldiers in this war from Warren County, more than any other family with the possible exception of the Bucks who probably had 14 soldiers in the war, we have been requested to donate an appropriate memorial in the main room of the Museum in memory of these fine men. We do not have a complete list of these soldiers, but some of them are as follows: Alfred A. McKay, Charles Lewis McKay, James Clay McKay, Jacob Francis McKay, James Edwin McKay, John Walter McKay, Joseph Casper McKay, Capt. Jesse McKay and Thomas Buck McKay.
     We would like to receive the name or names of any McKays omitted from the above list and their companies and regiments.
     At a meeting of the McKay Clan held at Skyland, Va., on September 12, 1954, the Museum and the memorials were discussed fully and an appropriation of $150.00 from the treasury of the Clan was donated towards the Museum and a proper memorial for the McKays.
     A committee was appointed to choose a proper memorial and collect the money for the same if possible. The committee appointed was John W. Rust, Fairfax, Virginia; H. Randolph Barbee, 1701 Florida Avenue, Washington, D.C. and Lucy McKay Ray, Severna Park, Maryland.
     The committee attended the ground breaking ceremonies for the Museum on October 24, 1954, and were much delighted with the entire layout, location and enthusiasm shown on this occasion; then after consultation decided to choose as a memorial to our family an Archway loading from the lobby into Museum room, at the cost of $500.00. Therefore, after deducting the $150.00 already earmarked by the Clan it will be necessary for us to raise the balance of $350.00 for this fine cause.
     We are writing to each member of the Clan for an individual donation and hope that you will send a check payable to Isabel Brockman, Treasurer, through the undersigned Chairman, John W. Rust, Fairfax, Virginia, so that we may meet our commitment for the Archway thus commemorating the fine services rendered our State in its time of peril while also helping to establish the only Confederate Museum in the Valley of Virginia.

February 18, 1955

          John W. Rust              )
          H. Randolph Barbee)
Committee
          Lucy McKay Ray       )