Hunter B. McKay
2 Colonial Terrace
Belmont, Mass.
# 02178

(signature)
Ralph E. Shipp
3903 Littleton St.
Wheatton, Maryland
# 20906
Pres. Robert McKay Clan

1682 

On this date VALENTINE HOLLINGSWORTH, with his family and friends, arrived from Belfast, Ireland, and settled in Delaware, near New Castle. Two members of this family married daughters of Robert McKay--George Hollingsworth, a great-grandson of Valentine, married Hannah; and George Robinson, whose mother was a Hollingsworth, married Mary.
 

1692 

By this time ANDREW JOB, son of Andrew, who was born on shipboard about 1650, had become well established in Chester County, Penna., holding important civil offices, and was a friend of William Penn. Two children of Andrew Job, and either a third child or a granddaughter, married three children of Robert McKay--Joshua Job married Margaret; Patience Job married Robert, Jr.; and Mary Job, either a daughter or granddaughter, married Moses McKay.
 

1701 

The Old Brick Meeting House (East Nottingham) was established about this time, by William Penn and others. Both Jobs and Hollingsworths were Quakers and lived in the vicinity. This Quaker Meeting House has a place that is memorable in the annals of McKay history as the name of Robert McKay first appears in its records.
 

1710 

Joist Hite, destined to be the partner of Robert McKay and others, in their extensive land development of the Valley of Virginia, had arrived in this country from Germany, and was then located in upper New York State. Later, he moved to Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, and while there operated a mill, and entered into a business arrangement with Robert McKay, Sr. Extensive records are extant relative to this business arrangement and certain legal conflicts growing out of it, but there does not appear to have been any genealogical, social or religious connections between the two families.
 

1726 

The earliest, unquestionable, mention of Robert McKay,Sr. that have been able to find to date (1964), is in the Minutes of the New Garden Marriage Books for the East Nottingham Meeting, held at the Old Brick Meeting House, near Calvert, now Cecil County, Maryland, in connection with the marriage of his daughter, Mary, to George Robinson, which is recorded as follows:

"1/12/1726; George Robinson, son of George of newark in New
Castle Co. & Mary MacKay, daughter of Robert, both of
Nottingham meeting, declare intentions."

The first white settler in the Valley of Virginia as reported in the Naturalization Papers of Adam Miller.
 

1730 

JOHN & ISAAC VAN METER obtain grant from the Colony of Virginia for 40,000 acres of land in the Shenandoah Valley.
 

1731 

ROBERT McKAY and JOIST HITE are granted 100,000 acres of land in the Valley, a part of this grant being the 40,000 acres previously assigned to the Van Meters but now reassigned to McKay & Hite.
 

1732 

Joist Hite came to Winchester, Virginia, as reported in the Naturalization Papers of Adam Miller.

1734 

There are several memorable records in this year for the descendants of Robert McKay, Sr., including:

(1) ROBERT McKAY, SENIOR	-	Location of his settlement at this date, on the South branch of the Shenandoah River, ten or more miles above (that is south of) Riverton, is indicated in a land grant to William Russell.
(2) ROBERT McKAY, JUNIOR	-	Received a patent for 828 acres on both sides of Crooked Run, in what is now Warren County. This same year he, that is Robert, Jr., married Patience Job, youngest child of Andrew, at Nottingham.
(3) HANNAH McKAY	-	Married George Hollingsworth, at Hopewell Meeting, this being the first marriage of Friends (Quakers) in the Valley of Virginia.

1736 

Start of conflict with LORD FAIRFAX, involving the boundaries of his propriatary of the Northern Neck, and the querry of whether his Lordship or the colony of Virginia had legal right to the lands settled by McKay, Hite and company; Hite & McKay contending that their land was not included in his propriatary and therefore subject to grants by the Crown through the government of the Colony of Virginia, and his Lordship claiming they were part of the Northern Neck. The litigation arising from this jurisdictional conflict extended intermittently through the Virginia Courts until about 1830. However unfortunate this extended legal conflict may have been economically, it was most fortunate from a historical and genealogical point of view, as it preserved many records that otherwise would never have been recorded and preserved.
 

1739 

This also is a key date in the history of the Robert McKay, Sr., family. Hite, McKay & Company obtained a grant for 7009 acres of land on LINVILLE CREEK, now in Rockingham County, Virginia. In 1744, this land was conveyed to Robert McKay, Sr., and at his death a few years later, passed on to his sons, who in turn in the year 1768, sold part of it to JOHN LINCOLN, ancestor of Abraham Lincoln. Since most of the standard histories of this famous President cite this transaction, the names of Zachariah, Moses and Robert McKay, Jr., are recorded for all time.
 

1752 

Six years prior to his death in 1752, Robert McKay, Sr., made his will, the instrument apparently being drawn by the then young GABRIEL JONES, then or later to become one of the most famous colonial lawyers of the Valley of Virginia. The will was produced for probate in the young County of AUGUSTA -- not in the sister County of Frederick as one might suppose would have been court of jurisdiction for an estate located within a few miles of Front Royal, since the boundary of Augusta in that day extended much farther north than at present. This fact is clearly recorded in the records, but is not too generally known. This will is a most interesting document from several aspects. Friends and members of the family will find an examination of the original, on file in Staunton, Virginia, of added interest.
 

1758 

The old Quaker graveyard at Nineveh was a lease for 99 years from Thomas Branson of Orange County, N.C., to John Painter of Frederick County, Virginia, and dated June 1, 1758, to run 99 years. It conveyed 4 acres of land on the southeast side of Crooked Run "for a Friends Meeting house and burying ground, for that use, and no other." Hopewell, page 74. This lease is recorded in Winchester, Virginia.
 

1735 - 1836 

Abraham McKay and after his death his son Jeremiah McKay, were clerks of the Big Pigeon Baptist Church in Cocke County, Tenn., which is in the eastern part of the state near the French Broad River, and in the course of this long, and almost unbroken clerkship, recorded the history of many of the descendants of the elder Moses & Zachariah McKay, and other pioneers of the Shenandoah Valley to Tennessee. This record was kindly made available by Mrs. Riba Bayliss Boyer (Mrs. S.B.) of Athena, Tenn., in 1963.
 

1800 - 1820 

This period is not easily catalogued by a single date, but marked the era of movement from Virginia to Ohio and Indiana and other Western States, not only by the McKays but by members of allied and other Virginia families. For example, Jane (Ridgway) McKay, widow of Andrew, left in 1805, the year following the death of Andrew; Jacob and wife, Rachel, in 1809; the family - James Jr. (son of James Sr., son of Robt. Sr.) to Indiana in 1811; and in 1818 or 19, the entire family of Moses (son of Andrew), except Robt. S. who remained at Cedarville, removed to the then frontier State of Ohio, where he died some years afterward, leaving hundreds of descendants, some of whom have for a number of years held an annual COLLETT-McKAY Picnic or Reunion in that State.

(Webmaster's note: This event is still being held today. MLM)
 

1823 

On Dec. 31 of 1823 Thomas Green, an attorney in Washington, drew up a paper showing the legal heirs of Robert McKay Sr., which listed the known descendants through the 4th & 5th generations, and is there- the first known genealogy of the family. The existence of this paper, which is not available for publication, was made known by the late Eppert Rudolf McKay of Massachusetts.
 

1833 

KERCHEVAL publishes his HISTORY OF THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA, this appearing to be the first printed record of the McKays, as it is of Valley history, but it unfortunately is fragmentary as pertaining to the history of this particular family, and does not clearly differentiate between Robert Senior, the partner of Hite, who settled on the South River Shenandoah, and his son, Robert Junior, who located at the present Cedarville, on Crooked Run, and this confusion has been perpetuated by some subsequent historians.
 

1836 

Warren County formed from Shenandoah and Frederick and County Seat is at Front Royal.
 

1887 

The first genealogical account of the McKay family appeared in GEORGE BROWN GOODE'S VIRGINIA COUSINS, the occasion for including the account of the McKays in this very extensive record of numerous Virginia families (which some later investigators have intimated was comprehensive rather than thorough), was the marriage of Margaret, daughter of the Moses who migrated to Ohio, as indicated above, to Dr. Henry Jones Goode.
 

1924 

J. ADGER STEWART, of Louisville, Kentucky, publishes the GENEALOGY OF THE DESCENDANTS OF VALENTINE HOLLINGSWORTH, SENIOR, which includes the known descendants of Hannay McKay, daughter of Robert, Senior, who was the wife of George Hollingsworth, this being the most extensive published list of published McKay descendants.
 

1926 

HOWARD S. F. RANDOLPH, professional genealogist, compiled with the aid of two descendants of Robert McKay--- Miss Edith Whitehill Smith and Mr. Robert Marion Ward, both now deceased, and others-- THE FUNSTEN-MEADE GENEALOGY, probably one of the most distinguished American genealogies, and included in it an account of the ancestry of the Margaret McKay, who married OLIVER FUNSTEN, the progenitor of that family.
 

1928 

EVA MILLER NOURSE, after twenty years of work, as she indicates in the preface to the record, publishes the comprehensive historical and genealogical account of THE MILLER-du BOIS Family History and GENEALOGY, and their allies.

(Webmaster's note: The correct spelling of the name is 'Millar' not 'Miller' in this genealogy)
 

1933 

E. Rudolf McKay, of Indiana and Massachusetts, descendant of James McKay, Sr., one of the sons of Robert, Sr., started work on the historical and genealogical records of this and allied branches of the family.
 

1934 

This year the Friends records of the Hopewell and Crooked Run Meetings were published, and in this was included an extensive amount of McKay and related family data.
 

1939 

JOSIAH LOOK DICKENSON, of Front Royal, Virginia, published in the Warren Sentinel, and other publications, a series of articles on the early history of WARREN COUNTY, including extensive references to the McKays and related families.
 

1943 

MISS LAURA VIRGINIA HALE prepared the historical section (30 pages) in the Economic and Social Survey of Warren County, Virginia, under the direction of the University of Virginia School of Rural Social Economics. This work also contained an authoritative account of the early members of the family, particularly in reference to the location of the settlement of the progenitor of the family, Robert McKay, Sr.
 

1946 

The Robert McKay Family was organized by Mrs. Henry R. McKay ("Cousin Mamie") and others, in Luray and held their first annual meeting in November of that year.

November 14, 1946 - The first reunion of the Robert McKay, Sr., Clan was held at the Mimslyn Hotel, Luray, Virginia, with 26 members present. The officers were: Mr. William K. McKay (Pres.) and Daisy Melton McKay (Sec.)

(Webmaster's note: These officers are ones elected for the next year. MLM)
 

1947 

Aug. 20 - The (2nd) reunion of the Robert McKay, Sr., Clan was held at the Front Royal Recreation Park, Front Royal, Virginia with 61 members present. The officers were: Mr. William K. McKay (Pres.) Mr. Aubrey L. McKay (V.P.) and Daisy Melton McKay (Sec.)
 

1947 

Estate of Strother Wallis of Culpeper Co., Virginia: In the settlement of this estate, it became necessary to search out the heirs of John Wallis, which included a great number of the descendants of James McKay. This work was done by Helen M. Jeffries with the assistence of E. Rudolf McKay and others.
 

1948 

The Robert McKay, Sr., Clan held their third reunion on the 3rd of Oct. They gathered at the Front Royal Recreation Park, Front Royal, Virginia. There were 42 members in attendance. Presiding over the meeting were the officers: Mr. Hunter B. McKay (Pres.) Mr Antrim A. McKay (V.P.) and Daisy Melton McKay (Sec.)
 

1949 

MCKAY MARKER at Cedarville, erected in 1949, through the good offices of former State Senator John Warwick Rust, a McKay descendant, on the Front Royal-Winchester Pike at Cedarville, Warren County, Virginia, near the old home of Robert McKay Jr. and believed to be the oldest house still standing in that county, and among the oldest in the Valley. The inscription on the marker, as read from the photograph, is as follows:

THE McKAY HOME A SHORT DISTANCE WEST, AT CEDARVILLE, STANDS THE OLD HOME OF THE PIONEER ROBERT McKAY, BUILT OF WALNUT LOGS, IT IS ONE OF THE OLDEST HOUSES IN THE VALLEY. IN 1731, JOIST HITE, ROBERT McKAY AND OTHERS RECEIVED A GRANT OF 100,000 ACRES, HITE SETTLED ON THE OPEQUON AND McKAY AT THIS PLACE ON CROOKED RUN, THESE MEN OPENED THE VALLEY TO SUCCEEDING SETTLERS. Virginia Conservation Commission 1949

 

1949 

On July 27, 1949 the (4th) reunion of the Robert McKay Clan was held at the Front Royal Recreation PArk, Front Royal, Va. with 40 members present. The officers were; Mr. Dearing L. McKay (Pres.), Mrs. Francis Jett (V.P.), Mr. William K. McKay (V.P.) and Mrs. Isabelle McKay Brockman (Sec.).
 

1950 

Mr. Hunter Branson McKay announced the completion of the first part (1316 pages, including index) of his collection of McKay History and Genealogy.
 

1950 

The Robert McKay Clan held its (5th) reunion on Aug. 30 at the Front Royal Recreation PArk, Front Royal, Va. with 66 members present. The officers were: The Honorable John W. Rust (Pres.), Mr. Dearing L. McKay (V.P.) and Mrs. Isabelle McKay Brockman (Sec.).
 

1951 

On May 5 Mr. Hunter Branson McKay made a transcription of the FAIRFAX LAND SUIT from the official British copy which contains 468 pages (16X11 size) and in beautiful penmanship of the old age. This document, including a table of contents and the index, covers 352 pages (pages 1510 to 1862 in his records) Vol. III and VI.
 

1951 

The (6th) reunion of the Robert McKay Clan was held on Oct. 8 at the Front Royal Country Club, Front Royal, Va. with 97 members present. The officers were: Mrs. Lucy McKay Ray (Pres.), The Honorable John W. Rust (V.P.) and Mrs. Elizabeth W. McKay (Sec.).
 

1952 

1952 

On Oct. 5 the Robert McKay Clan held its (7th) reunion at the Front Royal Country Club, Front Royal, Va. with 70 members present. The officers were: Mr. Dearing L. McKay (Pres.), Mrs. Lucy McKay Ray (V.P.) and Mrs. Margaret M. Brown (Sec.).
 

1953 

June 21, The (8th) reunion of the Robert McKay Clan was held at the Front Royal Country Club, Front Royal, Va. with 98 members present. The officers were: Mrs. Elizabeth W. McKay (Pres.), Mrs. Lucy McKay Ray (V.P.) and Mrs. Margaret M. Brown (Sec.).
 

1954 

In the spring of 1954, Miss Mary E. McKay of Salt Lake and the historian of the distinguished Mormon family of McKays, examined the Bible & other Records of Hubert Francis McKay of Idaho, and was instrumental, along with others in the development of the genealogy of many of the descendants of Robert McKay III & of their connection with the Cleveland family.
 

1954 

The Robert McKay Clan held its (9th) reunion on Sept. 12 at the Skyline Recreation Center, Va. There were 79 members present. The officers were: Mr. Marshall Gore (Pres.), Mr. Randolph Barbee (V.P.) and Mrs. Isabelle McKay Brockman (Sec.).
 

1955 

There were 27 members present on Sept. 11 for the (10th) reunion of the Robert McKay Clan which was held at the Hotel Royal, Front Royal, Va. The officers were: Mr. Antrim McKay (Pres.), Mr. Randolph Barbee (V.P.) and Mrs. Frances McKay Walker (Sec.).
 

1956 

The Rhodes School in Riverton, Va. was the scene of the (11th) reunion of the Robert McKay Clan. The reunion was held on Aug. 12 with 63 members present. The officers were: Mr. Carroll F. McKay (V.P.) and Gertrude R. McKay (Sec.).
(Webmaster's comment: Who was president? MLM)
 

1957 

THE MACKEYS & ALLIED FAMILIES: On this date and after years of preparation Beatrice Mackey Doughtie (Mrs. C.E. Jr.) published her monumental record of southern U. S. McKays (& many variations) including the most extensive records of the Robert McKay family yet published.
 

1957 

On Aug. 11 the (12th) reunion of the Robert McKay Clan was held at the Skyline Recreation Center with 76 members present. The officers were: Mrs. Isabelle McKay Hicks (Pres.), Mr. J. Brownley McKay (V.P.) and Gertrude R. McKay (Sec.).
 

1957 

Aug. 11, The paper, "Introduction to The McKays of Virginia", containing 8 pages was prepared by John W. Rust, of Fairfax, Va. and read at the Annual meeting of the Clan.
 

1958 

The Robert McKay Clan held its (13th) reunion on Aug. 3. There were 61 members present at the Skyline Recreation Center, Va. Officers were: Mr. J. Brownley McKay (Pres.), Mr. Perry Mowbray (V.P.) and Mrs. Ruby McKay (Sec.).
 

1959 

The (14th) reunion of the Robert McKay Clan was held on July 25 at the Virginia Gentleman Club, Front Royal, Va. There were 74 members present. The officers were: Mr. Perry Mowbray (Pres.), Mrs. Mary McKay House (V.P.) and Mrs. Evelyn Cozzi (Sec.).
 

1960 

The Virginia Gentleman Club was again the scene for the reunion of the Robert McKay Clan. Seventy members were present for the 15th reunion. The officers were: Mrs. Mary McKay House (Pres.), Mr. Winston McKay (V.P.) and Mrs. Evelyn Cozzi (Sec.).
 

1961 

On July 30 the Robert McKay Clan held its (16th) reunion at the Mimslyn Hotel, Luray, Va. There were 51 members present. The officers were: Mr. Winston McKay (Pres.), Mr. Burch McKay (V.P.) and Miss Penny McKay (Sec.)
 

1962 

The Robert McKay Clan returned to the Mimslyn Hotel, Luray, Va. for its 17th reunion. Forty-seven members were present. The officers were: Mr. Burch McKay (Pres.), Mr. Richard H. McKay (V.P.) and Mrs. Isabelle McKay Hicks (Sec.).
 

1963 

Holiday Inn in Winchester, Va. was selected for the 18th reunion of the Robert McKay Clan. There were 50 members present for the meeting. The officers were: Mr. Burch McKay (Pres.), Mr. Richard McKay (V.P.) and Mrs. Isabelle McKay Hicks (Sec.).
 

1964 

On July 26 the Robert McKay Clan held its 19th reunion. There were 43 members present for the meeting which was again held at the Holiday Inn in Winchester, Va. The officers were Mr. Ralph E. Shipp (Pres.), Mr. Warren Smith (V.P.) and Miss Linda McKay Golden (Sec.).
 

1964 

Mr. Hunter Branson McKay still working on the "McKay History and Genealogy" with 9 volumes on file at the University of Virginia. Part of this record is also filmed with copies in Salt Lake City, Utah and in the D.A.R. Library in Washington, D.C. Also, there are some 15,000 "A" size typed pages which need indexing and binding. This man is the best authority by far on the Robert McKay Sr. Family and other McKays in the U.S.A. and Canada, but there are still some problems that need to be solved, such as: (1) The origin of Robert McKay Sr. (2) Why there is no record of the settlement of the estate of Robert McKay Jr. (3) How many Jacob McKays were there.
 

(Webmaster's note: There was an accompanying map and two photos of the Robert Mackay Jr. house with this document which I was unable to scan well enough to reproduce here. MLM)