The McKays...In Warren for a Long Time

The Original Robert McKay Home

     Robert McKay Jr., a Quaker from Maryland, settled on Crooked Run in present Warren County, prior to Oct. 3, 1734, and his descendants built a number of enduring homes, many of which are still standing in and around the village of Cedarville. Any any-day's drive along Rt. 522, the old Front Royal-Winchester turnpike, will take the motorist through the heart of the McKay settlement, between Cedarville and Nineveh, where the sturdy houses of the McKays can be seen from the highway.
     Robert McKay Jr., always known as "Robert the Younger," was the son of Robert McKay, Sr. who settled in 1731 or '32 on the south branch of the Shenandoah River opposite the present village of Limeton, and who was associated with Joist Hite and his partners in the great real estate enterprise by which they brought numerous settlers from Pennsylvania to take up lands west of the Blue Ridge. The settlement of Robert McKay, Sr. was subject to the ravages of the river, and as far as is known, none of his habitations have survived. The McKays are considered to have been the first settlers in Warren County.
     The grant of Robert McKay Jr. called for 828 acres on both sides of Crooked Run and was made to him on Oct. 3, 1734 by the Council of Virginia and signed under the hand of William Gooch, governor. A number of other persons most of whom were Society of Friends, received grants in the vicinity on the same day. The grants, made out in narrow strips along the river front and on all the navigable streams, afforded the new settlers immediate transportation as well as good tillable land.
     THE NAME of the wife of Robert McKay the Younger, was Patience Job, a suitable name for a woman who followed her man into the wilderness and raised her family under the trials and tribulations of pioneer life. The fact that Robert McKay, Jr. left no will makes it impossible to give a complete list of his children. The Hopewell Friends records show that Andrew, who married Jane Ridgeway in 1760, was his son and that Margaret McKay, who married Richard Ridgeway in 1762, was his daughter. Jacob McKay of Crooked Run, who married Rachel Ridgeway in 1765, is also evidently his son.
     The deeds of Frederick County show Robert McKay deeding land to Jacob McKay in 1765. (In both of the latter instances the name was spelled "McCoy" but during the later years the two spellings became interchangeable.) Job McKay who held a Commonwealth grant adjoining Robert's patent and who married Ann Smith about 1778, was probably another son of Robert. It seems certain, also, that Robert McKay Jr. had a son Robert, for the two Roberts appear simultaneously in the early church records. However, nothing further is known of this Robert, and the deeds make no mention of him.
     Most of the elderly McKays were millers and farmers, and their mill wheels turned out many barrels of flour in the years when the river barges moved down the Shenandoah to Harpers Ferry with produce bound for the big market at Alexandria. During these years there was a great buying and selling of lands, but most of the sales were from one McKay to another, so that it is necessary to establish the "who's who" of the McKay family before land titles can be taken to their source.
     THE McKAY LAND is a land of quiet fields, running water and gray stone. The log and stone houses sit among the outcroppings of Limestone just as they did when they were first built. There has been no attempt at landscaping, so that the countryside gives the appearance of complete openness. "Right open and comfortable" was the description given to the Robert McKay home in 1736 by visiting Quaker John Fothergill, whose journal shows he stopped there and attended a meeting with the Friends on Crooked Run.
     The house which is identified by a roadside marker as the original home of Robert McKay Jr., pioneer, and the oldest house in Warren County, stands on the high point of land on the west side of the highway, at Cedarville. At the foot of the hill is the famous McKay spring, an overflowing fountain whose bountiful stream once turned a mill, and, in addition, furnished the drinking water for several generations of householders in the area. The house was built before the establishment of the Front Royal-Winchester turnpike, and it faces south, or toward what was called the chapel road, a trail which led from the McKay settlement to the legendary McKay Chapel, a chapel of ease and comfort of the Established Church. The exact location of this church has not been determined, although its existence is well documented.
     The McKay house was recently purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Howard L. Morris, and they have undertaken to restore it to its original state. Upon uncovering the ancient fireplace in the stone section, the Morrises discovered that much of the stonework had fallen in, and Mr. Morris salvaged the stone and rebuilt the hearth and fireplace.
     The great cooking fireplace in the log part of the house has also been uncovered and repaired. Its mantel consists of a handhewn beam eighteen or more inches in width and running the entire six-foot length of the fireplace opening. This section, which is presumed to be the original house, is built of tremendous logs and originally consisted of one large room upstairs and one downstairs. The stone section together with its stone kitchen which comprise the east portion of the structure, were presumably added later. There is also a stone smokehouse at the rear of the residence.
     THE 1765 DEED of Robert McKay to Jacob McKay cannot be platted and it appears that some courses are missing. However, the tract being conveyed contained 304 1/2 acres and was described as part of a tract of 828 acres granted "to the said Robert McCoy" on Oct. 3, 1734. Considering that the purchase price was five hundred pounds, it would appear that there were improvements on the land. And since Robert had no brother named Jacob and his grandsons were not of legal age at this time, (in fact they had not been born) it must be reasoned that the Jacob of the deed was his son.
     The Jacob McKay Sr. who received the 1765 deed from Robert McKay was married at least three times. We meet him in the records in 1809 deeding to his four sons, John, Jacob, Jesse and Asa. His deed begins "Jacob McKay and Rebecca McKay, his wife...." but soon makes it clear in each case, that the deed is being made by Jacob to his son, the inference being that Rebecca is not the mother of the four sons. To Jacob he left the tract lying north of the chapel road and containing 340 acres. Although there is no mention of a house, by platting the deed it can be shown that Jacob's part included the present McKay house lot.
     To his son John, Jacob McKay Sr. left 342 1/2 acres lying south of the chapel road. Both Jacob Jr. and John had land on both sides of the present highway. John McKay was evidently the son of Jacob Sr. by his first wife, Rachael Ridgeway, whom he married in 1765. It appears that she was deceased by 1784, and on July 7 of that year Jacob married Rachael Shinn.
     This can be deduced from the marriage record of Sarah McKay to Samuel Walton at Crooked Run on the 6th day of the 12th month, 1797, showing that Sarah was the daughter of Jacob McKay of Frederick County and Rachael, his wife, deceased. Among the witnesses to the marriage were Jacob McKay and Rachael McKay, evidently the father of the bride with his second wife, Rachael Shinn. The identity of his third wife Rebecca is not known.
     JOHN McKAY, son of Jacob Sr., also had a wife named Rebecca, and a family record says that she was Rebecca Wickersham. He is said to be the owner of the log and stone house facing Rt. 522 just north of the Cedarville Grocery and at the foot of the hill below the Robert McKay house, and the records confirm his ownership. Of him, Hunter McKay, family historian, wrote: "John McKay lived at the Painter place just across the chapel road from the old Robert McKay Jr. place and just a few steps from the Big Spring, sometimes known as McCoy's Spring ... of sufficient volume to turn the now deserted mill ... and to furnish water for the distillery which John McKay operated in connection with his tavern. Tradition has it that not only did John McKay dispense good cheer at his tavern, but that he joined his guests in their conviviality on occasion."
     Although the tradition is a charming one, there is nothing in the records to show that this interesting old saltbox house was ever a tavern.
     John McKay, according to family records, had six children. His three daughters were Rachael, wife of Winder Kenner, Mary Harriet, wife of Jared H. Carson Jr., and Emily, who married Joseph Painter. He is said to have had a son Jesse, but there are no records available for him. John's son Joseph married Dolly Ann Haycock, and his son John Wesley McKay married three times, first to Frances E. Garrison, second to Mrs. Mary E. Massie Hupp, a widow, and finally to Mary Ann Massie. To his son-in-law and daughter, Joseph and Emily Painter, John McKay Sr. deeded the stone and log house, which is still known locally as the Painter place.
     TO HIS SON Joseph, John McKay conveyed a tract just south of the Painter place, and it seems probable that it was Joseph who built the red brick house known as "Chapel Hill." Joseph left a trail of brick houses wherever he lived. He, at one time owned "Woodley," now called "Rock Hill" and the home of Mrs. Elizabeth Guest, and he is credited as the builder of that house.
     In 1837 he purchased from his nephew, Robert S. McKay, a 230-acre tract lying in an exquisite setting in a gentle bend of Crooked Run. Here he built the beautiful little red brick house known as "Willow Bend," which now stands unoccupied behind Jett's dairy barn.
     Meanwhile, in 1837 Joseph had deeded to his brother, John Wesley McKay, the piece of land known as "Chapel Hill," with immediate possession of 120-acres and possession of the balance after the decease of John McKay Sr. The deeds show that John Sr. was then living on the east side of the highway but the exact place of his residence at that time is not known.
     JACOB McKAY, son of Jacob Sr., lived at the old Robert McKay place on the north side of Chapel Road. His wife was Elizabeth Antrim, and they were the parents of nine children, as shown by his will, which was probated in Warren County in 1852. To his son, Oscar C. McKay, after making bequests to his other children, Jacob devised "all the residue of my home tract of land lying west of the road from Cedarville to Nineveh and north of Chapel Road, including all the buildings."
     Webmaster's note: The Jacob being described here is the grandson of Jacob McKay Sr. His father was called Jacob McKay Jr. and was omitted in Hunter McKay's records. There had been the question of whether there were two Jacobs or three in the line but Dee Ann Buck was convinced due to dates and other sources that there were three in the line and Jacob Sr. was the grandfather of the Jacob described here who often referred to himself as 'Jr.' I have also a copy of a letter written by this Jacob's father to relatives in Ohio concerning the land that his father, Jacob McKay Sr., owned also displayed on the website.
     In 1856, Oscar C. McKay conveyed to Robert S. McKay, (who was his cousin and also his brother-in-law, having married Oscar's sister, Nancy A. McKay,) 57 acres of his inheritance. This is how it happened that Robert S. McKay came to be in possession of the home tract, with the house, at the time of his death, a fact which led the compilers of the WPA Historical Report to conclude that the property had descended to Robert S. McKay through his grandfather Andrew.
     Robert also held at the time of his death his wife's portion of Jacob's estate on the east side of the highway. Robert and Jacob, two of the sons of Robert S. McKay, divided the old tract, and Robert, who received the portion with the house on it, lived there until his death in 1915. His wife was Lucy Buck. She was his 1st cousin, also a McKay descendant.
     Robert S. McKay, son of Moses and grandson of Andrew, lived in a fine stone house which once stood on the west side of the highway a short distance north of Cedarville. Robert S. McKay, who was one of eleven children, was married three times and enlarged the family tree further with eleven additions. His first wife was Virginia Grubbs, who he married in 1819; his second wife was Nancy A. McKay, his cousin, whom he married in 1828. The third wife of Robert S. McKay was Jane Carson Wells, a widow, by whom he had no children.
     THE HOUSE in which Robert S. McKay lived had begun as a one-room structure and had been enlarged twice by additions to the front, or east, side. It was entirely of stone except for the clapboard addition which raised the stone kitchen to two story height. It is well remembered by many local residents as the home of the Bierer family, who lived there from 1884 until the house caught fire and burned in 1928.
     Jacob, the son of Andrew, or Jacob the Second as some of the records call him, was deceased by 1819, and his wife Mary Hains McKay died prior to April 7, 1829, when her estate was settled in Frederick County. Although the place of his residence is not known, he probably lived just south of Nineveh on the land he had inherited from his father, for he and wife Mary had sold several parcels of land which had come to her by inheritance from her father Robert Hains.
     Jacob McKay II and his wife Mary had sons Washington McKay, Madison McKay, Dr. Hains McKay and Amos H. McKay, all of whom went west. One source states that there was a son by the name of Noah. The only daughter of Jacob and Mary Hains McKay was Cassandra, who married Thomas C. Miller and lived near Stephens City.
     THE CHARMING stone and clapboard house on the east side of Rt. 522 about a mile south of Nineveh is the residence once known as "Fairview," but renamed "The Stone House," by its present owners. The 1 1/2 story stone portion was probably built by Thomas Grubbs, who was a Fairfax lessee on the lot.
     The property descended to Thomas McKay by the will of his father, Jacob, Jr., who had purchased the share of Thomas Grubbs and wife Elizabeth. The deed to this transaction describes a tract containing 136 acres "where said Thomas Grubbs now lives and which he purchased of Richard Brierly being part of Greenway Court." Thomas Buck McCay also acquired from his brother William F. McKay the portion of William's wife, Mildred, who was a Grubbs heir, this portion being described as 242 acres being her share in the lands of Stephen Grubbs, deceased.
     Thomas Buck McKay's wife was Ann Elizabeth LeHew, daughter of Eli and Sarah Branson LeHew.
     In 1872 Thomas B. McKay conveyed the house and 239 acres of land to his brothers-in-law, Jonathan B. LeHew and Francis W. LeHew. During the LeHews' residency, the stone section was raised to a full two stories and clapboard portions were added in two stages making a large twelve-room house. This property remained in the LeHew family for three generations, descending first to Virginia LeHew Cabell, daughter of Francis W. and Sally Machir Hopewell LeHew. AT the time of Mrs. Cabell's death in 1920 it fell to her daughter Frances Cabell, now Mrs. Miller Jett, granddaughter of Francis and Sally H. LeHew. The present owners are Mr. and Mrs. Harold Horton.
     ALMOST DIRECTLY behind Fairview and visible from the highway is the beautiful old house known as "Antrim." This house began as a log house built by Joshua Antrim on Lot 7 of Greenway Court Manor, which lot he held under lease from Richard Brierly. The property came into possession of Jacob McKay and Elizabeth Antrim McKay by the will of her uncle Joshua Antrim.
     In 1846 Pamelia Antrim, widow of Joshua Antrim, deceased, made a deed to Joshua A. McKay conveying her life interest in the 150-acre dower tract. It appears that Joshua may have taken possession of the property at this time and that soon thereafter he built the brick portion which is now the main part of the house.
     This house has seven original fireplaces, including a basement fireplace and the great cooking fireplace in the log portion. The brick addition has beautiful hand-carved woodwork, including a handsome sunburst mantel in the parlor. The house, which was until recently the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Lee Bushong, was purchased last October by Mr. and Mrs. Clifton L. Good who are making it their residence and who have made a number of repairs and improvements to the property.
     ANOTHER WELL KNOWN house in Warren County which is connected with the McKay family, although not built by a McKay, is Erin, an authentic Greek revival house at Nineveh. This distinctive house with the "Gone With the Wind" portico was built about 1845 by David Funsten, son of Oliver Funsten and his wife, Margaret McKay, daughter of Andrew. David Funsten, who was an attorney by profession, was born in Clarke County and married in 1844 Susan Meade, daughter of David Meade of that county. The property on which Erin was built was another Fairfax lot once leased to Stephen Grubbs, and a very old stone outbuilding on the property dates from the Grubbs ownership.
     "Erin" is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. William C. Trenary and has been shown on many house tours in Warren County.
     The record of Robert McKay, pioneer, is written on the land, unlike those of many early pioneers whose records were written on the wind and were swept away with the clouds of dust following the rolling wagon wheels westward. Robert McKay's record is written in the lives of his sons and grandsons, many of who remained on the land, and it is written in the stone and log of the old houses which they built in a six-mile span from Riverton to Nineveh in Warren County.
     It is written in the records of the Crooked Run Meeting and in the old gravestones in the Crooked Run burying ground. The record of Robert McKay is woven into the very fabric of Warren County.