James McKee

Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria County, 1902
Transcribed by John Melton

McKEE, James Wesley; Farmer; born in Frederick County, Virginia, April 23, 1840. His grandfather, Robert McKee, a native of Ireland, married Catherine Kather [sic, Cather], of Virginia. Their son, Bartholomew McKee, was born in Frederick County, Virginia, April 10, 1799,and died in November, 1870; he married Elizabeth Ann Evans, who was born at Hagerstown, Maryland in February, 1806, and died in 1868. She was the daughter of John Evans, born in Maryland, and Frances Hardesty, a native of New Hagerstown, Maryland. Bartholomew McKee left his home in Virginia, March 19, 1855, and came to Wheeling, where he took the route by way of the Ohio, Mississippi, and Illinois Rivers to Peoria, whence he went into the country and settled a little south of Princeville. He was a blacksmith, but on coming West first rented, and then bought a farm on Section 7, in Radnor Township, where he subsequently lived. James W. McKee remained with his father till twenty-eight years of age, then worked a farm on shares about four years, next rented a year, and then bough one hundred and sixty acres of good land on Section 8, where he now lives. He married Mary Margaret Rife in Dunlap, March 30, 1872. They have six children: George Clark, born January 30, 1874; Frank H., born September 4, 1875; Bertha May, born June 23, 1877, the wife of George Wilson; John Wesley, born May 5, 1880; Lawrence James, born May 21, 1882; and Jacob Lee, born October 23, 1886. Mrs. McKee was born in Frederick County, Maryland, September 25, 1853; she is the daughter of Jacob Rife, born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, in February, 1817, died April3, 1887, and Susan (Harbaugh) Rife, a native of Maryland, born in 1824; now living in Missouri. Mr. McKee is independent in politics, and has held the office of School Director. He is a Mason. Two of his brothers, Jonathan and Mahlon, served in the army during the War of the Rebellion.

Page 803