What our family knew about "William McKay" or "McKee", came mostly from the stories passed down through the years by "Pop"--Julius S. McKay: 'William was either from Germany or Virginia; William was perhaps white; William was in the Union Army during the Civil War, the family surname was changed in order for William's wife, Amelia, to collect the pension for widows of Civil War veterans.'

Prior to late 2007, the only actual documents I could find pertaining to William and Amelia were William's Civil War military records in the name of "William McKee"; the U.S. census records of 1870 and 1880 in the name of "William McKay"; and Amelia's Widow's Pension Declarations of 1889 and 1891 in the name of "McKee." I could find no other information for William McKay with regards to his parents, birthplace, residence or determine whether he was a slave or a free man.

Then in November 2007, I found the State of Missouri's on-line web access to archived records. I was then able to find many family death certificates including two death certificates issued for Amelia McKay after her death on January 18, 1916. Apparently, a second death certificate was issued for Amelia because her first certificate incorrectly showed a death year of 1919. More importantly, both certificates showed that she was born in St. Charles County in 1852 and her father was shown "Robert Miller"; not as to be expected, a father with the surname "Taggart" or "Tigert." Robert Miller was originally from Virginia, but he moved to St. Charles County where he was a judge, a farmer, as well as a slave owner. This information caused me to begin concentrating my search for William McKay in the Federal Schedule 2 -- Slave inhabitants for St. Charles County (Slave Schedule).

Using Ancestry.com, I did a cross match search between slave owners named "McKay" or "McKee" who lived in St. Charles County, Missouri and the 1860 Slave Schedule. The closest resulting match was for a slave owner named "Mary Ann McCay." She was the owner of 2 slaves: a "12 year old female mulatto" and a "20 year old male mulatto." The 20 year old approximated the age range and the known description of William based upon the military record.

I then searched for Mary Ann McCay in the 1860 U.S. Census and found that she was listed as "Mary Ann McKay." She was 18 years old and lived in the household of "John W. Keiser", "Rosina Keiser" (both German immigrants) and their 7 children, all younger than Mary Ann.

The next search was the 1850 Slave Schedule for St. Charles County and I found that "John W. Kizer" was listed as the owner of 3 slaves including a 12 year old male mulatto who was also consistent with the age range and description of William. The 1850 Census showed Mary Ann McKay was a 7 year old living in the Household of "Wm. Keiser" and his wife "Rosina Keiser." Also living in the household was a 63 year old woman named "Mary Pfaar" who was a German immigrant as well.

Wondering how and why Mary Ann McKay came to be an 18 year old slave owner and how she was related to the Keiser household, I continued further searches in Ancestry.com records. Ultimitely, with the assistance of a public genealogy tree, I found records that showed that Rosinah Keiser married John Keiser in February 1843 and that her maiden name was Pfaar. This would also indicate

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