[Home] [Robert Mackay Clan Links and Information] [The Origins of William McKay & Family]The Origins of William McKay & Family (Page 5)James M. McKay's sister, Edith McKay, was born in Virginia approximately 1795. She married Archibald A. Caruthers in 1833 "at the house of James McKay." It is not clear whether the land she purchased in 1831 was on behalf of herself or her brother. There is a court document in the McKay probate file in which John Keiser stated his belief that Edith and "Alexander Caruthers" were concealing a deed which would show the land belonged to the estate of James M. McKay. The Caruthers were ordered to appear in court, but there is no court decision or further information concerning ownership of the property in the probate file. Edith McKay Caruthers' probate file shows she died in late 1851 still owning the land in question as well as several other parcels of land in St. Charles. John Green McKay was born in Virginia around 1814. He was 36 years and living with the Caruthers family in the 1850 census and his probate record indicates he died in early 1855 due to a "self-inflicted" knife wound to his arm. He was not married, owned no land and his only possessions were his clothing, a horse, a banjo and containers of liquor. The Cuivre and Dardenne Townships of St. Charles County are clearly the communities where William McKay and Amelia Taggart grew up and where the families of their owners/fathers lived. This specifically means the McKays, Keisers, Taggarts, Millers and Hillenkamps all lived in near proximity to one another and had interrelated lives. There is no further specific information for William after the county slave property tax receipt of December 1857 and the 1860 Slave Schedule until he joined the Union Army November 16, 1864. Although the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863 did not formally apply to Missouri since it was a Union border state, the order still caused many Missouri slaves to free themselves by leaving their owners and/or joining the Army since it was the policy of the U.S. government to recruit and enlist slaves into the Army (Government Order #135 November 14, 1863 On January 13, 2009 I found William's record in the NARA microfilm of "Descriptive Lists of Colored Volunteers...General Order No. 135...Missouri." William joined the Union Army in St. Charles on November 16, 1864 under the surname "McKee." It's unknown if the surname change was a way for William to establish a new surname for himself or was simply due to misunderstanding or clerical error. His record was written as follows: Name: McKee, William
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