Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

McKee Origins-Scots Connection

(This is one in a series of reference pages (3 of 3) on the origin of the Surname McKee. The first, McKee Surname Page, an introduction into the use of surnames and McKee discussions, then to Clan MacKay where McKee is said to have had its beginnings, and this page. You can visit the other pages by using the links below or going to the Kevin McKee Homepage where you can review all the discussion on this topic brought to you by past and present McKee researchers alike, based on their publications, correspondence and web sites).
There was a family of McKee or McKie or Mackie living in Galloway Scotland at least as early as the fourteenth century. They were related to the Maghies of Balmaghee in Galloway and were probably a branch of the Clan Mackay. There is a tradition that Robert Bruce in the days of adversity was travelling alone and on foot when he came to a meeting place near Loch Dee in Galloway. Here he met a widow Anabel and her three sons, McKie, McClurg, and Murdock. During the night he was joined by his brother and by Sir James Douglas with an armed force but in the morning before they started out the widow's three sons entertained the king with an exhibition of their prowess with the bow. It seemed Murdock brought down a raven with his arrow but his brother McKie brought down a pair with a single arrow. The three sons fought for the King and he rewarded them with a grant of lands of Cumloden in Minnigaff parish, Kirkcudbright, lying between the burns of the Palnure and Penkill, both of which flow into the Dee. These lands extended full three miles by ten.

The McKees of Cumloden, Minnigaff parish, Kirkcudright, Scotland:

The present head of the McKies is John Hamilton McKie of Bargaly, Auchencairn House Castle Douglas Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland (ca 1959) During the religious persecutions of the Stuarts the McKees suffered heavily. There were all staunch Covenanters and the three leading branches of the family , John McKee of Larg, Anthony McKee of Glencaird and Alexander McKee of Drumbuie were all condemned to death and escaped that fate only with the loss of their lands which went to pay the heavy fines imposed. The only branch to escape were the McKees of Palgown and they survived in a much reduced state. The family is now represented by McKie of Bargaly.

The Clan Mackay by Margaret O. Macdougall 1953-on page 13 "The Larg Mackies, a section of the Galloway McGhies, received a charter on the thirty pound lands of Cumloden in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright from King Robert the Bruce"

"Mackay genealogies credit the foundation of the Galloway McGhies to Martin of Strathnaver but this theory is doubtful. It has also been claimed that the founder of the Strathnaver Mackays was a native of Galloway who came north to assist King William during his campaign against the men of Moray. This Galloway Mackay went to Strathnaver where he settled and founded the house of Mackay of Strathnaver. There is little evidence to support this claim. The now accepted origin of descent from the Royal House of Moray, through the McEths, is fairly well established"

" In 1296 a Gilmyhel McEthe of Dumfries signed the "Ragman's Roll" and the following year this man is recorded under the name McGethe. The McGhies of Galloway long regarded as an off shoot of the Strathnaver Mackays may have descended from this Gilmyhel McEthe".

It is said that Sir Patrick McKee of Larg was a staunch Presbyterian who heavily mortgaged his estates to aid the Protestant cause. He was a grantee of lands in Northern Ireland during the Ulster settlement 1610.

The arms used by the McKees were: "Argent, two ravens, pendent from an arrow fesswise piercing their necks proper; on a shield azure, a lions passant, of the field, armed and fanged gules." Crest: A raven proper Motto: Labora (Material above is from the Book of McKee by Raymond Walter McKee page 55a- and was submitted to Mr McKee and compiled by Douglas Thurston Kee of Chatham, Ontario, Canada)

McKee Surname Page
McKee Beginnings-Clan McKay
Kevin McKee Homepage