My Genealogy Hound

Edwin E. McKee, lawyer, was born in Knox County, Ill., August 31, 1844, the son of Thomas and Maria (Rice) McKee, natives of Harrison and Crawford Counties, Ind., respectively. The father’s family were Kentuckians, of Irish descent, while the mother was of Welsh stock, of Pennsylvanian ancestry. The father was born in 1810, and in 1830 came to Knox County. He was a farmer, but since the war has been a broker and real estate dealer. He has been police magistrate of Galesburg for the last twenty-four years. The mother was born in 1814, and has had thirteen children, their names being Rachel (the wife of J. French, of Iowa), Eliza J. (the wife of John Tate, of Iowa), Catherine (the widow of W. Howey), Helen (the deceased wife of F. Sears), Isabella (deceased), Ann (the deceased wife of I. Hardenbrook), Sarah (the wife of H. Vance, of Arkansas), Hannah (deceased), Margaret (deceased), Lucinda (the wife of G. Wallace, of Kansas), Thomas Alex, (who is in mercantile business in Galesburg, Ill.,) and Daniel (deceased), and our subject, the seventh child. He was reared in his native county, and educated at Western College, Iowa, and Lombard University, at Galesburg, Ill. While at the latter place he read law, and after graduation entered the law offices of well-known practitioners, of Galesburg. In 1866 he came to Clark County with certificates from his preceptors, and was admitted to the bar at Old Waterloo. He practiced some, and taught school in the country and at Athens until 1867, when he came to Memphis. In December, 1868, he married Frances A., a daughter of Hon. N. F. Givens, of Clark County. He practiced two years at Memphis, and in 1869 began practice at Waterloo, and also practiced at Kahoka until 1875 serving as prosecuting attorney of Clark County for over two years. Since then he has been at Memphis, meeting with well-deserved success. Especially as an advocate and criminal lawyer has he gained for himself an enviable reputation. Since 1883 he has been associated with J. M. Jayne. His children are Hattie M., Thomas N. and Edwin R. He is an unswerving Democrat. He is a Knight Templar, and a member of encampment of the I. O. O. F. In 1861 he enlisted in Company K First Iowa Infantry, and served until discharged; he was wounded in the battle of Wilson’s Creek, where Lyons fell.