My Genealogy Hound

ROBERT C. McKEE, retired, Wilkinsburg; was born near Newry, Ireland, in 1821. His parents, Joseph and Sarah (McCullough) McKee emigrated to America in l828, and settled on a farm in Westmoreland county one mile from Freeport. There the father died in 1862, aged seventy, and the mother soon thereafter, at about the same age. They had seven sons and six daughters, Robert C. being the fourth son. He passed his early life on the farm, attending the common school, taught school several terms, and then opened a store on the Greensburg road, near Freeport. He soon removed to Pittsburgh, and later to Londonderry, Ohio, where he continued in business six years. In 1864 he came to Wilkinsburg and soon afterward moved his store to Elizabeth, where he remained three years and then to Beaver Falls for a like period. He was successful in business, and sold out to return to Wilkinsburg for family reasons He subsequently dwelt in Pittsburgh and Alleghany City, and came again to Wilkinsburg in 1878. He now resides in the third house he has built here. After leaving the store he became interested in a stove-foundry at Beaver Falls, and traveled several years selling its output. He also represented the Beaver Falls cutlery for a time, and at various periods sold goods for three hardware firms in Pittsburgh. While at Beaver Falls he originated the movement which led to the organization of a Covenanters’ church. Mr. McKee has been twice married, first in 1849 to Rachel Jane, daughter of Samuel Henry, of Ireland, who passed his last days at Wilkinsburg. Mrs. McKee was born in Pittsburgh, and died September 30, 1886, aged fifty-nine, the mother of two children - Myra who died in Alabama while assisting her husband, Rev. William McKinney, in missionary work among the negroes, and Samuel Henry, a resident here. In April, 1888, Mr. McKee married Martha J., daughter of Robert McKnight, of Pittsburgh.