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Robert S. McKay |
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biography
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ROBERT S. McKAY, farmer, P. O. Espyville, was born in Randolph Township, this county, May 30, 1824, son of Joseph and Mary (Gilliland) McKay, who settled in Randolph Township, this county, about 1814, locating on the farm now owned and occupied by Neal McKay, and which they cleared and improved. Joseph, who was a son of Neal McKay, a native of Scotland, an early settler of Randolph Township and later of Waterford, Erie Co., Penn., died in 1827; his wife was a daughter of Hugh Gilliland, formerly of Fayette County, and an early settler of Conneaut Township, this county. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph McKay had seven children: Hugh G.; Neal; Nancy, deceased; James, deceased; Eliza, deceased; Robert S.; Angeline, deceased. Our subject was reared in Randolph Township, this county, until thirteen years of age, when he was thrown on his own resources. For one year he worked in a tan-yard, and then in a carding-mill in Conneaut Township, this county, until twenty-six years of age. In 1848 he settled in North Shenango Township, on his present farm, part of which he cleared and fenced, and on which he made all the improvements in buildings, etc. He was married September 16, 1845, to Susan, daughter of John and Catherine (Brown) Garrison, of Pine Township, this county, by whom he had seven children: Helen J., now Mrs. H. Fonner; John S., Joseph O., Kate A., Myrtie E., Boyd and Nell G. Mr. and Mrs. McKay are members of the United Presbyterian Church, with which they have been connected since 1859, and in which he is an Elder. Our subject was appointed Mercantile Appraiser by the County Commissioners in 1862, serving in that capacity one year; he has held nearly all the offices in the gift of the township. In politics he is a stanch Republican; a strong advocate of prohibition. A
Genealogical Tour of Crawford County, Pennsylvania Page 909-910 |
