From "HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY,"  Vol. I, pages 371-371.
Brant & Fuller, 1890.


JOHN McKEE

John McKee, an old and estimable citizen of Wheeling, was born in 
Townland of Glastry, county  Down, Ireland, July 28, 1824.  He is the 
son of Hugh McKee, who died July 15, 1829.  His mother's maiden name 
was Mary McCormick.  Their four children were Samuel, David A., John, 
and William H.  Samuel, the eldest, a jeweler by trade, came to 
America in 1850 and settled in New York, where he died.  David A. 
emigrated in the spring of the same year, settled first at 
Steubenville, Ohio, then resided at Wheeling for some time, and is 
now engaged in the grocery business at Etnaville, Ohio.  William H., 
the youngest, went to sea in 1847, under Capt. Herron, and was not 
heard of until long afterward when it was discovered that after 
surviving an attack of fever at Quebec, he made a trip to Montreal, 
and returning to the former place, was caught between two vessels and 
killed.  John Mckee, the subject of this mention, in his youth worked 
at clock making and gunsmith work with his brother Samuel, and in 
March, 1850, was married to Margaret Kerr, in his native land.  In 
the fall of the same year he and wife, her brother and his mother and 
brother Samuel came to America, and he settled at Pittsburgh, where 
he remained sixteen years, being employed during most of that time 
with James McCuly & Co., wholesale grocers and flour dealers.  Coming 
to Wheeling in 1866, he embarked in the grocery business at once, and 
has since that date occupied a creditable position among the 
enterprising business men of the city.  He first succeeded Daniel 
Tharp in business at No. 113 Clay, now 63-65 Eighteenth street, an in 
March, 1873, he removed to 59 Clay, now 50 and 52 Eighteenth, where 
he bought the old Baptist church and fitted it up as a store and 
dwelling at a total cost of $6,296.78.  By his marriage above 
mentioned, Mr. McKee had nine children: William A. (deceased), Maggie 
(deceased), David John, head book-keeper for the Wheeling Pottery 
Co.; James K. (deceased), Samuel K., general secretary of the 
Y.M.C.A., at East Saginaw, Mich.; James B., was traveling salesman 
for Simon Baer's Sons for several years, and on March 1, 1890, bought 
the wholesale and retail cigar parlors 1209 Market street, opposite 
McLure House, where he is doing business on a large scale in his line 
of goods; Andrew K., in the produce house of Isham & Bigby, 
Philadelphia; William C., a student in the Y.M.C.A. training school 
at Springfield, Mass.  The mother of these died February 20, 1872, 
and on June 3, 1875, he was married to Mrs. Rachel (McNabb) Shaw, by 
whom he has one child, Earl R.M.  Mr. McKee is a member of the board 
of deacons of the Second Presbyterian church, and in politics is a 
republican.


(Linda Fluharty)