Major Joseph McKee
Major Joseph McKee was born at McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in the year of 1789 and remained with his parents until 1807, at which time he emigrated to Cabin Creek, Kentucky, where he resided for four years, when he removed near the mouth of Brush Creek in Greene Township in Ohio. He was in the War of 1812, in which he served until December 24, 1814. On returning from the war he engaged in keel-boating salt down the Ohio River from the Kanawha Saline to Louisville, Ky. In 1828, he was made Major in the Second Regiment, First Brigade, Eighth Division of the Ohio Militia. He was married in 1812 to Miss Margaret Eakins, who resided near the mouth of Brush Creek. There were thirteen children born of this marriage, nine boys and four girls, Elizabeth, Susan, James, Mary, John, Joseph, William, Priscilla, David, George, Wilson, Rebecca, and Richard. Seven of these sons served in the Union army in the late Civil War. Our subject shouldered his gun in 1864 to assist in resisting General John Morgan's Raid, at which time he was seventy-five years of age. He served nine years successively as Justice of the Peace in Greene Township, during which time he solemnized numerous marriages. Mr. McKee was an elder in the Christian Church, and lived up to his profession. He was regarded as a good neighbor and citizen, and ever ready to help the poor and needy. He died near Waggoner's Ripple, at the age of ninety-two years and twenty-nine days. His wife, Margaret McKee, died seven years earlier. He was the grandfather of the Sheriff, James W. McKee, who was the son of David McKee, now residing at Wichita, Kansas, having removed there from Adams County in 1882. Joseph McKee was a Jeffersonian Democrat of the strictest sort, and his grandson, Sheriff James W. McKee, is recognized as one of the most reliable leaders of the Democrat party in Adams County.
From "History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time" - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900