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Biographical Profile:
Pvt. Alexander Mills McKee,
Company G, 100th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, "The Roundheads"
(Contributed by Donna Miller, great
great granddaughter of Pvt. McKee
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Post-war image of McKee |
Alex was born in County Down, Ireland on Mar. 10, 1844, to
Alexander and Mary Mills McKee. He came to America with his parents and at
least three siblings about 1851. His mother and a baby died during the
passage and were buried at sea. After arriving in Mercer Co., the children
were given out to other families, most likely relatives since there were
numerous McKee families there at the time, until the father was able to take
care of them.
At age 18, Alex enlisted in the Roundheads for a term of 3
years. He was discharged Dec. 12, 1862 at a convalescent camp near
Alexandria, VA.
He was naturalized on Oct. 10, 1863. In 1865 he married
Anne Bestwick of Mercer Co. They had a family of eight children, six of whom
reached adulthood. Alex was a farmer while living in Mercer Co. He also
traveled further west, living for a time on a horse ranch in southern MO,
before coming back to PA to farm with his son-in-law Edmund Day.
Alex spent his later years in Madison, WI living with a
daughter and son-in-law and had just returned to Mercer for a visit with
family when he died of a heart attack on Mar. 20, 1929. He is buried in
Presbyterian Cemetery in Jackson Center, PA.
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