Person Record
Metadata
Name |
McKay, Hugh |
Born |
June 26, 1865 |
Places of residence |
Lot 28, Concession A, Sydenham Township, Grey County (Annan / Leith area), about one mile north of Leith, RR#2 Annan |
Father |
Alexander McKay |
Mother |
Ann McKay (nee McAllister) |
Nationality |
Canadian |
Notes |
Hugh McKay married a Toronto woman, Jeannette (Jennie) Chadwick. Her family were well-to-do. Hugh and Jane were married Dec. 27, 1893 at York East. Hugh was 29 (he was a Farmer of Sydenham Township), and Jane was 31 (daughter of James and Jane Chadwick) The McKay family farmed at Lot 28, Concession A, in the Annan / Leith area of Sydenham Township. According to a write-up about Doug McKay, the family farm was one mile north of Leith. They had a long dining table, and as there were six boys in the family, they had a wide bench to seat all six of them on one side of the table, and Hugh and Jeanette (Jennie) and the girls sat on the other side. Hugh had a local woodworker (cabinetmaker) make him an elaborate mirrored sideboard for their house. It was made by John Ross, circa 1899-1900. Mr. Ross was a skilled woodworker who had also made the pulpit that was used at the Leith Presbyterian Church. This sideboard is now in the Grey Roots Museum collection. In the 1901 census, the family included: Hugh (age 35, b. June 26, 1865), wife Jane (b. Dec. 1, 1863, age 37), Godfrey, age 6, James W. (age 5), Kenneth R. (age 3), Donald G. (age 2) and Ada (should be Ida) J. (b. 1900). In the 1911 census, the family included: _______________. The McKays attended the Leith Presbyterian Church. There is an early 20th-century image in one of Melba Croft's books, showing a Sunday School class, that includes Don McKay, Ross McKay, George Scott, Wilson Buzza, George McKeen with their Sunday School teacher, Thomas J. Rutherford. Hugh and Jeanette's son Kenneth McKay served overseas in the First World War, and returned in 1919. He later moved out west, and is the only one of the family not buried at Leith. Their son Godfrey also served in the war. Godfrey was a farmer when the Military Service Act called him up in 1917. His regimental number was 3035719. On his attestation form, his mother "Mrs. Jennie McKay" was listed as his next-of-kin. Hugh was a supporter of the Leith and Annan Telephone Company. It installed its first telephones in 1908. In the 1921 census, Hugh was still farming, assisted by a couple of his sons (Doug McKay was still there). Doug McKay had the farm at RR#1 Owen Sound circa 1937. Doug McKay later had a farm at RR#5 Owen Sound (Derby Township) in the 1940s+. He and his wife Olive and daughter Donna moved to Derby in 1940. At that time the McKay home farm was described as RR#2 Annan. Jennie McKay (b. 1862-d. 1932) and Hugh McKay (1865-1956) are buried at the churchyard by the historic Leith Church. |
Occupation |
Farmer / Farming Member of the Leith Presbyterian Church |
Publications |
-HISTORY OF SYDENHAM TOWNSHIP, 1967, p. 292 (re telephone company), p. 104 shows some of the McKay children in 1909 -Croft, Melba, A PORT OF SOME IMPORTANCE, p. 125 (image shows young Don McKay and Ross McKay with their Sunday School teacher at Leith). -HISTORY OF SYDENHAM TOWNSHIP, Volume 2, pp. 8-9 (has an image of Doug McKay and mentions the location of the McKay farm). |
Relationships |
Grand-daughter: Donna McKay-Mills (daughter of Donald Gordon "Doug" or "Don" McKay) and Olive May McKay (nee Beattie) |
Role |
Farmer |
Spouse |
Jeannette/Jane/Jennie Chadwick, m. Dec. 27, 1893 |
Children |
-Godfrey A. McKay, b. Oct. 1, 1894-d. June, 1965, m. Gladys Milne Gray on May 19, 1923 -James Wesley (Wes) McKay, b. Dec. 31, 1895-d. 1973 -Kenneth (Ken) McKay, b. Dec. 31, 1897-d.19__ -Donald Gordon (Doug) McKay b. Jan.31/Feb. 1, 1899-d.2000, age 101, m. Olive Beattie) -Hugh Ross McKay (1901-1978) -Neil M. McKay (1905-1955) -Ida Jane McKay b. Feb. 23, 1900-d. 1975 -Annie McKay |
