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Portrait and biographical album of Newayco (sp) County, Mich.
containing portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and
representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and
biographies of all the governors of Michigan and of the presidents
of the United States: also containing a complete history of the county,
from its earliest settlement to the present time.

Published by Chapman Bros., Chicago, IL, 1884

Transcribed and submitted by Joyce Pearson
May 10, 2011

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McKie, Charles
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Charles McKie, farmer, section 18, Bridgeton Township, was born near the
St. Lawrence River, 50 miles west of Montreal, Feb. 26, 1825, and is a son
of James and Elizabeth (Campbell) McKie, both of whom were of Canadian
birth and respectively of French and Scotch descent. His parents went to
Glengarry, Can., when he was five years old, where he remained until he had
reached the age of 23 years. He had been reared as a farm laborer, and in
1848 went to St. Lawrence Co., N.Y., where he found employment for some
time as a millwright, afterwards engaging in farming. He remained there
until the fall of 1854, when he came to Michigan and settled in Newaygo
County, at the point known as the “Plain,” where he entered upon the
business of rafting on the Muskegon River and otherwise interesting himself
in the lumber business. In March, 1856, he secured a tract of land of the
Government in (now) Bridgeton Township, by making a deposit with a
condition attached giving him 30 days’ grace. His fellow lumbermen made a
bee on Easter Sunday of that year and built his house. No time could be
afforded during the week, and the near expiration of the marginal time made
the erection of the building on that day necessary. The Indians located in
the neighborhood urged him to avail himself of their hospitable
invitations, to place his wife and two little children under the shelter of
their tents; and he wishes to record his appreciation of the liberal
kindness he and his family received at their hands. He remained over night
in their care, and the next day he set himself vigorously at work to render
his rude hut suitable for the accommodation of his family. A nice
residence, built at a cost of $1,000, replaces the pioneer home, and 65
acres of then unbroken forest are cleared and otherwise improved.

Mr. McKie was married April 7, 1850, at Burrington, Vt., to Anna, daughter
of James and Mary (Ragen) Shehan. Parents and daughter are natives of
Limerick, Ireland, where the latter was born June 1, 1832. The father and
mother came to the United States in her infancy and located at Quebec. They
went thence to Montreal and later to Lancaster, Glengarry County, Ont.,
where the daughter remained until the fall of 1849, when she went to
Burlington, Vermont, and resided there until she was married. She has
become the mother of nine children, born in the following order: Charles
J., Feb. 17, 1851; James E., Nov. 16, 1853 (died May 5, 1854); William P.,
March 25, 1854; John A., March 25, 1860; Elizabeth A., Aug. 25, 1865; Alice
M., April 8, 1867; Mary A., July 12, 1869 (died April, 1870); Georgie A.,
April 1870 (died April 15, 1871); Robert H., Dec. 22, 1871.

Mr. McKie is a Democrat in political sentiment, and has held most of the
local offices in the township.


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