b. 8 Nov 1857
d. 16 Dec 1921
m. Almetta Hendricks
I have been stuck on the parents of William McGee (my great-great-grandfather) for almost a year now. I was thrilled to uncover a supplemented Indiana marriage record today that may give insight on the identity of his parents.
From census records, we know that William's father was from Virginia and his mother was born in Indiana. However, this was the extent of my knowledge prior to today.
Searching through the records on Ancestry.com, I noticed a marriage record that I had not yet attached to the page for William McGee. To my surprise, this record contained more information than the index record that I had previously attached. Father: William, Mother: Shoemaker.
I immediately updated William's parents' info to match this. Since William's father was born in Virginia, and William and his mother (Shoemaker) were born in Indiana, I can assume that William's father moved from Virginia to Indiana before getting married to mother Shoemaker. This means there should be a marriage record in the Indiana archives for William's parents (William McGee and Unknown Shoemaker).
Viola. Upon searching, I got a perfect match: William McGee and Anna Shewmaker, 11 Jul 1844. This record was from Harrison county, which is where William and Almetta both originate. Thus, all signs point to this being the marriage record of William's parents.
I will proceed with this new data and see if I can break through this roadblock. I am hoping to find census data to support William and Anna having a son, William (Jr.), born around 1857.
[Update 1]
I found an 1880 Census Record from Harrison County, Indiana that seems to support the connections discovered earlier.
William McGee (68) b. VA
Anna (56) b. IN
William (21) b. IN
Sarah E. (23) b. IN
There are also a few grandchildren living with this family at the time:
Hannah Cones (15) b. IN
Sarah C. Cones (13) b. IN
William H. Cones (10) b. IN
It is unclear at this point whom the parents are of these kids.
Something puzzling is that I have yet to find any census records from 1850, 1860, or 1870 of the McGee family. Since William and Anna were married in Harrison County in 1844 and then found in Harrison County in 1880, one would think that they did not venture far in these years. But, I have been unable to discover any matches in this area.
[Update 2]
I uncovered the McGee's 1860 census record in Harrison County. The initial difficulty was caused by the family name being recorded as "McGhee" in this census. The family data is as follows:
Wm Mcghee (48)
Anna Mcghee (37)
Mary Mcghee (15)
Martha Mcghee (13)
James Mcghee (11)
Eliza Mcghee (9)
John Mcghee (7)
Sarah Mcghee (5)
Wm Mcghee (2)
Little William makes his first appearance in this record at age 2. An important fact to note is that Mary, the oldest child in this census, would have been born around 1845. This is consistent with William and Anna being married in 1844. We can also assume that the grandchildren in the 1880 census are those of either Mary, Martha, or Eliza.
[Update 3]
Unfortunately, after some detailed searching, I have been unable to find census records for the McGee family in 1870. This is puzzling since they are living in the same area in 1860 and 1880 (deduction based on surrounding families on the census records). I plan on revisiting these records at a later date.
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