George McKenzie

Notes:

Thye following email summary concerning this line was prepared by Dick MacKenzie in February, 2015:

Greetings Sr. Beth Murphy! I was in FL trying to keep warm when you and Mike were emailing, so I apologize for the delay in getting back to you. It is always nice to hear from another distant cousin. I should have stayed in FL, however! Brrr!

I wanted to explain a few things about the family that you may not be aware of, and that aren’t necessarily evident from the website. The first is that only a small number of lines remained Catholic throughout time – yes, John and Katherine were Catholic, but that was a great surprise to all of us involved in the family research, as none of us were brought up Catholic – I’m a convert, but it has nothing to do with the family background – rather we were a bunch of Protestant families, that switched (probably due to marriages or whatever) many moons ago.

I descend from John’s son Daniel, via his youngest son Aaron, whereas your descent is through Daniel’s son, Eli. Eli’s branch is the one that was most evident in their Catholic belief. Not sure if you’re familiar with Conewago Chapel (now Basilica of the Sacred Heart, McSherrystown, PA), but that is where Eli’s son Daniel was supposedly married to Catherine Hartmann @1800 (I’ve never found proof of this marriage, but someone else supposedly did), and where most of their children plus Catherine were baptized (Catherine not until 4 Oct 1817.) It was a challenge identifying all of them because of the variety of the way the name was spelled -- anything from McKansy to McKenzie – but that is how we know birth dates for the ones that there are records of. I’ll outline them best I can:


Elias MacKenzie – b. @ 1803, no record of baptism or birth, but the connection with the family was evident from two items. His son, John William McKenzie, was baptized at St. John’s Catholic Church, Frederick Md. 8 Nov 1842, godmother Ann Elizabeth McKenzie. In 1850 Census, “Mary” O’Fallon and husband Michael (they were married 9 Apr 1844 Frederick Co. as Ann McKenzie and Michael O’Fallon), were living in Cincinnati along with Elizabeth McKinsey 38, Margaret McKinsey 30, and Susanna McKinsey 15. Susanna was the daughter of Elias and was living with her 3 aunts.

Joseph McKenzie – b. & bapt. 1805 at Conewago, relocated to Cincinnati by 1829.

Susanna McKenzie – Joseph’s twin, b. & bapt. 1805 at Conewago, died before 1810.

Leo Daniel “McKensey” -- b. 1 Nov 1807, baptized 7 Nov 1807 at Conewago. Although nothing is known about his life, he did appear as a witness at the marriage of Hillonet M’Kenzy (actually Elias) and Elizabeth Gauger (actually Gouker) at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Taneytown 3 Mar 1825, as Leo M’Kenzy, son of Daniel and Catherine McKensey.

“Johannes” Michael “McKen..” -- b. or bapt.? 23 Jul 1809 at Conewago.

Anna Elizab. “McKensie” – b. 18 Sep 1811, baptized 29 Sep 1811 at Conewago (typed Conewago records incorrectly show her birth year as 1814, not correct.)

Lewis “McKensie” – b. 25 Feb 1814, baptized at Conewago 3 Mar 1814, died before 1820

James “McKiney” – b. 5 Jul 1815, baptized 9 Jul 1815 at Conewago, relocated to Cincinnati before 1850.

Margaret McKenzie – b. @ 1819, no record of birth or baptism, in Cincinnati by 1850.

George McKenzie – b. 14 Oct 1820, baptized at Conewago 23 Oct 1820, died 11 Oct 1823, per records of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Taneytow

Ann Mary Barbara McKenzie -- b. 14 Sep 1824, baptized 17 Sep 1824 at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Taneytown. (St. Joseph’s records do not contain a last name for this entry, just Ann Mary Barbara, parents Daniel and Catherina.)

So there you have that part of the puzzle.

In the early days of Conewago Chapel and St. Joseph’s Church there was a Russian Jesuit Priest named Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin (AKA: Father Smith) involved with both, and about 1800 he relocated to Cambria Co., PA to a place called McGuire’s Settlement, whose name he changed to Loretto. He took with him some 40-50 families from the area around Taneytown and Conewago, and one of those was Eli’s eldest son John McKenzie and wife Catherine (Warner) and several of their young children in about 1803. (Eli had actually purchased land in then Bedford Co., from which Cambria was formed, in 1802.) This “McKinzie” family was heavily involved with St. Michael’s Church in Loretto for years.

Another of Eli’s sons, Henry (married Sarah Johnson in Frederick Co. 8 Oct 1800), had son Thomas “McKansy” b. 13 Aug 1801 baptized at Conewago 4 Oct 1801. Henry relocated to Cincinnati (where else?) in 1809, but then moved on to Dearborn Co., IN after 1814, where his family remained for years.

Believed to be Eli’s daughter, “Mariana McKinsey” married Joseph Arnold at Conewago 12 Jan 1796, witnesses John and Catherine McKinsey. The Arnold family has not been tracked thusfar.

Another person married at Conewago was “Henericus McKensie” to Helena Mahaffe 6 Sep 1821, witnesses Rachel Chambers and Daniel McKensie. Not sure how this Henry fits into the puzzle.

I thought you might find some of this history interesting. If you let me know when you think you’ll be in DC and what you would like to see about the MacKenzie property, I’d be glad to try to meet you and show you around. I’m sure another cousin, Don Kagle, would join us if he’s available. He ‘s located in Harford Co., MD, whereas I’m in suburban Philadelphia. The original MacKenzie property, near Ellicott City in Howard Co., MD, which remained in my line’s possession until the 1930’s, is the only one where we have remaining evidence of the family in the presence of a home and 3 headstones. Eli’s family was located in now Carroll Co., between Westminster and Taneytown, which is where his father, Daniel patented “Molly’s Fancy” although that’s a story for another day.

If there is anything I can help you with, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Regards,
Dick MacKenzie

Daniel + Catherine Hartmann. Catherine was born about 1780; died in UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Eli + Margaret Unknown. Margaret died in UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Margaret unknown

Other Events and Attributes:

• Death: 1783, Anne Arundel Co., MD

Notes:

In 1785, Daniel Mckenzie lived in Anne Arundel County and owned "Molly's Fancy".

The following email was compiled by Dick MacKenzie in July, 2014 in his continuing attempt to try to determine the parental connection, if possible, for Isreal McKenzie and Hiram McKenzie, two names which appear in the late 1700's and early 1800's in the Baltimore, Maryland area. The Daniel, Jr. listed below is the son of Daniel MacKenzie (b. 1717).

I’ll try to lay this all out and maybe someone can connect dots, although I fear that the lack of good, solid record information may preclude anything definite.

We know that Daniel Jr. was in Anne Arundel Co. in January 1790, when the children of Daniel Sr. were involved in the court case in Frederick Co., Jr. and wife Ann having disposed of their land holdings in Frederick Co. prior to that date. However, Jr. never appears in a census there. In fact, the only person who does in 1790 is John “McKinsey” with 2 males under 16, 2 over 16, and 3 females. Of course, the bottom left portion of the AA Co. census pages are either missing or illegible, so there might have been other McKinseys shown that we can’t see. We also know, from the patent on “MacKinzie’s Angle” in September 1807 that Mary “Molly” MacKinzie, widow of Daniel Sr. was still alive at that point and apparently living in AA Co. On 27 Nov 1811 in AA Co., John McKinsey of Daniel has surveyed “McKinsey’s Manor” for 2 roods, 16 perches of land adjoining “Batchelors’ Choice” and “Carter’s Addition” (meaning that it was in the exact same area as the original MacKenzie family land holdings), and, although a warrant was granted to John of Daniel on 12 Feb 1812, just a month later, on 18 Mar 1812, John B. Dorsey has the same land resurveyed as “McKinsey’s Manor Neglected” and has it patented on 15 Dec 1813. Does that mean that John was a son of Daniel Jr.? I suspect so, but may never be able to prove it. In any event, it appears this John had up to 5 children, and would have been born in the 1760’s or 1770’s.

Move forward to 1800, and we have 4 McKinsey families shown in AA Co.:

Michael – I male under 10, four 16-25, one 45+; 1 female under 10, one 16-25, one 45+ (pg. 589)
William – 2 males under 10, one 26-45; 1 female under 10, one 45+ (pg. 588)
Daniel – 1 male 26-45; 2 females under 10, one 16-25 (pg. 588)
William – 1 male under 10, one 10-15, one 45+; 1 female under 10, two 10-15, one 45+ (pg. 587)

Then in 1810 as Mackinsey (indexed in Ancestry as Mackinney):

Michael – one male 16-25, one 45+; 1 female 45+
Aaron – 3 males under 10, two 10-15, one 45+; 2 females under 10, one 10-15, one 45+

These two families are next door to each other, and we know for sure that Aaron is Daniel Sr.’s youngest son, now living on Daniel’s portion (96 acres) inherited from his father John (and his mother apparently deceased), and it is equally assured that Michael is living on the other inherited land there (98 acres), with the only question being whether this is Michael of John (b. @ 1730) or a son by the same name. Then 16 lines later, the two following Mackinsey families:

Daniel –2 males under 10, one 17-26, one 45+; 1 female 17-26, one 17-45.
Orphelia – 1 male under 10, one 10-15; 2 females under 10, one 26-44.

The ages of Daniel’s children don’t match the 1800 Census ages. I do think Orphelia is the Orpha who appears again in 1830 -1860, and no I can’t locate her in 1820, but I have no idea who she might have been married to (if anyone?) and how she kept accumulating children. Orpha was also the name of one of Daniel Sr.’s daughters, so there was a penchant for the name in the family. Maybe she never married,

Daniel married Mary (Molly) Porter in 1738. Mary was born about 1721 in Carrollton County, Maryland; died after Sep 1807 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]